The Natural History of Selborne 81 



evening ; so I hope Mazel x will have them fresh and fair to- 

 morrow morning. I gave some directions, in a letter, to 

 what particulars the engraver should be attentive. 



Finding, while I was on a visit, that I was within a reason- 

 able distance of Ambresbury [Amesbury], I sent a servant 

 over to that town, and procured several living specimens of 

 loaches, which he brought, safe and brisk, in a glass decanter. 

 xThey were taken in the gullies that were cut for watering the 

 meadows. From these fishes (which measured from two to 

 four inches in length) I took the following description : " The 

 loach, in its general aspect, has a pellucid appearance ; its 

 back is mottled with irregular collections of small black dots, 

 not reaching much below the lima lateralis, as are the back 

 and tail fins; a black line runs from each eye down to the 

 nose; its belly is of a silvery white; the upper jaw pro- 

 jects beyond the lower, and is surrounded with six feelers, 

 three on each side; its pectoral fins are large, its ventral 

 much smaller; the fin behind its anus small; its dorsal fin 

 large, containing eight spines ; its tail where it joins to the 

 tail-fin, remarkably broad, without any taperness, so as to be 

 characteristic of this genus ; the tail-fin is broad, and square 

 at the end. From the breadth and muscular strength of the 

 tail it appears to be an active, nimble fish." 



In my visit I was not very far from Hungerford, and did 

 not forget to make some inquiries concerning the wonderful 

 method of curing cancers by means of toads. Several in- 

 telligent persons, both gentry and clergy, do, I find, give a 

 great deal of credit to what is asserted in the papers, and I 

 myself dined with a clergyman who seemed to be persuaded 

 that what is related is matter of fact ; but, when I came to 

 attend to his account, I thought I discerned circumstances 

 which did not a little invalidate the woman's story of the 

 manner in which she came by her skill. She says of herself 

 " that, labouring under a virulent cancer, she went to some 

 church where there was a vast crowd ; on going into a pew, 



1 Pennant's engraver. ED. 



