The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-11-24

.
How many better, and how many worse,
.. Nobody knows.
How the world wags' from the eve to the
How many love, and how many scorn;
How many die, and how many are born,
Nobody knows.
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Strange Experiments In suspccc;on Of
i7E - Animation.
PARIS. October 12.--While the Ger
mans were marching from victory to VIC
tory, over French territory, q German
professor in the University Weissnicht
WAS conducting q series OF researches
upon muscular contraction, which have
led to most unlocked for and important
results. It has long been known that
certain minute animals may be preserved
for months, or even years, in as dry q
state as the insects pinned to the show
case of museum, and finally recover
their life on beipg moistened with water.
The animals denominated tardigrades
and rotifers are most conspicuous for the
possession Of this faculty of revivication.
These creatures inhabit the moss in our
forests, and even that on the roofs of our
houses. and are frequently procured by
psychologists for the purpose of investi-
eating the endowment in question.
They may be dried at the temperature of
boiling water, eet aside in their crisp and
dead state for an indefinite period, and
when again moistened they move,
breathe, feed, propagate their kind, aud
in fact live as they did before dessiccn.
tion overlook their manifestations of vi.
tality. It haa long been known that in
the dry season of tropical countries rep
tiles remain taken in earth ns dry aud
solid as burnt brick, manifesting no
siYus OF iif5. and Trsune their activity
when the rainy season has liberated them
from their prison. The accounts often
heard of living toads aud other reptiles
of the earth by the hammer of the qlr-
nature of those above cited.
Professor Muller, of Weissnicht, in
experimenting upon tue muscles Of tue
higher quadrupeds, dogs, rabbits. &c.,
fonnd that muscles separated from the
body OF the animal might be kept for
long periods in state Of suspended
vitality and be restored to their con-
tractile state so as to respond to electri.
cal currents or even to irritation of their
nerves. As the muscle OF dog, rabbit,
or OK passed into the dry state, it con.
tracted moro slowly, like that of rep
tile, an eel or turtle, for instance. and
finally lost the faculty of contraction
altogether. From this dead state, he
was able to bring it back after long pe-
RODS of inaction to it's original active
md living condition By method which
he had discovered. He reasoned that
if he could secure this result on the
muscles of An unmutilated animal, at the
same time preventing the coagulation OF
the blood, the animal might be kept
torpid and dead for an indefinite period
and DO restored to life and activity by
appropriate means known to physiolu-
gists. He succeeded in desiccating, or
1t should more properly be called somi
desiccating, through abstraction Of
blood and subsequent evaporation from
the skin. the bodies Of bats, molcs, Cats
dogs and other vertebrate animals. nnd
after keeping them dry aud torpid for
months. he restored them to life. This
ne did frequently in tho presence Of Il
few of his friends, among whom were
some OF the most distinguished savans
OF Germany; but for some reason tho
matter was held secret, probably in
order to guarantee to the dlscoverer his
rights of priority, of which scientific
men are exceedingly, if not childishIy,
tenacious. 1t having been demonstrated
that the higher animals might, by the
Mullerian process, be desiccated aud re-
stored to life at the will of the expert
menter, he was induced by Professor
Hundsfat, German agrege Of the Paris
faculty, to bring the matter to the at
tention Of Longet, Dutrechet. Magendie
and Richeraud, the most influential of
the Psychologists Of Paris. II was the
period OF executions of Communists,
and these savans, in the chaotic condi-
ton OF society in Franco, had little
difficulty in obtaining from M. Theirs
permission to try the method upon two
noted Communists under sentence of
death for the massacre of hostages.
nsmed Dodu and Brun, on the ground
that shonld they be restoredto life again
after three months, the Theirs Govern
ment would no longer require their
death. and they could be required to
-emigrate to America. Dodu was stout
and muscular; Brun tall, thin and blood