HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



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animals." Cuvier says : " They are animals, the 

 saliva of which has been erroneously considered 

 venomous, as also their supposed urine, and even the 

 moisture which exudes from the skin." However, he 

 does not mention the follicular glands mentioned by 

 Mr. Bell. 



Mr. Wood says : "The skin certainly does secrete 

 an acrid humour which at all events defends it from 

 dogs, who can seldom be induced to bite a toad a 

 second time." But the " British Medical Journal," in 

 an article quoted in the Science-Gossip magazine 

 for May 186S, is quite strong on the subject, and says : 

 " The toad does in reality possess a venom capable of 

 killing certain animals and injuring man. This poison 

 is a sort of epidemic, cutaneous secretion, which acts 

 powerfully if the skin be abraded at the time of 

 contact. Dogs which bite toads soon give voice to 

 howls of pain. On examination it is found that the 

 palate and tongue are swollen, and a viscous mucus 

 is exuded. Smaller animals coming under the influ- 

 ence of the venom, undergo true narcotic poisoning 

 soon followed by convulsions and death. Experi- 

 ments made by MM. Gratiolet, Cloez, and Vulpian, 

 show that the matter exuding from the parotid region 

 of the toad becomes poisonous when introduced into 

 the tissues. The venom exists in somewhat large 

 quantities on the toad's back. Heated with ether 

 it dissolves, leaving a residuum ; the evaporated solu- 

 tion exhibits oleaginous granules. The residuum 

 contains a tonic powder sufficiently strong, even 

 after complete desiccation, to kill a small bird." 



I have seen no later authority on this point, I have 

 stated how the question stands, and we may take 

 which side we like, i.e., the mild view taken by Mr. 

 Bell and Dr. Davy, or the strong view taken by the 

 " British Medical Journal." 



And now for another question of perhaps greater 

 interest than the last. I mean the stories of toads, 

 antediluvian toads as they were once called, found in 

 the substance of trees, and in hard rock where they 

 were supposed to have existed for some time deprived 

 of the possibility of access to either food or air, though 

 when found they were alive and vigorous. 



These stories, although they do not rest wholly on 

 the doubtful hearsay evidence of uneducated persons, 

 are still, I fear, of rather ancient date ; and that is the 

 worst of them, and of the experiments also. 



Smellie, in his " Philosophy of Natural History," 

 alludes to the account in the Memoirs of the Academy 

 of Sciences for 1719, of a toad found alive and healthy 

 in the heart of an old elm, and of another discovered 

 in 1 731 near Nantes in the heart of an old oak without 

 any visible entrance to its habitation. He adds that in 

 the many examples of toads found in solid rocks exact 

 impressions of their bodies corresponding to their 

 respective sizes were uniformly left in the stones or 

 trees from which they were dislodged. Again, in the 

 " Magazine of Natural History," vol. vi. p. 459, it is 

 stated that a toad was discovered in a solid piece of iron- 



stone, which on exposure to air exhibited symptoms of 

 animation, and being put into water lived about three 

 weeks, growing to nearly double its size when first 

 relieved from its confined cell. Unfortunately, this 

 discovery was made by some miners at the Rough 

 Hills Colliery, Shropshire, in the year 1823. 



Dr. Buckland observes: "The evidence is never 

 perfect to show that the reptiles were entirely en- 

 closed in a solid rock ; no examination has ever been 

 made until the reptile is first discovered by the break- 

 ing of the mass in which it was contained, and then 

 it is too late to ascertain without carefully replacing 

 every fragment whether or not there was any hole or 

 crevice by which the animal may have entered the 

 cavity from which it was extracted. Without previous 

 examination it is almost impossible to prove that 

 there was no such communication." The same author 

 remarks that the young toad, as soon as it has left its 

 tadpole state and emerged from the water, seeks 

 shelter in holes and crevices of rocks and trees. An 

 individual which when young may have thus entered 

 a cavity by some very narrow aperture, would find 

 abundance of food by catching insects which like 

 itself seek shelter in such cavities, and may have soon 

 increased so much in bulk as to render it impossible 

 to go out again through the narrow aperture at which 

 it entered. A small hole of this kind is very likely 

 to be overlooked by common workmen. Dr. Buck- 

 land commenced his experiments in November 1825. 

 A live toad was placed in each of twenty-four cells, 

 twelve cells made in a block of oolitic-limestone and 

 twelve cells smaller than those in a block of siliceous 

 sandstone, and a double cover of glass and slate was 

 cemented down over each cell by a luting of clay. 

 The weight of each toad was ascertained, and noted 

 as it was immured. The blocks were buried in 

 Dr. Buckland's garden three feet deep in earth. On 

 December 10, 1826, these blocks which had remained 

 unopen since they were buried were examined. Every 

 toad in the smaller cells of the sandstone block was 

 dead, and so much decayed, that they must have been 

 dead for some months. The greater part of those in 

 the larger cells of the oolitic block were alive. Strange 

 to say, two of them had increased in weight. Dr. 

 Buckland observes that the glass cover of the cell of 

 one of these two was slightly cracked, so that minute 

 insects might have entered ; but none were found 

 therein. As the luting of the cell of the other of these 

 two toads was not attentively examined, Dr. Buck- 

 land observes that it was probable that there was 

 some aperture by which small insects found admission. 



The other toads had decreased in weight, and all 

 the small ones were dead. The large ones died also 

 before the end of the second year ; they were examined 

 during that time through the glass covers of their 

 cells, but without removing them to admit air ; they 

 appeared always awake with open eyes, and never in 

 a state of torpor, but at each successive examination 

 they became more and more meagre, till at last they- 



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