62 NATURAL HISTORY 



It is strange that the matter with regard to the venom of 

 toads has not been yet settled. 1 That they are not noxious 

 to some animals is plain ; for ducks, buzzards, owls, stone 

 curlews, and snakes eat them, to my knowlege, with impu- 

 nity. And I well remember the time, but was not eye- 

 witness to the fact (though numbers of persons were) , when 

 a quack, at this village, ate a toad to make the country 

 people stare ; afterwards he drank oil. 



I have been informed also, from undoubted authority, that 

 some ladies (ladies you will say of peculiar taste) took a 

 fancy to a toad, which they nourished, summer after summer, 

 for many years, till he grew to a monstrous size, with the 

 maggots which turn to flesh flies. The reptile used to come 

 forth every evening from a hole under the garden steps ; 

 and was taken up, after supper, on the table to be fed. 

 But at last a tame raven, kenning him as he put forth his 

 head, gave him such a severe stroke with his horny beak as 

 put out one eye. After this accident the creature languished 

 for some time and died. 



1 This question has since been set at rest. The old prejudice that 

 they possess the power of communicating poison by their bite is wholly 

 unfounded; and the fluid which they eject from the cloaca when 

 frightened or handled is, in their case as in frogs, pure limpid water. 

 The skin, however, has been ascertained by Dr. Davy to secrete an acid 

 liquid, not perhaps poisonous, but capable of producing an uncomfor- 

 table sensation on the tongue ; a secretion of somewhat similar qualities 

 is poured out on the surface of the common land salamander of Europe. 



Mr. Bell has remarked that " the aqueous fluid above mentioned, 

 which is thrown out in considerable quantities by a frog or toad on being 

 taken in the hand, is held in a double bladder which opens into the 

 cloaca ; and this fact is connected with the absorbing power of the skin. 

 The cutaneous surface of these animals is now known to serve the pur- 

 poses of respiration ; but in order to perform this function, it is necessary 

 that it should be kept constantly in a moist condition. When placed 

 in water or in a sufficiently damp situation, the surface of the body 

 absorbs a considerable quantity of water, which is conveyed to the re- 

 ceptacle above mentioned, there to remain as in a reservoir for future 

 use ; and if the animal be exposed to a dry atmosphere, the fluid is 

 re- absorbed, and again secreted on the surface of the skin, in order to 

 keep up its respiratory function. This is the true history of the poison- 

 ous liquid of toads, as it is considered, which renders them the objects 

 of dread and hatred to the ignorant of all parts of the country." ED. 



