The philosophy of natural history / by William Smellie ; with an introduction and various additions and alterations intended to adapt it to the present state of knowledge by John Ware.

  • Smellie, William, 1740-1795.
Date:
1824
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The philosophy of natural history / by William Smellie ; with an introduction and various additions and alterations intended to adapt it to the present state of knowledge by John Ware. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    bear. When tamed, they eat every thing presented to them, as flesh, bread, fruit, roots, pot-herbs, insects, he They delight in the regions of frost and of snow, and are only to be found on the tops of the highest mountains. These animals remain in a torpid state during winter. About the end of September, or the beginning of October, they retire into their holes, and never come abroad again till the beginning of April. Their retreats are formed with much art and precaution. With their feet and claws, which are admirably adapted to the purpose, they dig the earth with amazing quickness, and throw it be- hind them. They -do not make a simple hole, or a straight or winding tube, but a kind of gallery in the form of a Y, each branch of which has an aperture, and both terminate in a ca- pacious apartment. As the whole operation is performed on the declivfty of a mountain, this innermost apartment alone is horizontal. Both branches of the Y are inclined One of the branches descends under the apartment, and follows the de- clivity of the mountain This branch is a kind of aqueduct, and receives and carries off the filth of their habitations; ;nid the other, which rises above the principal apartment, is used for coming in and going out. The place of their abode is well lined with moss and hay, of which they lay up great store during the summer. They are social animals. Several of them live together, and work in common when forming their habitations. Thither they retire during rain, or upon the ap- proach of danger. One of them stands centinel upon a rock, while the others gambol upon the grass, or are employed in cutting it, in order to make hay. If the centinel perceives a man, an eagle, a dog, or other dangerous animal, he alarms his companions by a loud whistle, and is himself the last that enters the hole. They continue torpid during winter, and, as if they foresaw that they would then have no occasion for victuals, they lay up no provisions in their apartments. But, when they feel the first approaches of the sleeping season, they shut up both passages to their habitation ; and this operation they perform with such labor and solidity, that it is more easy to dig the earth any where else, than in such parts as they have thus fortified. At this time they are very fat, weighing sometimes twenty pounds. They continue to be plump for three months; but afterwards they gradually decline, and, at the end of win- ter, they are extremely emaciated. When seized in their re- treats, they appear rolled up in the form of a ball, and covered with hay. In this state, they are so torpid that they may be