Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-07-17
EXPERIMENTS ON SNAlLS.
They VIII Live Under Conditions which
Wound Appear 10 BE tataI.

Copenhagen Naturon os Mrnnssket)
spallanzri has proved that the COM
mon snail may be- deprived Of any ~ the
four conditions OF life and YET survive.
Il simply ret.rcs within IT'S shell ana goes
10 sleep Spallanzani cut small openings
I'm the shells OF the snals Through
these he could clearly s,- the functions
of uf- IN operation. IA the temperature
gradually diminished these operations bee
came weaker and weaker. M % degrees an
movements ceased ami the snail APP
peared ~ bee dead. A. soon as me tenn
pcrature was raised movements inii"1-
tive of life began again bN raising M
temperature 20 normal height thn snail
regained It's normal powers. Thus the *
perm-nter qulckeued and reduced life al
his pleasure.
To prove that the absence Of heat su--
ponds tho snaifs animation through the
winter season. Spalianzani made the fol-
lowing experiments When the snail Poe
tired within ia shell IL closed IL herme,i-
cally. and both she'll and operculum were
impenetrahle 20 air. The scientist bored
very small hole in the operculum and
fastened me glass tube in 20, excluding
the possibility Of air getting in. iie then
placed the snail under water and forced
air into the shell through the tube II
there were any fine openings in the shell
or the operculum or n the snail before
entering had nlled The shell with air,
the air forced into it by means ~ the
tube would cause air bubbles 20 be vi~-
bic through the shell. lat Spaliauzani
could not detect any. He made another
experiment 20 test this
lie bored hole IN the opercuum OF
another snail. and again lifted an alright
3D. int. f..f HNsa
with quicksilver He then turned tube
and snail upside down ami dipped thn end
OF the tube into cup filled With quick
silver II the suails she'll was absolutely
without air the tub. would show 49, TOE
IL woull act like a barometer Stalen-
zani found that there WAS no air inside
Of the shell. During the winter he placed
several snail barometers side d. SIDE
with ordinary barometers for comparison.
Tn. snail barometers" acted exactly
az the regular haromcters.
Suallauzani. however. went further II
was possible he thought, that The snail
before shutting himself up. might have
laid in q supply of air. liz therefore Elk
tended his experiments 20 many Sp',.-
mons mAkiag examinations just after
the snail had retired. I'm m" middle ~
winter. and I'm tn. spring. and proved 10
his satisfaction that thu snail had not
breathed during the winter. lie also kept
number OF snais during tho winter
ON the bottoms OF glass Jars filled VIII
water, OIL and quicksilver proving con-
clusiyely that they had no air supply
during that time. To prove that u Is
want OF oxygen that puts the snails 20
sleep. he set them in vessel filled with
/ hydrogen. For about ten minutes me
interior organs acted as usual. breathing
the hydrogen, but they suddenly ceased
| and the snail CLOSED the shell by the
opercuum and lay still. Al tho end Of
| five hours Spallanzani forced a little at
mospheric air into the lungs OF the snail
| and almost Immediately the heart began
| 10 act and the blood 90 circulate. When
| H. stopped the supply OF air the opera
| t0ns of life also stopped. The snail re-
manned immobiie when carbonic acid gas
| or hydrogen was forced In. II U.s. couse-
! quently. the oxygen which sets the organ
| ism in motion.