408 
TOADS. 
act both cruelly and improvidently by endeavouring 
to kill worms by dividing them into parts with their 
spades. I find that nearly all these portions 
survive and become perfect individuals in a short 
time. It would be a great saving to such persons 
if they were to fling the worms they meet with, 
into a tub of water or of quick lime placed at hand 
whilst they proceed in their operations. 
Frogs and Toads .—Sound philosophy and public 
opinion are ever at variance; and when the deduc¬ 
tions of science are but matters of common sense, 
and appreciable by ordinary minds, and yet are 
opposed by the public voice, how can it be said 
that the march of intellect has been rapid ? Men are 
ready enough to profit by the advice and assistance 
of science in matters of economy, and commerce ; 
but in abstract and abstruse questions there is no 
thirst of enquiry, and they are as bigotted in the 
sentiments of their progenitors, and as averse to 
conviction of their errors on such points, as are the 
inhabitants of any uncivilized country in the world. 
From this cause the destruction of harmless animals 
is conducted in our time with almost as much avidity 
as ever ; thus the toad, an animal not only inno¬ 
cuous but useful, is destroyed in the most disgusting 
manner because it is accounted venomous and 
unseemly. From this cause also, toads are very 
generally thought to remain for an indefinite time 
(ages I suppose) enveloped in the cavities and cre¬ 
vices of hard rocks, and sometimes to be similarly 
situated in the substance of trees. Not long ago 
a respectable person assured me he had seen a 
toad taken from the substance of a piece of oak, 
which was being sawed; upon enquiry respecting 
some aperture or entrance, he persisted that none 
existed. That toads are found in crevices of rocks 
is a fact which I have witnessed, and since these 
crevices are frequently deep and intricate, the 
