Scientific Intelligence.- — Physiology^ '1 87 
sters will also produce more refined melodies.” — Spioo and Mar- 
iius’‘s Travels in Brazil. 
PHYSIOLOGY. 
23. On Asphyxia hy Strangulation. — M. Segalas has esta- 
blished, by a considerable number of experiments, which he 
communicated to the Philomathic Society, in the month of Au- 
gust last, 1. That the death which succeeds the mechanical ob- 
struction of the trachea is more or less protracted, according to 
the temperature of the atmosphere in which it is produced, the 
species of animal strangled, and especially its age ; a young ani- 
mal resisting it longer than an older : 2. That, in these different 
circumstances, the obstruction of the trachea in mammifera is 
followed by a more protracted death, when, after having pro- 
duced it, the thorax of the animal is opened in such a manner 
as to admit the air into contact with the external surface of the 
lungs : 3. That every operation which, without hurting the cen- 
tral organs of sensation and of circulation, and without allow- 
ing a great part of the blood to escape, damages a great num- 
ber of capillary bloodvessels, equally retards death following ob- 
struction of the trachea ; that, for example, on skinning guinea- 
pigs, small cats, small dogs, &c. as also on laying bare the ab- 
dominal viscera by a crucial incision, the symptoms of life are 
prolonged in these animals. — From these facts M. Segalas has 
drawn the following conclusions : The lungs in mammifera are 
not the exclusive seat of respiration; the oxygenation of the 
blood appears, as is also demonstrated with regard to the trans- 
piration and disengagement of carbonic acid, to be the joint 
production of all the cutaneous and mucous surfaces which are in 
contact with the air, and which are not removed from its action 
by too thick an epidermis, or by too dense a pile. Consequent- 
ly M. Segalas is not disinclined to believe, that the prerogative 
which man possesses of surviving prolonged asphyxia, depends, 
at least in part, upon the naked state of the skin, the thinness 
of the epidermis, and the great number of capillary bloodves- 
sels which are found in this envelope. 
24. Ofi the Uses of the Mustachial Bristles of Animals^ hy 
Vrolkk of Amsterdam. — Being convinced (says Vrolick) that 
