THE LIZARD KIND. 



717 



CHAPTER CLXII. 



OF THE SALAMANDER. 



THE ancients have described a lizard that 

 is bred from heat, that lives in the flames, and 

 feeds upon fire as its proper nourishment. 

 As they saw every other element, the air, tlie 

 earth, and water, inhabited, fancy was set to 

 work to find or make an inhabitant in fire ; 

 and thus to people every part of nature. It 

 will be needless to say that there is no such 

 animal existing; and that of all others, the 

 modern salamander has the smallest affinity 

 to such an abode. 



Whether the animal that now goes by the 

 name of the Salamander be the same with 

 that described by Pliny, is a doubt with rne ; 

 but this is not a place for the discussion. It 

 is sufficient to observe, that the modern sala- 

 mander is an animal of the lizard kind, and 

 under this name is comprehended a large 

 tribe that all go by the same name. There 

 have been not less than seven sorts of this 

 animal described by Seba ; and to have some 

 idea of the peculiarity of their figure, if we 

 suppose the tail of a lizard applied to the 

 body of a frog, we shall not be far from pre- 

 cision. The common lizard is long, small, 

 and taper; the salamander, like the frog, has 

 its eyes towards the back of the head ; like 

 the frog, its snout is round, and not pointed, 

 and its belly thick and swollen. The claws 

 of its toes are short and feeble; its skin 

 rough; and the tongue, unlike that of the 

 smallest of the lizard kind, in which it is long 

 and forked, is short, and adhering to the un- 

 der jaw. 



But it is not in figure than this animal chief- 

 ly differs from the rest of the lizard tribe; 

 for it seems to differ in nature and conforma- 

 tion. In nature it is unlike, being a heavy 

 torpid animal ; whereas the lizard tribe are 

 active, restless, and ever in motion : in con- 

 formation it is unlike, as the salamander is 

 produced alive from the body of its parent, 

 and is completely formed the moment of its 

 exclusion. It differs from them also in its 



general reputation of being venomous : how- 

 ever, no trials that have been hitherto made 

 seem to confirm the truth of the report. 



Not only this, but many others of the lizard 

 tribe, are said to have venom ; but it were to 

 be wished that mankind, for their own happi- 

 ness, would examine into the foundation of 

 this reproach. By that means many of them, 

 that are now shunned and detested, might ie 

 found inoffensive; their figure, instead of ex- 

 citing either horror or disgust, would then 

 only tend to animate the general scene of 

 nature ; and speculation might examine their 

 manners in confidence and security. Certain 

 it is, that all of the lizard kind, with which 

 we are acquainted in this country, are per- 

 fectly harmless; audit is equally true that, 

 for a long time, till our prejudices were 

 removed, we considered not only the Newt, 

 but the Snake arid the Blind-worm, as fraught 

 with the most destructive poison. At pre- 

 sent we have got over these prejudices; and, 

 it is probable, that if other nations made the 

 same efforts for information, it would be 

 found, that the malignity of most, if not all, of 

 the lizard tribe, was only in the imagination. 



With respect to the Salamander, the whole 

 tribe, from the Moron to the Gekko, are said 

 to be venomous to the last degree ; yet, when 

 experiments have been tried, no arts, no pro- 

 vocations, could excite these animals to the 

 rage of biting. They seem timid and inoffen- 

 sive, only living upon worms and insects; 

 quite destitute of fangs, like the viper, their 

 teeth are so very small that they are hardly able 

 to inflict a wound. But as the teeth are thug 

 incapable of offending, the people of the 

 countries where they are found have recourse 

 to a venomous slaver, which, they suppose, 

 issues from the animal's mouth ; they also 

 tell us of a venom issuing from the claws : 

 even Linnasus seems to acknowledge the fact; 

 but thinks it a probable supposition that this 

 venom may proceed from their urine. 

 5H* 



