The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1898-01-14
That Is The Question PROT. Rees Is Trying
to Ascertain for Science.
MEDICAL MEN WOULD BE BENEFITED
New York Letter to St. Louis Globe.

A collection OF snakes, toads, turtles,
woodchucks, squirrels, and rabbits, all
| huddled together in an toutbuildlng at
| Prof. Rees' pleasant home on the side
OF Snake HILL Just back Of Newburg.
may he the means of solving one of the
most important scientific questions of
! the day-that OF suspended animation.
These animals and reptiles have been
collected for experiments that will be
carried on all through the winter
months. They are all alternating ami
mails, and they will be subjected to
| different degrees of cold. varying from
very moderate temperature, which
merely chills the creatures into n semi-
torpid state, to the hardest kind Of a
freeze. In fact. some Of the animals
| will be artillcially frozen In blocks of
Ice and kept there until early spring.
| ~ large shed. with a natural earth
| flooring. has been provided for the pur-
| pose. In this place the animals can
burrow down three feet in the soil for
protection from the cold but then
| they come to II board flooring through
| which they cannot penetrate. The
| building is so exposed to the cold north
and west winds that 1t will have a very
| low temperature all winter. Every day
as the season advances Prof Rees will
examine his queer congregation of pets.
! and note the first instance of hiber-
| nation. partial or complete, and take
| account of the temperature in the shed
! There are half n dozen animals of each
Kind so that allowances may be made
| for individual Information of the diff
| ferent species.
Very little is accurately known about
the information of bur North American
animals, and the best scientists dispute
| among themselves about the question
| Some animals are supposed to hiber-
nate, but no trustworthy observer has
| ever found all of them in this condition.
| Prof Reese will demonstrate beyond
| dcuSt whether certain animals spend
| their winters In sound sleep, and also
the temperature required to send them
| off into their stupor
| But this Is only a small mart lof his
| investigations. AS the animals sue,
cumb gradually TO the soporinc effect
| OF the cold they will be picked up and
| laid OH slabs OF ice in the cold shed,
and examinations of their internal or
cams be made. Is Information another
form Of suspended animation ? That
rs the question that the professor
wishes to ascertain. Does the heart
9top beating, aud do the lungs cease to
expand and contract in animals that
are apparently dead in the middle of
the winter, but which quickly revive
| under the influence 9f heat If this
| question could be satisfactorily deter
| mined medical science would be greatly
benefited. for people in cataleptic at
tacks resemble alternating animals so
closely that It Is difficult to describe the
diherence. 1T Is supposed by some en-
inent medical experts that there is
condition Df SUSPENDED animation In
both men and animals when one Is truly
nsither dead nor alive. 1t is lowering
on the border land between life and
death. Cold creates this state in ami
mails every winter; but various mental
and nervous troubles produce it locca-
sionally in human beings.
The animals will be subjected to in
| jections OF powerful stimulants durinE
their Information state, and to other eX-
pcrimcnts to see IL they can be revived
without the Influence bf heat Several
OF the smaller ones will De artihclally
frozen up in blocks OF ice, ana prcscrv-
Ell IN This condition as long as possible
1T is an unsettled question just how
lon- the animals can exist in their
winter sleep ana SO blocks of these
frozen animals will he thawed out
every three months. beginning In the
early spring. Two of them will be kept
for couple of winters and summers.
Instances of arctic fauna frozen I'D in
icebergs and revived by the melting of
the Ice in warm seas are quite COM
mon, and there is MO good reason WIN
our alternating animals should not be
asle to stand the same treatment.
Information is quite common among
most of our northern animals, although
| there are many peculiar exceptions, and
In the tropics extreme heat causes a
| similar condition among the fauna
| called destination. In the tropics. where
extreme heat and drought come on reg
| ularly MANY of the animals go into n
| stupid sleep. from which they are not
aroused oGain until the return OF the
rainv season. Prof. Recs has spent
| many years In tropical America. where
ne closely studied this destination in
animals. and came ito the conclusion
| that it. was nearly identical with hi
| bernation and also to what we call sus
pended animation in human beings.
To carry out this theory, he quotes the
ancient Egyptians and the Indian ia
Elrs, whom he believes discovered the
secrets Of suspended anima ton and
| used their knowledge to bewildcr tho
Europeans. They could certainly pro.
ducc the condition of suspended ANNA
ton at WILL or at least Something very
similar to II.
Il do not believe there is absolute
DEATH the professor explains, for tina
would mean total extinction Of life
l'ht believe That all Of the organs
cease 81 operate except the heart, which
keeps up an almost indistinct action
| have taken alternating animals and
decapitated them and the heart was
| found TO beat for days afterwa,d
Moreover have subjected them to al
sorts OF conditions that would kill then
ordinarily. I have plunged them into
water for hours a a time, keeping Their
heads submerged; but they have sur
vived under the influence of heat. ]
have also sealed them ND In vessels
filled with carboric and other gases
but they did no. die. This will acc,un.