336 



HISTORY OF FROGS, LIZARDS, AND SERPENTS. 



to see what it was ; when I found an innum- ' 

 enable swarm of winged ants had dropped 

 round his hole ; which temptation was as irre- 

 sistible as a turtle would be to a luxurious al- 

 derman. In respect to its end, had it riot 

 been for a tame raven, I make no doubt but 

 it would have been now living. This bird, 

 one day seeing it at the mouth of its hole, 

 pulled it out, and, although I rescued it, 

 pulled out one eye, and hurt it so, that not- 

 withstanding its living a twelvemonth, it 

 never enjoyed itself, and had a difficulty of 

 taking its food, missing the mark for want of 

 its eye. Before that accident, it had all the 

 appearance of perfect health." 



To this account of the toad's inoffensive 

 qualities, I will add another from Valisnieri, 

 to show that, even taken internally, the toad is no 

 way dangerous. In the year 1692, some Ger- 

 man soldiers, who had taken possession of the 

 castle of Arceti, finding that the peasants of 

 the country often amused themselves in catch- 

 ing frogs, and dressing them for the table ; 

 resolved to provide themselves with a like en- 

 tertainment, and made preparations for frog 

 fishing, in the same manner. It may easily 

 be supposed that the Italians and their Ger- 

 man guests were not very fond of each other; 

 and indeed it is natural to think that the sol- 

 diers gave the poor people of the country many 

 good reasons for discontent. They were not 

 a little pleased, therefore, when they saw them 

 go to a ditch where toads, instead of frogs, 

 were found in abundance. The Germans, no 

 way distinguishing in their sport, caught them 

 in great numbers; while the peasants kept 

 looking on, silently flattering themselves with 

 the hopes of speedy revenge. After being 

 brought home, the toads were dressed -up af- 

 ter the Italian fashion : the peasants were 

 quite happy at seeing their tyrants devour 

 them with so good an appetite, and expected 

 every moment to see them drop down dead. 

 But what was their surprise to find that the 

 Germans continued as well as ever, and only 

 complained of a slight excoriation of the lips, 

 which, probably, arose from some other cause 

 than that of their repast." 



I will add another story, from Solenander; 

 who tells us, that a tradesman of Rome and 

 his wife who had long lived together with mu- 

 tual discontent ; the man was dropsical, and the 

 woman amorous: this ill-matched society pro- 

 mised soon, by the very infirm state of the 

 man, to have an end ; but the woman was 

 unwilling to wait the progress of the disorder ; 

 and therefore concluded that, to get rid of her 

 husband, nothing was left her but poison. 

 For this purpose she chose out a dose that she 

 supposed would be the most effectual ; and 

 having calcined some toads, mixed their 

 powder with his drink." The man, after tak- 



ing a hearty dose, found no considerable in. 

 convenience, except that it greatly promoted 

 urine. His wife, who considered this as a 

 beginning symptom of the venom, resolved 

 not to stint the next dose, but gave it in greater 

 quantities than before. This also increased 

 the former symptom ; and, in a few days the 

 woman had the mortification to see her detested 

 husband restored to perfect health, and re- 

 mained in utter despair of ever being a widow. 



From all this it will appear with what in- 

 justice this animal has hitherto been treated. It 

 has undergone every kind of reproach ; and 

 mankind have been taught to consider, as an 

 enemy, a creature that destroys that insect- 

 tribe which are their real invaders. We are 

 to treat, therefore, as fables, those accounfs 

 that represent the toad as possessed of poison 

 to kill at a distance ; of its ejecting its venom, 

 which burns wherever it touches ; of its in- 

 fecting those vegetables near which it resides ; 

 of its excessive fondness for sage, which 

 is rendered poisonous by its approach ; these, 

 and a hundred others of the same kind, 

 probably took their rise from an antipathy 

 which some have to all animals of the kind. 

 It is a harmless, defenceless creature, torpid 

 and unvenomous, and seeking the darkest 

 retreats, not from the malignity of its nature, 

 but the multitude of its enemies. 



Like all the frog kind, the toad is torpid in 

 winter. It chooses then, for a retreat, either 

 the hollow root of a tree, the cleft of a rock, 

 or sometimes the bottom of a pond, where it 

 is found in a state of seeming insensibility. 

 As it is very long-lived, it is very difficult to 

 be killed ; its skin is tough, and cannot be 

 easily pierced ; and, though covered with 

 wounds, the animal continues to show signs 

 of life, and every part appears in motion. 

 But what shall we say to its living for cen- 

 turies lodged in the bosom of a rock, or cased 

 within the body of an oak-tree, without the 

 smallest access on any side either for nourish- 

 ment or air, and yet taken out alive and per- 

 fect ! Stories of this kind it would be as rash 

 to contradict as difficult to believe ; we have 

 the highest authorities bearing witness to theii 

 truth, and yet the whole analogy of nature 

 seems to arraign them of falsehood. Bacon 

 asserts that toads are found in this manner; 

 Dr Plot asserts the same. There is, to this 

 day, a marble chimney-piece, at Chatsworth, 

 with the print of a toad upon it, and a tradition 

 of the manner in which it was found. In the 

 Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences there i? 

 an account of a toad found alive and healthy 

 in the heart of a very thick elm, without the 

 smallest entrance or egress. 1 In the year 

 1731, there was another found, near Nantes, 



1 Vide the year 1719. 



