312 



LIFE, IN ITS HIGHER FORMS. 



the gizzard uninjured. " Finally," says Spallanzani, {( I 



fixed twelve small lancets, very sharp both at the points and 

 edges, in a similar ball of lead. They were such as I use 

 for the dissection of small animals. The ball was given to 

 a Turkey-cock, and left eighteen hours in the stomach; at 

 the expiration of which time that organ was opened, but 

 nothing appeared except the naked ball, the twelve lancets 

 having been broken to pieces. I discovered three in the 

 large intestines, pointless and mixed with the other con- 

 tents ; the other nine were missing and had probably been 

 voided. The stomach was as sound and entire as that 

 which had received the needles. 



" Two Capons, of which one was subjected to the experi- 

 ment with the needles, and the other with the lancets, sus- 

 tained them equally well. My next wish was to know how 

 much time elapsed before the beginning of the fractures; 

 and by repeated experiments on Turkeys, I found that these 

 sharp bodies begin to be broken and lose their shape in two 

 hours. This, at least, happened in two individuals of the 

 species; in one, four of the lancets, a*nd in the other, three 

 of the needles, were broken within that space; the others 

 were blunted, but continued fixed in the balls."* 



Turning from these experiments, which, however impor- 

 tant in a physiological view, certainly have an appearance 

 of cruelty, let us for a moment glance at Birds in a more 

 inviting aspect, as the songsters of the groves — the myriad 

 performers in the sweet orchestra, whose notes thrill our 

 ears and hearts, in those spring mornings that are so de- 

 lightful, when the freshness and loveliness of nature is like 

 the opening of the gate of Eden. Nor less in balmy sum- 



* *' Dissertations," i. 19. 



