TION. 



TOAD. Class III. 



the cancer, by the application of live toads ; but, 

 alas, they feem only to have rendered a horrible 

 complaint more loathfome. My enquiries on this 

 fubjecl:, and fome further particulars relating to the 

 hiftory of this animal, may be found in the Ap- 

 pendix. 



In a word, we may confider the toad as an 

 animal that has neither good nor harm in. it ; that 

 being a defencelefs creature, nature had furnifhed 

 it, inftead of arms, with a mod difgufting defor- 

 mity, that ftrikes into almoft every being capable 

 of annoying it, a ftrong repugnancy to meddle 

 with fo hideous and threatening an appearance. 

 Genera- The time of their propagation is very early in 

 the fpring : at that feafon the females are feen 

 crawling about opprefTed by the males, who con- 

 tinue on them for fome hours, and adhere fo faft as 

 to tear the very fkin from the parts they (tick to. 

 They fpawn like frogs -, but what is fingular, the 

 male affords the female obftetrical aid, in a manner 

 that will be defcribed in the Appendix. 



To conclude this account with the marvellous, 

 this animal is faid to have often been found in the 

 mid ft of folid rocks, and even in the centre of 

 growing trees, impriibned in a fmall hollow, to 

 which there was not the lead adit or entrance * : 

 how the animal breathed, or how it fubfifted (fup- 

 pofing the pofiibility of its confinement) is paft 



* Plot's Hifi. Staff. 247. 



our 



