272 The Vitality of Toads enclosed in Stone and Wood. 



Art. VII. — On the Vitality of Toads enclosed in Stone and Wood; 

 by the Rev. W. Buckland, F. R. S., F. L. S., F. G. S., and 

 Professor of Geology and Mineralogy in the University of Ox- 

 ford. Communicated by the Author. 



From the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal. 



In the month of November 1825, I commenced the following ex- 

 periments w^ith a view to. explain the frequent discoveries of toads 

 enclosed within blocks of stone and wood, in cavities that are said to 

 have no communication with the external air. 



In one large block of coarse oolitic limestone, (the Oxford oolite 

 from the quarries of Heddington) twelve circular cells were prepar- 

 ed, each about one foot deep and five inches in diameter, and having 

 a groove or shoulder at its upper margin fitted to receive a circular 

 plate of glass, and a circular slate to protect the glass; the margin 

 of this double cover was closed round, and rendered impenetrable 

 to air and water by a luting of soft clay. Twelve smaller cells, each 

 six inches deep and five inches in diameter, were made in another 

 block of compact siliceous sandstone, viz. the Pennant Grit of the 

 Coal formation near Bristol ; these cells also were covered with simi- 

 lar plates of glass and slate cemented at the edge by clay. The ob- 

 ject of the glass covers was to allow the animals to be inspected, 

 without disturbing the clay so as to admit external air or insects into 

 the cell. The limestone is so porous that it is easily permeable by 

 water, and probably also by air ; the sandstone is very compact. 



On the 26th of November 1825, one live toad was placed in each 

 of the above-mentioned twenty four cells, and the double cover of 

 glass and slate placed over each of them and cemented down by the 

 luting of clay ; the weight of each toad in grains was ascertained 

 and noted by Dr. Daubeny and Mr. Dillwyn, at the time of their 

 being placed in the cells ; that of the smallest w^as one hundred fif- 

 teen grains, and of the largest one thousand one hundred and eighty 

 five grains. The large and small animals were distributed in equal 

 proportion between the limestone and the sandstone cells. 



These blocks of stone were buried together in my garden beneath 

 three feet of earth, and remained unopened until the 10th of De- 

 cember 1826, on which day they were examined. Every toad in 

 the smaller cells of the compact sandstone was dead, and the bodies 

 of most of them so much decayed, that they must have been dead 



