Reproduction
Object numberRCSHC/P 7
Scientific nameOryctolagus cuniculus
CollectionHunterian
CategoryDry preparations
DescriptionTwo rabbit ears, one in natural state, the other inflamed as a result of a freezing experiment.
This is one of the more famous specimens in the collection. It comes from an experiment carried out by John Hunter in 1777 to observe the effect of freezing on living tissues. Hunter carried out many experiments to investigate the effect of heat and cold on the growth of animals and plants. He published the results in two papers in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. In his lectures, Hunter described an unsuccessful attempt to revive a frozen fish. He said:
‘Till this time I had imagined that it might be possible to prolong life to any period by freezing…I thought that if a man would give up the last ten years of his life to this…it might be prolonged to a thousand years;…Like other schemers, I thought I should make my fortune by it; but this experiment undeceived me.’
Production date 1777
Preparator
Owner/user
presented
Related objectsRCSSC/HDB/4/1/342/2RCSSC/HDB/4/1/342/3
Physical Location
Location
Not on public display: contact museum for access conditions
Physical Information
Physical descriptionDry preparation of tissue mounted in an oval glass jar with glass lid.
Materialglass (material)
Dimensions
whole height: 140 mm
whole width: 109 mm
whole depth: 56 mm
whole weight: 542 g
whole width: 109 mm
whole depth: 56 mm
whole weight: 542 g
Bibliography
SourceProger 1966-1972
Vol. 1, pages 4-5.
NotesText taken from Hunterian MS. label.
Transcript"The two ears of a rabbit, the smaller in the natural state; the other was in a state of inflammation at the time of the death of the animal, and is more vascular, and in some degree thicker in its substance." A further account of this experiment, of which the prime design was to determine whether the life of parts of the body would be manifested again on thawing them after they had been frozen, is given in the same work at page 108. The experiment was performed in 1777.
SourceHunter 'Works'
Vol. 3, pages 322-3.
NotesAlso in Proger 1966-72.
TranscriptParts inflamed, when compared with similar parts not inflamed, show a considerable difference in the size of the vessels, and probably from this cause bring an increased number to view. I froze the ear of a rabbit and thawed it again; this excited a considerable inflammation, an increased heat, and a considerable thickening of the part. This rabbit was killed when the ear was in the height of inflammation, and the head being injected, the two ears were removed and dried. The uninflamed ear dried clear and transparent, the vessels were distinctly seen ramifying through the substance; but the inflamed ear dried thicker and more opake, and its arteries were considerably larger.... The parts inflamed appear to become more vascular; but how far they are really so I am not certain; for this appearance does (at least in part) arise from the dilation of the vessels, which allows the red part of the blood to go into vessels where only serum and coagulting lymph could pass when they were in a natural state; and till the newly-extravasated substances become vascular, the effect is most probably owing wholly to the above cause.
Page 6.
NotesListed in William Clift's catalogue of the drawings of morbid anatomy as Drawing No. 3, page 6. Attributed by Clift to William Bell, so before 1789. Figured in Hunter's Treatise on Blood as Plate V.
SourceClift 1830 Part 2
NotesCatalogue number is 581.
TranscriptThe ears of a rabbit, the smaller of which was in its natural condition, the other in a state of inflammation, at the time of the death of the animal, in consequence of which it is more vascular, and in some degree thicker in its coats. [The state of the ear was induced by the act of freezing, in an experiment on the power of producing heat in animals, in the year 1777.]
