306 
plii^y's natueal histoet. 
[Book VIII. 
prominent. The mother then licks them gradually into proper 
shape. There is nothing more "uncommon than to see a she- 
bear in the act of parturition.*^^ The male remains in his 
retreat for forty days, the female four months. If they 
happen to have no den, they construct a retreat with branches 
and shrubs, which is made impenetrable to the rain and is 
lined with soft leaves. During the first fourteen days they are 
overcome by so deep a sleep, that they cannot be aroused by 
wounds even. They become wonderfully fat, too, while in this 
lethargic state. This fat is much used in medicine ; and it is 
very useful in preventing the hair from falling of£P At the end 
of these fourteen days they sit up, and find nourishment by 
sucking their fore-paws.'''* They warm their cubs, when cold, 
by pressing them to the breast, not unlike the way in which 
birds brood over their eggs. It is a very astonishing thing, but 
Theophrastus believes it, that if we preserve the flesh of the 
bear, the animal being killed in its dormant state, it will in- 
crease in bulk, even though it may have been cooked. During 
this period no signs of food are to be found in the stomach 
of the animal, and only a very slight quantit^^ of liquid ; there 
are a few drops of blood only near the heart, but none what- 
ever in any other part of the body."^^ They leave their retreat 
in the spring, the males being remarkably fat : of this cir- 
cumstance, however, we cannot give any satisfactory explana- 
tion, for the sleep, during which they increase so much in bulk, 
lasts, as we have already stated, only fourteen days.'^''^ When 
they come out, they eat a certain plant, which is known as 
their limbs are ill formed, which is correct ; but the account here given is 
greatly exaggerated. — B. 
72 As the birth takes place when the mother is in her winter retreat, it 
can have been witnessed only when in the menagerie. — B. 
^3 This is referred to in B. xxviii. c. 46 ; this property of the fat of the 
bear is also mentioned by Galen and by Dioscorides, and it still retains its 
place amon^ our popular remedies ; but it is difficult to conceive that it can 
have any virtue above other fatty substances of the same consistence, — B. 
This, which appears to be a vulgar error, is mentioned by Aristotle, 
Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 17 ; by iEHan, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 3 ; and by Op- 
pian, Halieut. B. ii.^ — B. 
We have a somewhat similar account in the treatise De Mirab. 
Auscult. p. 1155. — B. 
'^^ Probably from Aristotle, ubi supra. — B. 
'^'i This apparent anomaly has been attempted to be explained, by sup- 
posing that the bears lay up a plentiful store of provisions in their winter 
retreats, which they consume while they remain without exercise. — B. 
