44 Vitality of Toads, &c. 
it does on the cold blooded animals, in which the circulation of the 
blood can be carried on, independently of the action of the lungs. 
When the temperature of the air sinks below 50° Fahr. the cold 
blooded animals begin to lose their sensibility; when reduced to 
40° they become torpid, and if continued in that temperature they 
might remain unchanged for any length of — as repeated experi- 
ments seem sufficiently to prove. 
As respects the toads and frogs, that, in sei wells, have been 
found in the clay, at the depth of twelve or fifteen feet, I see no 
reason to think that they may not have lain there in a torpid state 
ever since the deluge, as most of the materials above the solid rock 
strata were, at that time, removed by the violent action of the water, 
and these frogs and toads might have been inclosed at that time with 
the materials that were every where in motion; and if they were 
not deposited in the earth at that time, but have been since covered 
deep in the earth by some violent irruption of the waters, so as to 
deprive them of air and food, their case will still be similar, for, ob- 
viously, at the depth of fifteen feet there could be no supply of food 
or air, and yet when taken out of the clay, they have soon become ~ 
quickened so as to move; itis therefore possible that these toads 
and frogs may have remained in this situation many years, or even 
ages,—indeed, for a period incomparably longer than any person will 
attribute to the life of these reptiles. 
As to the toads found enclosed in the trunks of trees, it is a case 
much more within our comprehension ; there is no direct necessity 
for supposing a very long continued vitality in them; it is not ‘sur- 
prising that a toad, having crept into a hollow place in the trunk of. 
a tree, should att be able to get out of his confinement, and that 
the place should, in the course of three or four years, become closed 
up, in the natural process of vegetation; and it is easy to admit 
that there might be some crevice in the wood, through which in- 
sects might enter and supply the animal with food. Again, as it is 
well known that our trees that are not more than two feet in diame- 
ter, are not unfrequently frozen completely through in winter, and 
the toads might thus become so torpid, that, having no free circu- 
lation of air, their torpidity might continue until they were extri- 
cated from their confinement. That the lives of these reptiles, 
when supplied with food and air, in the ordinary way, do not usu- 
ally continue beyond twelve or fifteen years, we have every reason 
