132 THE SALAMANDER— THE CHAMELEON. 



THE SALAMANDER 



Is an animal of the lizard kind, concerning which a number 

 of fables have been invented and propagated, from age to age, 

 and from country to country. The ancients have described it 

 as engendered by heat, living in flames, and feeding on fire as 

 its proper nutriment. This fictitious picture of an animal that 

 never existed, has vanished before modern investigation ; and 

 the salamander, divested of its fabulous properties, is found to 

 be no more than a particular kind of lizard, about seven or 

 eight inches long, and generally of a black colour, spotted with 

 yellow. When touched, it feels extremely cold to the hand ; 

 and it is not improbable that this circumstance may have con- 

 tributed somewhat to the fabulous descriptions of which it has 

 been the subject. When thrown into the fire it bursts, and by 

 ejecting its fluids, may seem to have some power in regard to 

 extinguishing a small flame ; but it immediately loses its life, and 

 consequently the experiment must be condemned as a reproach 

 to humanity. 



In forming an idea of the figure of the salamander, we ought 

 to suppose the tail of a lizard joined to the body of a frog, and 

 then we shall not be far short of precision. It differs also from 

 the rest of the lizard kind, in being viviparous, whereas all the 

 others are oviparous. 



THE CHAMELEON 



Is an animal of which the head is about two, the body four, 

 and the tail five inches long. In form, it not a little resembles 

 the crocodile ; but the thickness of its body varies considerably 

 at different times, as it possesses the faculty of blowing itself up 

 from one inch to two in depth ; and this power of inflation and 

 contraction is not confined to the body, but also extends to the 

 legs and tail. 



The colour of this animal is its most remarkable peculiarity. 

 The salamander has not been a more distinguished subject 

 of ignorant misrepresentation, than the chameleon has been of 

 philosophical inquiry. The surface of its skin is unequal, but 

 soft ; and when the creature is at rest in the shade, the emi- 

 nences appear of a bluish grey, and the intermediate spaces of 

 a pale red and yellow. When viewed in different lights, it as- 

 sumes every tint that can possibly be imagined ; and no two 

 spectators comd ever agree concerning its true colour. From 

 this circumstance it derives its celebrity, and on this account 

 has, in all ages, been introduced by moral writers as the emblem 

 of a fickle and inconstant mind. 



