Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1890-03-11
SLEEPING ALL WINTER.
Problem of Information In the
Animal Kingdom.


= part OF the animal creation goes u
sleep for the whole winter. The dead
season of the year is obviously an up
propriate name so far rs regards the
trees and plants, but 1t is just as cor
rect term for numerous species Of
living creatures. Nearly all the in
, sects, crustaceans, worms, snails and
= the like. go into winter quarters; frogs,
and all the reptile kind, bury them
selves in the mud, or under stones,
and even a few animals OF mans own
class spend several months OF the year
In state OF unbrokon sleep. This Is
the problem OF hibcrnation-a great
deal more debated in former times
than now. Aristotle began the specu-
lations about 1t, and extended his In
quiry to certain OF the fishes OF the
Egean Sea. Hardly any naturalist Of
note missed writing about 1t towards
the end OF the last century, or in the
early part OF the present one. The
curiosity has always been greatest in
reference TO those few OF the higher
animals who have the faculty Of coiling
themselves up in hole in the ground,
and going to sleep for months together.
The water vole is one of these:
down into his burrow he cozily ereeps,
And quietly through the long winter time
sleeps"
Gilbert White was told by farmer
In the parish of Selborne that his pillow
had turned up vole's winter nest in a
field some hundred yards from the
water, with gallon of potatoes stored
at one end OF it. Our other common
winter sleepers are the hedgehog, the
iormouse and the bat. Offers, badgers
and squirrels seem to have the faculty
OF lying perdu for days at a time in a
very hard season; but they do not count
among the winter-sleepers proper. In
Alpine countries the various species OF
marmots are well-known hibernators;
in Russia and Siberia there are several
such species, and all over North Ger
many the most familiar instance is
curious animal, called the hamster,
something between Il large rat and
III Nduuuu III w
servation was made by General Davies
On the profound winter sleep OF the
jumping mouse, and published, with
picture in the "Linnnan Transactions"
Tor 1897. The little animal, which was
curiosity in the summer time for its
lying leaps through the long grass,
was lost sight Of about the month OF
October, and was not seen again until
the month of May. General Davies
solved the problem OF what became OF
it all these months. A laboror, digging
the foundations of garden-house near
Quebec in the spring, turned up with
his spade a lump Of clay like cricket
pail; on breaking the clod he found a
nicely-molded round space inside, with
in which lay u jumping-mouse, with its
long hind legs folded against its breast
and its head sunk deeply between
them. 1t was placed in u chip box in
warm room until it should awake;
but the change OF atmosphere was too
abrupt for it, and it never awolse. The |
The jumping mouse cozily sleeping in
a smooth nest of clay two feet below
the ground brings us face to face with |
the whole problem OF winter sleep.
The animal had neither food nor air
for some six months OF the year, and
yet 1t was alive, and would resume all
its old agility with the warmth OF sum-
mer.
1t is clear that winter-sloepers sub
sist for months without food, but it is
not so easy to understand how they can
do without air. There is, however,
no doubt about the fact; their breath
ing becomes gradually slower during
the first week or two OF their hiberna-
ton, and soon ceases altogether.
Nearly all their manifold functions
come to rest. Taking no food, they
have nothing TO digest; their senses arc
lost for the time, and they are insensi-
Bile to pricks or pinching OF the skin.
A sleeping marmot has been trundled
along the ground like an inanimate
ball. The only organ that keeps
all the timc without a mo-
ment's rest is the heart, and even the
heart is brought down to less than half
OF its usual waking force. All these
facts have been confirmed, it is need
less to say, by the most minute obsery-
atoms. Learned Germans. Italians
and others have kept bats, hedgehogs,
and hamsters in their bed
rooms and back kitchens, and have
watched and Investigated the creatures
In all sorts OF ways There Is no doubt
at all that, unless when they are I'M
usually distubed. they do not breathe, {
do not feel, do not exercise any OF the {
ordinary functions OF their waking I
state, except the great and indispensa- /
able function of the heart. Their in !
ternal heat is kept little higher than
the temperature OF the air. 1t Is far
below the ordinary blood heat. but it is
Just high enough toprevent their being
frozen. The water OF their tissues lie
mostly dried up, and even the blood Is c
thicker than usual. Their muscles, p
both the voluntary and the involuntary. a
Ire in state OF rigid contraction-illl Il
except the heart OF course; and even c
,he hearts action becomes OF the slow y,
md massive kind, as in the muscles OF u
snail or OF II cold-blooded vertebrate. "
1t is certainly n very marvellous ,,dap- y
alton to the animals circumstances. q
All its fires burn lower; there Is SUR q
prising economy OF the living fuel and, Z
consequently, little or no waste. Its 4
establishment" is reduced, its scale OF s
living contracted, its expenditure
made to suit its income, or rather its
want ofincome. The astonishing thing