June 26, 1885. J 



SCIENCE. 



523 



abandoned; for the microbes, which are the agents of 

 putrefaction, survive the exposure. 



Some of the experiments on which this conclusion 

 rests are briefly described. Meat in tins, exposed 

 to —63° C. for six hours, underwent (after thawing) 

 putrefaction with generation of gases. Trials with 

 fresh urine showed that freezing at very low temper- 

 atures delayed the appearance of the alkaline fermen- 

 tation, but a temperature of — 63° C. for eight hours 

 did not sterilize the urine. Samples of fresh milk 

 exposed to temperatures of from zero to — 80° F. for 

 eight hours, curdled, and showed the well-known 

 Bacterium lactis; and, so far as could be observed, 

 freezing did not delay the process after the flasks 

 were kept at a temperature of about 50° F. Similar 

 results were obtained with ale, meat-juice, vegetable 

 infusions, etc. 



It is probable that the micro-organisms were frozen 

 solid. One cannot suppose that in these circum- 

 stances any of the phenomena of life take place: the 

 mechanism is simply arrested, and vital changes 

 resume their course, when the condition of a suitable 

 temperature is restored. These considerations led 

 the authors to examine whether any of the vital 

 phenomena of higher animals might be retained at 

 such low temperatures. They ascertained that a live 

 frog may be frozen through quite solid in about half 

 an hour at a temperature of — 20° F. to — 30°. On 

 thawing slowly, in two instances the animal com- 

 pletely recovered. After longer exposure the ani- 

 mals did not recover. In two cases frogs were kept 

 in an atmosphere of — 100° F. for twenty minutes, 

 and although they did not revive, yet, after thawing 

 out, their muscles still responded feebly to electrical 

 stimulation. One experiment was performed on a 

 warm-blooded animal, — a rabbit. The cold-blooded 

 frog became as hard as a stone in from ten to twenty 

 minutes, but the rabbit produced in itself so much 

 heat as enabled it to remain soft and comparatively 

 warm during an hour's exposure to — 100° F. Still 

 its production of heat was unequal to make good the 

 loss; and every instant it was losing ground, until, at 

 the end of the hour, its bodily temperature had fallen 

 about 56° F. below the normal, but was still 143° F. 

 above the surrounding temperature. When taken 

 out, the animal was comatose, and reflex action was 

 abolished. Placed in a warm room, its temperature 

 rose rapidly, and the rabbit completely recovered. 



The observations are of great value, and highly 

 suggestive. Those upon the rabbit indicate that 

 death from cold is preceded by loss of consciousness, 

 owing to the early suppression of the activity of the 

 gray matter of the encephalon. This confirms the 

 belief that death by freezing is comparatively pain- 

 less. The viability of microbes at low temperatures 

 has also been demonstrated by Pictet and Yung, 1 

 who found that various bacilli can survive — 70° C. 

 for a hundred and nine hours. After such exposure, 

 Bacillus antbracis retained it3 virulence when in- 

 jected into a living animal. 



We cannot refrain from asking, Are not frozen 

 micro-organisms the means of disseminating life 



1 Comptea rendus, Paris, xcviii. 747. 



through the universe ? An affirmative answer is at 

 least a better hypothesis than the assumption of 

 spontaneous generation to account for the origin of 

 life on the earth. May not life be coeval with 

 energy? May it not have always existed? 



Charles S. Minot. 



PREHISTORIC AMERICAN SCULP- 

 TURES. 



Among the many interesting sculptures in stone 

 of the prehistoric Americans are those found in 



HUMAN SACKIFICE. BAS-RELIEF AT SANTA LUCIA COSUMAL- 



hupa. (La Nature.) 



Guatemala, which were first described by Dr. Habel 

 in No. 269 of Smithsonian contributions to knowl- 

 edge, 1879. These were piincipally fallen monoliths 

 which were discovered in 1862, near the village of 

 Santa Lucia Cosumalhupa, near the base of the 

 Volcano del Fuego. Several of these carvings were 

 afterwards secured by Dr. Bastian for the Berlin 

 museum. The majority of those figured by Dr. Ha- 



