THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 321 



whether this living shower came from above, the soldiers 

 spread out their handkerchiefs on a level with their heads, 

 and found they were covered directly. After the storm, 

 the astonishment was general when the soldiers saw this 

 unexpected brood leaping about in the folds of their cocked 

 hats. 



The second well-attested shower of toads fell, in 1834, in 

 the town of Ham, when the streets, roofs, and gutters were 

 immediately filled with a great quantity of these young 

 animals. 



As far back as the epoch of the Renaissance, a celebrated 

 physician, Cardan, who brought out so many strange hy- 

 potheses, nevertheless hit upon the truth in respect to this 

 phenomenon. He supposed that the showers of frogs were 

 to be attributed to water-spouts, which carried these animals 

 off from the mountains, and let them fall at some distance, 

 when they burst. Recently, when this phenomenon gave 

 rise to such great discussion in the Academy of Sciences, the 

 wise and learned Dumeril leaned to this opinion. He sup- 

 posed that the water-spouts, passing over the fens, pumped 

 up the water as well as all it contained, and carried it off to 

 be deposited at a distance. 



In support of this very rational hypothesis, Arago men- 

 tioned that whirlwinds often bear away from the sea masses 

 of water, which they let fall in the form of rain six or seven 

 leagues from the shore. Hailstones, much larger than little 

 toads, are completely suspended for a certain time in the 

 clouds. 



It is, however, maintained that, if this opinion were cor- 

 rect, showers of fish ought also to fall. In reply to this ob- 



