THE COMMON TOAD. ^17 



and when they have collected a considerable quan- 

 tity of them, they place them before a large fire, 

 but at a sufficient distance to prevent their being 

 roasted. The heat excites the cutaneous secretion, 

 which is collected by the Indians as it is discharged 

 from the pustules, for the purpose of poisoning their 

 arrows. The humour secreted in the follicles of the 

 triton, or great water newt, has similar properties, 

 but is less virulent. 



In a recent number of a French journal, an 

 instance is recorded of the virus of the toad enter- 

 ing the blood of a child, and causing death : — 



A young lad, ten years of age, named Louis P , whose 



parents are small tradespeople in the Faubourg Sdint-Antoine, 

 was playing with some of his companions near Bercy, not far 

 from a building in the course of demolition. This boy, who 

 was of a delicate constitution, had a slight abrasion of the skin 

 of the right hand. Having seen a lizard crawl into a hole in an 

 old wall, he put in his hand, but instead of the lizard he drew 

 out an enormous toad, which he immediately threw on the 

 ground. The skin of the toad is covered with large tubercles, 

 formed by an aggregation of small pustules, open at their 

 summit. A milky liquid, of a yellowish-white colour, very 

 thick, and of a fetid odour, escapes from these tubercles when 

 the animal is irritated. Whilst the lad had the animal in his 

 hand, this liquid, which is a violent poison, was introduced 

 through the wound in his hand into the blood. He was soon 

 after seized with vertigo, vomitings, and faintings, and was 

 carried to the house of his parents, who called in a doctor 

 immediately; but already the malady had made such progress 

 that, in spite of the most energetic means employed, the patient 

 soon died.* 



* Petit Journal, 29th March, 1865. 



