Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1890-03-01
VITALITY OF ANIMALS.
Under Certain Conditions 1t Can BE "a,
pended for a Long Time.

Under Certain Conditions 1t Can BE sa,.
pended for Long Time.
Familiar instances Of suspended vital
ity, or rather latent vitality, are AZ.
forded by seeds, which may be kept for
years without showing action, but ara
yet capable of being recalled to the or.
ercise of the functions of life. Other in
stances are afforded by the lower organ
isms, which will remain dry and sterile
for indefinite periods, to be broughtinto
full activity at any time by supplying
the due degree of moisture and warmth.
Coming up to higher forms of life, thu
same phenomena are usually manifested
in insects, one of the normal conditions
of whose life-the nymphd or chrysaIl
state-is characterized by the exhibition
of the external appearance of death.
During this stage the vital processes ara
tempered down till only enough are in
effect to maintain a merely vegetatiye
existence; yet the insect is capable Of
slight motions when subjected to shock
or pressure. The duration of this an
parent death varies according to the
species and to external conditions
There are species that require two years
Of incubation before going through their
metamorphosis. Others pass to the per.
feet state in few days. Butterflies de.
mand certain degree of heat, below
which they will not issue. The opening
of the chrysalis takes place naturally
when these atmospheric conditions are
realized. If the season is late, the
Matching is also late. Hence we can
prolong the duration of the chrysalis
state indefinitely by properly adjust
ing the temperature, delaying to that
extent the metamorphosis of the i'm
prisoned mummy into the free and
winged insect Reaumur, by putting
chrysalides in an ice-bOx, was able to
keep them alive and retard their devel-
opment several years Going higher up
in the animal series-eggs, which are
analogous to the seeds of plants, present
a remarkable example of retarded life
One of the most interesting features
about them is the independence of their
vitality, which persists even when the
individual that has produced them, and
within whose organism they are still
contained, has ceased to live. This fact
has been recognized in pisciculture,
where artificial fecun lation has been
successful with eggs taken from dead
fish. The persistence of life in frogs is
very long. Spallanzani preserved some
frogs in mass of snow for two years.
They became dry, stiff. and almost fria-
BILE, but a gradual heat brought them
back to life Toads have been shut up
in blocks of plaster, and then, having
been deprived of all air except what
may penetrate through the material
and of all sources of food, resuscitated
several years afterward. This question
presents one of the most curious prob
lens that biological science has been
called on toexplain. The longevity and
vital resistance of toads are surprising
Besides the experiments we have cited
nature sometimes presents some already
made, and vastly more astonishing
Toads are said to have been found in
rocks. Such cases are rare, but 1t
would be as unreasonable to doubt
them as to believe in some of the
explanations that have been
made of the matter. The phenomenon
is marvellous, it is true, but it is sup
ported by evidence that we are not able
to contest; and skepticism, which is in
with sci nee, will have to
disappear if rigorous observation shall
confirm it. The toad was observed, in
one case, in the stoI itself, and before
recovering FROM its long lethargy 1t had
not made any motion. One of these toads
was presented to an academy, with the
stone which had served it as coffin or
habitation. and it was ascertalned that
the cavity seemed to correspond exactly
with the dimensions and form of the an
imal. 1t is remarkable that these toad
stones are very hard and not at all por-
Gus, and show no signs of assure. The
mind, completely baffled in the presence
OF the fact, is equally embarrassed TO
explain how the toad could live in its
singular prison and how it became shut
I'D there NJ. Charles Richet had occa-
sion to study this question some months
ago, and came to the conclusion that the
fact was real, observing that even If, in
the actual condition of science, certain
phenomena were still inexplicable. we
were not warranted in denying their ex-
istence, for new discoveries might at any
time furnish an explanation Of them
THE true may sometimes not be prooa- {
ble." But science takes accounting OF
the truth, not of the probability
for Popular Science Monthly
from La Monde de la Science ct de