The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1898-01-08
0mr 0lin.
A WONDER OF NATURE.
Some of the Unexplained Mysteries
Of the alternating Animals
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun
The phenomenon of Information in
animals, fish and reptiles, said natural
ist who has made the peculiar and little
understood phases of animal life his par
ticular study, sis something that from its
very nature and surroundings cannot be
investigated, and consequently little is
known as to the cause, or as to what physi-
illogical changes occur to animals that
habitually retire to concealed places and
lie dormant, or in a lethargic sleep, for
days, weeks and even months. 1t is
known that in the perfect hibernators the
processes Of nature are interrupted during
the period Of this long insensibility.
Breathing is nearly, and in some hiberna-
tors entirely, suspended, and the tempera-
ture OF the blood, even in the warm -blooded
animals, falls so low that how life can be
maintained by it is mystery of mysteries.
GA variety of Rocky Mountain ground
squirrels, when in perfect Information, has
temperature only three degrees above
the freezing point of water, and when
taken from their burrows in that condition
these squirrels are as rigid as if they were
not only dead, but frozen. But a few
minutes in warm room will show that
they are not 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 Il
friend in the west sent pair of these squir-
rels. When the weather became cold Mr..
Fuller missed his pets one day. He sup
posed they had rnn away from his prem
ises. Nearly month later he found them
by accident curled up beneath pile of
straw in one corner 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 climate.
While he and she were discussing the mat
ter sorrowfully the squirrels 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 state of Information, and it was
such an extraordinary one that he put
them out of doors again to let them renew
that condition, if they might, so he might
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 4 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 a 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
returned in the spring, when they came
out as clipper as if they hadn' lost day.
or meal
.'As to the suspension of breathing in
hibernators, the fact is proved sufficiently
in the instances of the raccoon and the
woodchuck. When they have laid them
selves 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 breath.
The popular backwoods belief is that the
bear rolls itself up in this way and does
not breathe, but, while the bear is classed
as a perfect hibernator- by haturalists, it
breathes while in its lethargy, as its blow
holes in the snow proves-holes melted in
the snow beneath which the animal fire.
quently slows itself away, under a cover
ing of leaves, which holes frequently betray
its presence to the woodsman.
1.-THE marmot. family produces the sound
est winter sleepers When the marmot is
in its peculiar state of Information the cleo
tric spark will not rouse it. The most
noxious gases do not affect it in the slight
est. If its temperature is raised above
that at which the animal breathed in its
natural state it twill die almost Immediately.
This is on the authority of the late Pro-
fessor Peter A. Browne who at one time
was connected with Lafayette college, and
investigated the subject of Information and
estivation further than any scientist that |
know OF. '"...'
'The hamster, rodent common in
Northern Germany, is another animal that
has its peculiarities as a hibernator Pro-
fessor Browne mentions 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 profound
lethargy And this hamster was kept in
room where there was no fire. The ami
NAL rolled itself up in corner but pres
emily woke up and came out. 1t was in
the best of health, but died in few days
'suffocated, Professor Browne declared,
because it could not have confined air 7
"Our own familiar wild animals, the
bear the raccoon and the woodchuck-
the ground hog of colloquial nomencla-
! ture-are tIassed as perfect hibernators
because they store no food for winter, but
have acquired thick, fatty secretion be-
tween the skin and flesh, which, it is sup
posed, supplies them with sustenance As
a matter of. fact, although dormant ami
mails absorb fat, it does not enter into their
digestive organs. The same fat absorp-
ton occurs when the animal is dead. If
you kill rabbit, or any other animal, and
leave the entrails in it the fat will disap-
pear in a short time. Remove the entrails
and the fat viii remain, Food introduced