Peron Collects A
Number Of Specimens, Places Them In A Vessel Filled With Sea-Water, And
Observes How, At Rhythmic
Intervals, the creature alternately contracts
and dilates in a fashion analogous to the art of breathing among more
highly organised
Animals; and he notices that the phosphorescence appears
and disappears with these movements, being most fully displayed when the
creature's body is most contracted, and disappearing during the moments
of most complete expansion. Here we have careful examination and
observation, study of the organism in its native habitat, anatomical
dissection, and experiment - a piece of biological work exceedingly well
done. Cuvier would have read the piece with satisfaction in his pupil.
Other Memoires by Peron, on the temperature of the sea on the surface and
at measured depths; on the zoology of the Austral regions; on dysentery
in hot countries and the medicinal use of the betel-nut; on sea animals,
such as seals; and on the art of maintaining live animals in zoological
collections, were valuable; and the subjects on which he wrote are
mentioned as indicating the range of his scientific interests. One of his
pieces of work which, naturally, aroused much interest in Europe, was an
extremely curious investigation relative to the physiological
peculiarities of females of the Bushman tribes in South Africa, where
Peron made an inland journey for the purpose.* (* There is a technical
note on this delicate subject in Girard's F. Peron, Naturaliste, Voyageur
aux Terres Australes (Paris, 1857); a book which also gives a good
summary of Peron's scientific work.)
When he died, Peron had not had time to apply himself adequately to the
enormous mass of material that he had collected.
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