THETOAD. 351 



the Germans did not find any bad consequences from 

 their repast, or suffered the slightest ill effect. 



From this it will appear that the animal has been 

 treated with injustice, and that it neither ejects a venom 

 that will corrode or destroy ; and that so far from ren- 

 dering sage poisonous, merely by reposing near it, it is 

 incapable of imparting any noxious effect, but is a 

 torpid harmless animal, that, during greatest part of 

 the winter, passes its life in sleep. 



The toad is known to be a long-lived creature, and is 

 believed by many to exist in the centre of rocks and 

 the bodies of oaks, without leaving the smallest appear- 

 ance of the path by which it entered, or there being 

 the slightest probability that it ever could return. — 

 Some instances have been related of their being applied 

 to cancers, and of their producing a most fortunate 

 and striking effect ; but I am inclined to think their 

 fame must rather have been exaggerated, or they 

 would doubtless, in those cases, be brought into ge- 

 neral use. 



Of this animal there are several varieties, which pro- 

 bably differ only in the colour of their skin. Their size 

 with us, is generally from two to four inches ; though 

 they are infinitely larger in the tropical climes ; some 

 of these are most beautifully coloured ; and the skin of 

 others appear studded over as if with pearls. It would 

 be a tedious task to enter into a minute discrimination 

 of them; but the pipal, or toad of Surinam, cannot be 

 passed over without being named, as an animal which 

 Nature has constructed with peculiar deformity, yet 

 rendered a phenomenon by its back being the habita- 

 tion for its brood. 



