94 LEISURE-TIME STUDIES. 



the limit of the toad's life may be assumed to be within 

 two years j this period being no doubt capable of being 

 extended when the animal gains a slight advantage, ex- 

 emplified by the admission of air and insect-food. Secondly, 

 we may reasonably argue that these experiments show that 

 toads when rigorously treated, like other animals, become 

 starved and meagre, and by no means resemble the lively, 

 well-fed animals reported as having emerged from an im- 

 prisonment extending, in popular estimation, through periods 

 of inconceivable duration. 



These tales are, in short, as devoid of actual foundation 

 as are the modern beliefs in the venomous properties of the 

 toad, or the ancient beliefs in the occult and mystic powers 

 of various parts of its frame when used in incantations. 

 Shakespeare, whilst attributing to the toad venomous quali- 

 ties, has yet immortalised it in his famous simile, by credit- 

 ing it with the possession of a "precious jewel." But even 

 in the latter case the animal gets but scant justice ; for 

 science strips it of its poetical reputation, and in this, as in 

 other respects, shows it, despite fable and myth, to be zoolo- 

 gically an interesting, but otherwise a commonplace member 

 of the animal series. 



