54 THE UNIVERSE. 



eating. Sundry molluscs of the snail tribe hold this posi- 

 tion, owing to the facility with which they bury and shelter 

 themselves in their shells. 



Pupa?, left forgotten in a box, have remained there four 

 years, cleaving to the walls in all the immobility of death, 

 and have been released from their torpor and recalled to 

 life l)y giving them a little nourishment. But the resur- 

 rectionists take care not to give these facts, of which an 

 ample supply may be found in the works of naturalists, for 

 fear of compromising their system; a weakness we may 

 certainly reproach them Avith. 



The tales about the resurrection of the Kotiferai are of 

 the same cast. If they revive after a long starvation, it is 

 because they Avcre no more dead than the molluscs in 

 question. Encased, like them, in their envelope, and per- 



In consequence of our experiments, the Biological Society .also undertook a 

 series in order to verify the exactness of our assertions. Every time they con- 

 ducted the experiments witli the precision which we first introduced into science, 

 it was found that not one animalcule could be revi\'ed. 



It is true that in one nxj^jeritnent the members of this society succeeded in bring- 

 ing a few rotifers to life again, after having exposed them for several minutes to 

 a temjierature of 100° Ceutig. (212° Eahr.), a temperature which had been re- 

 garded as sufficient to produce complete desiccation of these animalcules. But in 

 this solitary case they only attained this result by violating the rigorous mode of 

 exjiei'imeut wdiicli I look upon as an indispensable element, for they caused a sud- 

 den rise in the thermometer of 40° Centig. (72° Eahr.) See the remarkable re- 

 port of M. Broca on this subject. Etudes sur Ics A nimau.v Ressusciiaiits, Paris, 1860. 



The charge I make against the learned author of this report is that of not 

 having plainly said, as he ought to have done, that the tardigrades, which he never 

 saw resist a heat of 10(J° Centig. (212° Falir.), and the Anguilluku, which perish at 

 a much lower temperature, ought to be struck out of the list of animals which can 

 be resuscitated. 



The rotifers do not resist a temperature of 100° Centig, (212° Fahr.) any better 

 when the experiment is conducted in such a way that they ai-e reallv subjected to 

 this heat. 



The revival of the wheel-animalcule after complete desiccation was denied, if 

 not disproved, in England by Mr. Gosse and others, we believe before tlie experi- 

 ments of M. Pouchet were made, though it is admitted that these experiments 

 gave the death-blow to the fallacj'. — All the Year Round, vol. ii. j). 3S7. 



