HAMSTER. 
313 
from all communication with the external air. For 
we are assured, that when a hamster is shut up in a 
cage filled with earth and straw, and exposed in 
winter to a degree of cold sufficient to freeze water, 
he never becomes torpid : but when the cage is 
sunk four or five feet below the surface of the earth, 
and completely secured against the access of the 
air, the animal will soon become as completely tor- 
pid as if he had been in his own burrow. 
At the appointed time in the spring for the revi- 
val of the hamster, he gradually begins to show 
some signs of returning animation. His cold and 
rigid limbs begin to relax ; the blood again circulates 
through the lungs ; and he sighs deeply, but at long 
intervals. After some time his legs begin to move, 
he opens his mouth and makes a rattling noise. 
By and by, he opens his eyes, and tries to get 
upon his legs ; but those members have been so long 
unused to support him, that his movements are 
reeling and unsteady, like those of a person exceed- 
ingly intoxicated. At length, however, he recovers 
himself sufficiently to stand with firmness, and gra- 
dually begins to walk, to eat, and to pursue his 
usual habits. 
This active and ferocious little creature seems to 
be actuated by such a rage for fighting, that he at- 
tacks every animal that comes in his way, without 
at all regarding the size of his enemy ; and it is said, 
that rather than yield he will suffer himself to be 
beaten to pieces with a stick. He will fly at a horse 
that happens to come too near him, and hang by 
