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 tho 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 mid 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, and in the other, three 
ot tne needles, were broken within that space; the others 
were blunted, but continued fixed in tho 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. 
