Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1852-09-22
AGRICULTURAL,
How Animals Cool OFF.

The genus homo and the genpshorse have !
a double privilege of refrigeration, while all
other animated beings haze but one. You c
may be surprised to learn thE6aI be-
ings sweat except men and horse, aae. hence
no other beings can cool themselves, when
hot, by perspiration through the skin. The
confirmation ofthis fact is found in the whole
range of comparative anatomI, where nature
has furnished examples on thsmost extended
scale of magnitude, in the whSe animal world
in the largest as well as the smallest beings.
In all the pachydermato, lr thickskinned
animals, except the horse, at found no pores
in the skin that exhale heatby perspiration,
the envelope on these anim$s being only a
secreting surface, like othe1 of the internal
surface ofthe body. All thacleft- feetspecies,
including those presenting feet with toes
rounded and unproyided F"ith claws, the
elephant, the rhinoscerus, bson, mammoth,
: mastadon, buffalo, OK, swim, deer, as we'll as
the lion, tiger, bear, wolf, fix, birds. squirrels,
dormouse, oppossum, ~raccon, all alike offer
:, the same example as the deg, that they have
I. no other means OF cooling themselves when
hot except through the medium Of the lungs,
! by respiration.
The farmer drives his oxen, m1wsuThmer
- heat, with great care, when they open their
y mouths and thrust out their tonEues, and
pant to exhale the heat generated BY the ex-
! ~ercise, and if he does not stop their motion
= they die with the heat that accumulateS
within them. His hogs, too, must be driver
90 with more care, and if they are allowed t.
:, grow fat in hot weather, they often die pant
"a ing in a state of repose, when IN the shade
~ All these animals, with the exception Q
- the elephant and rhinosceros, are coyere'
with hair and fur, or feathers and dowr
! : which varies with the climate.
The fur and down tribe tribe throw oil the
rich covering at the approach Of spring, an
revel with their fellows in the summers SUI
and as the autumn returns, they are RETURN
- he'd with their furs and down, in anticipate
of the winters frost.
- In health, these animals have a large d
'eu post of fat beneath the skin; fat is a mixtu
~ of two or more ingredients, which differ fro
~ each other in consistency-in most instanc
they are s~tearine and maF~gaTTa1esTgw NJ
a LIQUID oleine; as the weather cools the
oils and fats condense, and as they solid
~ they become non-conductors Of heat, and
the heat accumulates beneath the skin
generates the delicate furs and down for "
He'd ter's use; and in the spring, as the tempe
ture rises, the eloine becomes volatile a
sheds them again for the summers heat;
+ho that this simple law for the generation
IN heat, in animal as well in vegetable
is graduated by the fluctuations Of the sea
., and the revolutions Of time. The fami
- example Of the dog, who generates his h
ond at the expense Of his substance, as he incr'
es his speed, and having DO pores in his S
he multiplies his respiration in the ratio
Inns motion, as the only means of keeping b
Ld va self cool, and having no perspiration
check, he plunges into water with impun
,,oa and returns refreshed, when men and no
7oou, submerged in a similar condition would
viyed the shock, it would be to die with a
or chronic inflammation.
DR.. T. VanderJurgz