Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 November 1899 — Can Live Without Air. [ARTICLE]

Can Live Without Air.

The common snail, which, although it has longs, heart and general circulation, being In every respect an airbreathing animal, can yet live for an indefinite period without inhaling the least atom of air. On the approach of winter the snail retreats into Its shell, and hermetically closes the opening or mouth with a secretion of a silky texture, which is absolutely Impervious to both air and water. Spallanzani kept a small snail hermetically sealed in a glass tube, from which all air had carefully been removed, for four years and two months, and yet it resumed all its natural functions within less than an hour after being exposed to a temperature of 90 degrees.