808 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



up its body in several folds like 

 serpents. It can remain ?ome time 

 in the water without danger, and it 

 casts a very thin pellicle of a green- 

 ish grey colour. Salamanders have 

 even been kept more than six 

 months in the water of a well, with- 

 out giving them any food; care 

 only was taken to change the water 

 often. 



It has been remarked, that every 

 time a land salamander is plunged 

 into the water, it attempts to raise 

 its nostrils above the surface, as if 

 to seek for air, which is a new 

 proof of the need that all oviparous 

 quadrupeds have to breathe, during 

 ihe time they arc not in a state of 

 torpor. The land salamander has 

 apparently no ears, and in this it 

 resembles serpents. It has even 

 been pretended, that it does not 

 hear, and on this account it has got 

 the name of sourd, in some pro- 

 vinces of France. This is very pro- 

 bable, as it has never been heard 

 to utter any cry, and silence in 

 general is coupled with deafness. 



Having then, perhaps, one sense 

 Jess than other animals, and being 

 deprived of the faculty of commu- 

 nicating its sensations to those of 

 the same species, even by imperfect 

 sounds, it must be reduced to a 

 much inferior degree of instinct; it 

 is, therefore, very stupid, and not 

 bold, as has been reported ; it does 

 not brave danger, as is pretended, 

 but it does not perceive it. What- 

 ever gestures one niakos to frighten 

 it, it always advances without turn- 

 ing aside : however, as no animal is 

 deprived of that sentiment necessary 

 for its preservation, it suddenly 

 compresses its skin, as is said, when 

 tormented, and spurts forth upon 

 those who attack it that corrosive 

 milk which is under it. If beat, 



it begins to raise its tail ; afterwards 

 it becomes motionless, as if stunned 

 by a kind of paralytic stroke ; for 

 we must not, with some naturalists, 

 ascribe to an animal so devoid of in- 

 stinct so much art and cunning as to 

 counterfeit death. In short, it is 

 difficult to kill it ; but when dipped 

 in vinegar, or surrounded with salt 

 reduced to powder, it expires in 

 convulsions, as is the case with se- 

 veral other lizards and worms. 



It seems one cannot allow a be- 

 ing a chimerical quality without re- 

 fusing it at the same time a real pro- 

 perty. The cold salamander has 

 been considered as an animal endued 

 with the miraculous power of re- 

 sisting and even of extinguishing 

 lire, but at the same time it has been 

 debased as much as elevated by this 

 singular property. It has been made 

 the most fatal of animals ; the an- 

 cients, and even Pliny, have devot- 

 ed it to a kind of anathema, by af- 

 firming that its poison is the most 

 dangerous of all. They have written 

 that, iafetdng with its poison al- 

 most all the vegetables of a large; 

 country, it might cause the destruc- 

 tion of whole nations. The mo- 

 derns also, for a long time, believ- 

 ed the salamander to be very poi- 

 sonous ; they have said, that its 

 bite is mortal, like that of a viper ; 

 they have sought out and prescribed 

 remedies for it ; but they have at 

 length had recourse to observations, 

 by which they ought to have be- 

 gun. The famous Bacon wished 

 naturalists would endeavour to as- 

 certain the truth respecting the poi- 

 son of the salamander. Gesner 

 proved by experiments that it did 

 not bite, whatever means were used 

 to irritate it ; and Wurf bainus shew- 

 ed that it might safely be touched, 

 and that one might without danger 



drinl^ 



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