Class III. TOAD. 17 



Sv/eet are the ufes of adverfity, 



Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, 



Wears yet a precious jewel in his head. 



But thefe fables have been long exploded : we 

 fhall now return to the notion of its being a poi- 

 ibnous animal, and deliver, as our opinion, that its 

 excefiive deformity, joined to the faculty it has 

 of emitting a juice from its pimples, and a dufky 

 liquid from its hind parts, is the foundation of the 

 report. 



That it has any noxious qualities we have been 

 unable to bring proofs in the fmallefl: degree fa- 

 tisfactory, though we have heard many ftrange re- 

 lations on that point. 



On the contrary, we know feveral of our friends 

 who have taken them in their naked hands, and 

 held them long without receiving the left injury: 

 It is alio well known that quacks have eaten them, Not Poison. 

 and have befides fqueezed their juices into a glafs, 

 and drank them with impunity. 



We may fay alfo, that thefe reptiles are a com- 

 mon food to many animals ; to buzzards, owls, 

 Norfolk plovers, ducks, and fnakes, who would not 

 touch them were they in any degree noxious. 



So far from having venomous qualities, they have 

 of late been confidered as if they had beneficent 

 ones. We wifh, for the benefit of mankind, that 

 we could make a favorable report of the many at- 

 tempts of late to cure the moft terrible of difeafes 



Vol. III. C the 



ous. 



