44 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



" with six feelers, three on each side : it's pectoral fins are large, 

 " it's ventral much smaller ; the fin behind it's anus small ; it's 

 "dorsal-fin large, containing eight spines ; it's 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 was 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 

 thought I discerned circumstances which did not a little invali- 

 date 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 as is 

 mentioned she would be well ". Now is it likely that this un- 

 known gentleman should express so much tenderness for this 

 single sufferer, and not feel any for the many thousands that 

 daily languish under this terrible disorder .'' Would he not have 

 made use of this invaluable nostrum for his own emolument ; or, 

 at least, by some means of publication or other, have found a 

 method of making it public for the good of mankind } In short, 

 this woman (as it appears to me) having set up for a cancer- 

 doctress, finds it expedient to amuse the country with this dark 

 and mysterious relation. 



The water-eft has not, that I can discern, the least appearance 

 of any gills ; ' for want of which it is continually rising to the 

 surface of the water to take in- fresh air. I opened a big-bellied 

 one indeed, and found it full of spawn. Not that this circum- 

 stance at all invalidates the assertion that they are larvce : for the 

 larvcE of insects are full of eggs, which they exclude the instant 

 they enter their last state. The water-eft is continually climbing 

 over the brims of the vessel, within which we keep it in water, 



' [This is true of full-grown efts, but the efts pass through a tadpole-stage, in 

 which they breathe by gills.] 



