52 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



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

 decanter. They 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 

 linea 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 projects 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 intelligent 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 though 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, she was accosted by a strange clergyman, 

 who, after expressing compassion for her situation, told her 

 that if she would make such an application of living toads 



