BEPTILES. 257 



Shakspeare, living at a time when such ideas were still cur- 

 rent, should embody them in his writings, and speak of the 

 Toad as "loathsome," "venomous," and "poisonous,"* should 

 place it first in the cauldron of the witches, and add thereto, 

 " Eye of newt and toe of frog." f 

 Such records, " figuring the nature of the time deceased," 

 are of high interest and value, for they serve most impressively 

 to mark the varying phases of popular belief at different epochs. 

 In one passage the poet has given us a singular though erro- 

 neous tradition, and a profound moral truth — 



" Sweet are the uses of adversity, 

 AVhich, like the toad, ugly and venomous, 

 Wears yet a precious jewel in his head." 



As You Like It, Act ii. scene 3. 



There is evidence of the former existence in these countries 

 of a gigantic reptile of the present order. From the peculiarly 

 convoluted structure of its teeth, it has received from Professor 

 Owen the highly descriptive appellation of Labyrinthodon : a 

 term compounded of two Greek woi'ds, signifying " a laby- 

 rinth" and " a tooth." It has left the mark of its footsteps, 

 resembling the impression of a hand, on the moist sand-beach 

 of the ancient seas, which sand is now consolidated into what 

 is termed "new red sandstone." The impressions vary in 

 size, but those of the hind feet are invariably much larger than 

 those of the fore. In some cases their length is so much as 

 twelve inches, while that of the smaller is about four inches. 

 At the Storeton Hill, near Liverpool, on the west side of the 

 Mersey, similar marks have been found, along mth those left 

 by five or six smaller reptiles. 



• "As loathsome as a toad." — Tit. And. Act, iv. scene 2. 



" As venomed ioads."— Third Part K. Henry VI. Act ii. scene 2. 

 ^^ This poisonous hunch-backed toad." — Richard III. Act i. scene 3. 

 f For convenience of reference, the passages referred to are extracted : — 

 First Witch — " Toad, that under the cold stone 



Days and nights hast thirty-one, 



Swelter'd venom sleeping got, 



Ikiil thou first i' the charmed pot ! 

 Second Witch — Fillet of a fenny snake, 



In the cauldron boil and bake : 



F.ye of neivt and toe of frog, 



AVool of bat and tongue of dog, 



Adder's fork and blindwonn's sting, 



Lizard's leg and owlet's wing." 



Macbeth, Act iv. scene 1. 



