SALAMANDERS. 3G3 



slimy matter, which did put out the neighbouring coals, to 

 which the salamander retired immediately, putting them out 

 again in the same manner as soon as they rekindled, and by 

 this means saving himself from the force of the iire for the 

 space of two hours. The gentleman above mentioned, be- 

 ing then unwilling to hazard the creature any farther : that 

 afterwards it lived nine months : that he had kept it eleven 

 months without any other food but what it took by licking 

 the earth on which it moved, and on which it had been 

 brought out of the Indies ; which at first was covered with 

 a thick moisture, but being dried afterwards again came. 

 After the eleven months, the owner having a mind to try 

 how the animal would do upon Italian earth, it died three 

 days after it had changed the earth.' 



In the preceding we find a record of a poor lizard, that 

 must have been not a little tortured. When put upon the 

 coals, it exuded a moisture, as any animal must necessarily 

 haA 7 e done ; and lizards being low in the scale of creation can 

 endure, without death, an amount of torture that would 

 prove fatal to a creature of more highly-developed nervous 

 system. Making allowance for some preconceived opinions, 

 there is nothing very extraordinary in this record. An ex- 

 perimentalist, deeply impressed with the belief that his sala- 

 mander must necessarily bear out the opinions entertained of 

 it, would naturally tend to interpret phenomena to accord 

 with his preconceptions. 



The following salamandrine recital has reference to so 

 late a date as the year 1789 : A certain French consul at 

 Rhodes Pothonier byname stated that, whilst sitting in 

 his chamber there, he heard a loud cry in his kitchen. Run- 

 ning thither, he found his cook in a horrible fright, saying 

 he had seen the devil in the fire. Thereupon M. Pothonier, 

 looking into the fire, saw a little animal with open mouth 

 and palpitating throat. 



When first observed, the creature was perfectly quiet, 



