92 LEISURE-TIME STUDIES. 



and superstitious persons to magnify what is uncommon, 

 and in his sage conclusion that, as a rule, such persons in 

 the matter of their relations "are not to be trusted." 



But it must also be noted that we possess valuable 

 evidence of a positive and direct kind bearing on the 

 duration of life in toads under adverse circumstances. As 

 this evidence tells most powerfully against the supposition 

 that the existence of those creatures can be indefinitely 

 prolonged, it forms of itself a veritable court of appeal 

 in the cases under discussion. The late Dr. Buckland, 

 curious to learn the exact extent of the vitality of the toad, 

 caused, in the year 1825, two large blocks of stone to be 

 prepared. One of the blocks was taken from the oolite 

 limestone, and in this first stone, twelve cells were ex- 

 cavated. Each cell was one foot deep and five inches in 

 diameter. The mouth of each cell was grooved so as to 

 admit of two covers being placed over the aperture ; the 

 first or lower cover being of glass, and the upper one of 

 slate. Both covers were so adapted that they could be 

 firmly luted down with clay or putty; the object of this 

 double protection being that the slate cover could be raised 

 so as to inspect the contained object through the closed 

 glass cover without admitting air. In the second or sand- 

 stone block, a series of twelve cells was also excavated; 

 these latter cells being, however, of smaller size than those 

 of the limestone block, each cell being only six inches in 

 depth by five inches in diameter. These cells were likewise 

 fitted with double covers. 



On November 26, 1825, a live toad kept for some time 

 previously to ensure its being healthy was placed in each 

 of the twenty-four cells. The largest specimen weighed 

 1185 grains, and the smallest 115 grains. The stones and 

 the immured toads were buried on the day mentioned, three 

 feet deep, in Dr. Buckland's garden. There they lay until 

 December 10, 1826, when they were disinterred and their 

 tenants examined. All the toads in the smaller cells of the 

 sandstone block were dead, and from the progress of decom- 



