44 Vitality of Toads, ^c. 



it does on the cold blooded animals, in which the circulation of the 

 blood can be carried on, independently of the action of the lungs. 



When the temperature of the air sinks below 60° Fahr. the cold 

 blooded animals begin to lose their sensibility ; when reduced to 

 40° they become torpid, and if continued in that temperature they 

 might remain unchanged for any length of time, as repeated experi- 

 ments seem sufficiently to prove. 



As respects the toads and frogs, that, in digging wells, have been 

 found in the clay, at the depth of twelve or fifteen feet, I see no 

 reason to think that they may not have lain there in a torpid state 

 ever since the deluge, as most of the materials above the solid rock 

 strata were, at that time, removed by the violent action of the water, 

 and these frogs and toads might have been inclosed at that time with 

 the materials that were every where in motion ; and if they were 

 not deposited in the earth at that time, but have been since covered 

 deep in the earth by some violent irruption of the waters, so as to 

 deprive them of air and food, their case will still be similar, for, ob- 

 viously, at the depth of fifteen feet there could be no supply of food 

 or air, and yet when taken out of the clay, they have soon become 

 quickened so as to move ; it is therefore possible that these toads 

 and frogs may have remained in this situation many years, or even 

 ages, — indeed, for a period incomparably longer than any person will 

 attribute to the life of these reptiles. 



As to the toads found enclosed in the trunks of trees, it is a case 

 much more within our comprehension ; there is no direct necessity 

 for supposing a very long continued vitality in them ; it is not sur- 

 prising that a toad, having crept into a hollow place in the trunk of 

 a tree, should not be able to get out of his confinement, and that 

 the place should, in the course of three or four years, become closed 

 up, in the natural process of vegetation ; and it is easy to admit 

 that there might be some crevice in the wood, through which in- 

 sects might enter and supply the animal with food. Again, as it is 

 well known that our trees that are not more than two feet in diame- 

 ter, are not unfrequently frozen completely through in winter, and 

 the toads might thus become so torpid, that, having no free circu- 

 lation of air, their torpidity might continue until they were extri- 

 cated from their confinement. That the lives of these reptiles, 

 when supplied with food and air, in the ordinary way, do not usu- 

 ally continue beyond twelve or fifteen years, we have every reason 



