The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1897-12-29
A WONDER OF NATURE.
Some of the Unexplained Mysteries of
the alternating Animals.
LIVING WITHOUT FOOD Or AIR.

LIVING WITHOUT FOOD Or AIR.
From the New York Sun.
"The phenomenon of Information in
animals, fish and reptiles" said a
naturalist who has made the peculiar
and little understood phases of animal
life his particular study, sis something
that from its very nature and surroundz
ings can not be Investigated, and con-
sequently little is known as to the
cause, or as to what physiological
changes occur to animals that habitual-
ly retire to concealed places aud lie dor
mant, or in a lethargie sleep, for days,
weeks aud even months. 1t is known
that in the perfect hibernators the pro-
cesses Of nature are interrupted during
the period of this long insensibility.
Breathing is nearly, and in some hiber-
nators entirely suspended, and the
temperature of the blood, even in the
warm blood animals, falls so low that
how life can be maintained by it is a
mystery of mysteries.
"a variety of Rocky Mountain
ground squirrels, when in perfect hiber-
nation, has a temperature, only three
degrees above the freezing point OF
water, and when taken from their bur
rows in that condition these squirrels
are as rigid as If they were not only
dead, but frozen. But few minutes
in warm room will show that they
are pDI only alive, but full Of life. This
interesting fact in natural history was
first demonstrated by the late Andrew
Fuller, of Ridgewood, n. j., to whom
friend in the west sent pair of these
squirrels. When the weather became
cold, Mr.. Fuller missed his pets one
day. He supposed they had run away
from his premises. Nearly a month
later he found them by accident curled
! up beneath pile Of straw in one cor
ner Of an inclosure on his place. They
were so cold and stiff that he supposed
they were frozen to death. He carried
them into the house to show his wife
the fate that had befallen the poor
little rodents in the harsh eastern eli
mate. While he and she were discuss
ing the matter sorrowfully, the squir-
reis began to show signs of life, and
shortly were frisking about the room
as if they had not been apparently
frozen stiff for weeks. Mr.. Fuller then
knew that the squirrels had been in a
state Of Information, and it was such
an extraordinary one that he put them
out of doors again to let them resume
that condition If they might, so he
toight investigate it further. They
had no sooner got into the cold air than
the lethargic state began to assert itself,
and Mr.. Fuller covered them with
straw. A month later he took their
temperature, and found it to be as
have stated-only three degrees above
the freezing point of water. Again
they came back to life and activity
when placed in the warm room, but
after few hours showed plainly that
they were being bereft of their natural
winter sleep. Mr.. Fuller turned them
loose to find it again. They found it
as before, and they remained in that
condition until the warm weather re-
turned in the spring. when they came
out as chipper as if they hadn't lost
day or meal.
"As to the suspension of breathing
in hibernators, the fact is proved
sufficiently in the instances of the rae
coon and the woodchuck. When they
have laid themselves away for their
winter sleep they roll themselves up
comfortably and press their noses in
such peculiar position against their
hinder parts that it would be an abso-
lutte impossibility for them to draw a
breath. The popular bacEwoods belief
is that the bear rolls itself up in this
way and does not breathe, but, while
the bear is classed "a perfect hiber-
nator by naturalists, it breathes while
in its lethargy, as its blow holes in the
snow prove-holes melted in the snow
beneath which the animal frequently
slows itself away, under covering Of
leaves, which holes frequently betrsy
its presence to the woodsm-n.
"fhe marmot family produces the
soundest winter sleepers. When the
marmot is in its peculiar state Of hiber-
nation the electric spark will not rouse
it. The most noxious gases do not
affect it in the slightest. If its tempera-
ture is raised above that at which the
animal breathed in its natural state il
will die almost Immediately. This is
on the authority of the late Professor
A. Browne, who at one time was con-
nected with Lafayette college, and in
vestigated the subject of Information
and estivation further than any other
scientist that know of.
"The hamster, a rodent common in
Northern Germany, isanother animal
that has its peeuliarities as hiber-
nator. Professor Browne mentions a
hamster that was put into box which
was closed with earth and straw and
placed where the cold was intense,
but the hamster did not show any sign
of becoming torpid. The box was
then buried in the ground and was dug
up after some hours, when the animal
| was found In state Of the most pro