[ 4&o ] 
Befides, if fo remarkable a change was intended, 
the great wifdom of the Almighty Creator would, 
undoubtedly, be feen in fome particular contrivance, 
in the ftrudture of the organs of the heart of this 
bird, to enable it to undergo fo very remarkable a 
change of elements : and my learned friend has not 
attempted to fhow any thing of this nature, in order 
to confirm his fyftem. 
An eafy experiment may throw fome light on this 
doubtful affair At the time of their going away, 
take a fwallow, and confine it in a tub under water : 
if it remains there for a week or two alive, without 
any remarkable inconvenience, then there may be 
fome probability for its continuing fo many months 
in that ftate. 
The conclufions, that are drawn from fome of the 
tribe of infedts fubfifting under water, are far from 
being conclufive, to found an analogy upon ; as in- 
fers differ from other animals in fo many particu- 
lars, that very little or nothing can be concluded, or 
inferred, of the one, from what we obferve in the 
other. 
Towards the end of September, the fwallows af- 
femble on the reeds in the iflands in our river Thames, 
and have, no doubt, fo done for ages paft ; and vet 
I never heard, or read, of any fifherman, or other 
perfon, that has ever found in the winter months a 
fwallow under water, in a torpid living ftate ; for if 
fuch a marvelous thing had ever happened, it would 
have been foon communicated to the public. Befides, 
as thefe iflands of reeds and willows are annually cut 
down, for feveral ufes, and yet not a fwallow has 
been difcovered in his aquatic abode ; and, confider- 
ing 
T 
