HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



209 



The box-thorn or tea shrub {Lycium barbaruni), 

 grows plentifully on the sand-hills near the " pull- 

 over " at Mablethorpe, but must have escaped from 

 some cottage garden. 



Louth, Lincolnshire. 



SOME CURIOUS REMARKS ON THE 

 HISTORY OF TOADS. 



THESE brief remarks have been borrowed from 

 the "Natural History of Selborne,'' a work 

 written by Gilbert White, M.A., who lived in the 

 last century. Selborne, in Hampshire, is especially 

 beloved by naturalists. 



There have been many instances of toads being 

 tamed. Mr. Arscott mentions one which lived up- 

 wards of thirty-five years. Not the Last wonderful 

 part of the history of the toad, is the circumstance of 

 its being frequently found alive in the heart of solid 

 rocks, and internal cavities of trees. In 1777, 

 Herissant undertook some experiments to ascertain 

 the truth of what has been related on this point. He 

 shut up three toads in sealed boxes in plaster, and 

 they were deposited in the Academy of Sciences. At 

 the end of eighteen months, the boxes were opened, 

 and one of these toads was dead, but the other two 

 were still living. 



It was contended that the air must have come to 

 these animals, through some imperceptible hole, 

 which escaped the notice of the observer. 



Professor Buckland has made some experiments on 

 this subject, with the following results : — 



Two blocks of stone were taken, one of porous 

 •oolite limestone, and one of a compact silicious sand- 

 stone ; twelve cells, five inches wide and six inches 

 deep, were cut in the sandstone, and twelve others, 

 five inches wide and twelve inches deep, in the 

 limestone. 



In November, 1825, one live toad was placed in 

 each of the twenty-four cells, its weight being pre- 

 viously ascertained with care. A glass plate was 

 placed over each cell as a cover, with a circular slate 

 above to protect it ; and the two blocks of stone, 

 with the immured toads, were buried in Dr. Buck- 

 land's garden under three feet of earth. They were 

 uncovered after the lapse of a year, in December 

 1826. 



All the toads in the small cells of compact sand- 

 stone were dead, and their bodies so much decayed 

 as to prove that they had been dead for some months. 

 The greater number of the toads in the larger cells of 

 porous limestone were alive ; but they were all a good 

 deal emaciated, except two, which had increased in 

 weight. 



Dr. Buckland thinks they had both been nourished 

 by insects, which had got into the one cell, through 

 a crack found in the glass cover, and into the other, 



probably by some small aperture in the tubing, which 

 had escaped observation. 



Dr. Buckland came to the conclusion, that pro- 

 bably all rocks or other substances, which enclosed 

 toads, must contain some apertures by which air and 

 food could be obtained by the prisoner. Now, on 

 the other hand, a gentleman named Mr. Jessie in- 

 formed Mr. Gilbert White, that he knew a gentleman 

 who put a toad into a small flower-pot, and secured 

 it, so that no insect could penetrate it, and then 

 buried it so deep in his garden that it was secured 

 against the influence of frost. At the end of twenty 

 years he took it up, and found the toad increased in 

 bulk, and healthy. 



Haygarth Addison, L.R.C.P. 



SCIENCE DIRECTORY. 



Liverpool Astronomical Society. President, Rev. 

 T. E. Espin, B.A., F.R.A.S. ; Vice-Presidents, W. S. 

 Franks, F.R.A.S. ; W. F. Denning, F.R.A.S. ; J. E. 

 Gore, F.R.A.S., M. R.I. A. ; James Gill. Secretary 

 and Treasurer, W. H. Davies, F.R.A.S., 42 Irvine 

 Street, Liverpool. 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



At the recently held annual meeting of the British 

 Medical Association at Brighton, the most important 

 scientifically attractive feature was the exhibition of 

 cultivations of micro-organisms, by Dr. E. M. 

 Crookshank, and Dr. F. G. Penrose. Dr. Crook- 

 shank also showed a large series of microscopical 

 preparations of bacteria and other pathogenetic 

 organisms. 



We have received the reprint of a very thoughtful 

 paper in "The Garner" entitled "Plant Supersti- 

 tions," by Mr. W. E. Bowers. 



The American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science (based on the lines of the British) commenced 

 at Buffalo, on August iSth. 



The last supplement to " Buchanan's Monthly 

 Register" is devoted to a description of "Kapok," 

 the Malay term for Eriodendron aufractnosiim and 

 Gossam pinus alba — a new "raw material," which 

 possesses more silkiness than ordinary cotton. 



The lakes in the Aral-Ca-pian depression have 

 been gradually drying up for the last century. In 

 the last issue of the St. Petersburg Geographical 

 Society there is a full statement of the facts. 



Professor Rockwood, an American physicist, 

 states that seventy-one shocks of earthquake occurred 

 in North and South America during 18S5. 



