. The natural history of birds [microform] : from the French of the Count de Buffon. Ornithology; Birds; Ornithologie; Oiseaux. SWALLOW. 481 fome twice as long as thofe confined under wa- ter*. It may be objc^Sled, that, as frogs are found beneath ice, they may fubfilt a confidcrable time without air. But it is well known that, v/hen water freezes, the air ul'ually contained in it is difengaged, and gatl^ers below the fuper- ficial cruft; fo that the frogs may fl:ill inhale the vital breath. If, therefore, the foregoing experiments evince that frogs and fifh cannot exift without air, and if th


. The natural history of birds [microform] : from the French of the Count de Buffon. Ornithology; Birds; Ornithologie; Oiseaux. SWALLOW. 481 fome twice as long as thofe confined under wa- ter*. It may be objc^Sled, that, as frogs are found beneath ice, they may fubfilt a confidcrable time without air. But it is well known that, v/hen water freezes, the air ul'ually contained in it is difengaged, and gatl^ers below the fuper- ficial cruft; fo that the frogs may fl:ill inhale the vital breath. If, therefore, the foregoing experiments evince that frogs and fifh cannot exift without air, and if the experience of all ages and nations proves that, at certain intervals, at leaft, every amphi- ⢠Of the two barbels that were left to die out of the water in a room without a fire, the thermometer being feven degrees above nought (about 48° r 'arenlieit), the one was a foot long, weighed thirty-three ounces, ad lived eight hours; the other mcafured a little more than nit inches and a half, weighed fevi^iiteen ounce.';, and lived four heurs aud fcventeen minutes: when^is the two fillies of (he fame fpecies lived underwater, the one only three hours and forty-fix minutes, and the other but three hoars aad a quarter. But fuch was not the cafe with the dog-fi(h, for the largelt, vvhich was five inches and nine liiiBs long, l!^'ed only three hours in the air; and the other, which was four inches nine lin.^s, lived three, hours and three quarters under water. During tne courfe of thefe obfervations, I thought that I could perceive the a^o^y of tlie fifli marked by the ceffation of the regular notion of the and by a periodical convulfion in thefe organs, whicii retuaned twi:e or thrice in a quarter of an hour; the large barbel had thiri; ;en of thefe in feventy-feven minutes, and the la'i feemcu to kl;:notc the ia- ftant of its death. In one of the frtiah ones, the final moment was marked by a convulfion of the ventral hns; but, in molt of tiiem, that, of all the external


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