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IX. Observations on the poison of the common toad. By John 
Davy, M. D. F. R. S. 
Read December 22, 1825. 
In every country in which this animal is found, it is con- 
sidered poisonous by the common people ; and the opinion 
may be traced back to a very remote antiquity. Of late 
years the notion has been rejected by the professed naturalist, 
and placed in the number of vulgar prejudices. Thus, 
M. Cuvier speaking of the common toad, remarks : “ Ce 
sont des animaux d'une forme hideuse, d6goutante, que 1’on 
accuse mal-a-propos d'etre venimeux par leur salive, leur 
morsure leur urine, et meme par Thumeur qu’il transpirent.” 
In this, as in some other instances, the common and long 
received opinion is well founded, and that of the philosopher 
hastily and erroneously formed. 
The poison of the common toad, I find, is seated chiefly 
in the integuments, in follicles in the cutis vera, beneath the 
cuticle and the coloured rete mucosum. These follicles are 
largest and most numerous near the shoulders, and about 
the neck of the animal ; yet they are very generally distri- 
buted, and even on the extremities. Pressure being applied 
to the skin, a yellowish thick fluid exudes, and occasionally 
spurts to a considerable distance. It may be collected with 
ease in sufficient quantity for examination. It possesses, I 
* Le regne animal distribue d’apres son organisation ; tom. ii. p. 94. Paris, 1817. 
