Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1858-09-25
From t'lc london Ficll Of July gan.
a Sh0l7sr Of Toads.

a Shower of Toads.
We had thought that in these rm.sh,encd
days, the iatiacy which hail been so ably cx-
posed by Mr.. Buc&ianl, relative TO frog show
crS, would hHyo hecn cDnSigncl to obliviou
but we arc surprised to find it not only re-
Suscitatcd in the columns of the Manchester
Examiner, hut fDstcrel by the protecting
arms oi the Times, in which the following
extract from the former paper has just caught
our eye:
ToApsToRM AT DUKINrIELD. very heavy
shower of rain took place on Sunday. about
one o'clock. accompanied 6y vivid flashes of
lightning and loud claps of thunder. The
lightning struck n tree near the Dukinicld
Acknowledgements. Chccthan-hiii-road. and
near the premises where considerable dam
arc was done hy lightning some Years ugo
| There was also a very heavy shower of rain
in Duknfcld on Friday last: end after it
was over, thousands of small toads wcrc
found in llall-grccn and about Dukinicld-
park. We understand that n couple of
landSlul were taken out ufone small hole
AMI the children wcrc filling their pockets
with them. Many are yet to be seen in pu.
kir'icld-parl.
Possibly "thc 'rhundcrer" knows more of
the results If storms ilan morcv human ma
tnraiiSt*; but as m"st plausible cxplana-
ton OF the sudden appearance of frogs has
been given by Mr.. BuckIaud in his '.Curios-
/ ties of Natural History" we extract il for
thc benefit Of those of our readers who may
like to compare it with the Times para grpph
promising that itnpplics to toatls as well as
! frogs. Small fish do. no doubt, sometimes
fall on the land at long distance inland,
and these are probably taken up by water
spouts from the sea F.: but frogs and ioads. be-
ing dcni2enS of frcshwatcr p ds. arr not
subject to these influences, and 0s thcirprc :
encc is easily explained. we have no neccss-
ty for having recourse to supernatural pow
ers. The following is an extract from Mr.
Buc&laud's bnuE:
1t may not here be out of place to give
the Interpretation Of frog showers. as now
most generally received by c0mpclcai Judges
The actual fact, that considerable spaces of
ground have been suddenly covered with nu-
mcrous small frogs, whore there were no
frogs before, has been proved beyond doubt
Some have called in the aid of wn,erSppu's.
whirlwindS, and similar causes. tn account
for their elevation into the regions Of air. and
some have even thought that they were form
cd in the Glands. from whence they were pre-
cipitatcd. II has generally Lccn il, August
and often aFtcr IL season Of DIR ught that
these hordGS of frog have made their an
rearance; but, with Mrs. Sidluns we will
evclaim, "llrw gat they thore?" Simply as
Follows: The animals have been hGcbeI
and quilted their tadpoie state and their
pond at the same time days before they be-
came visible 60, or rather observed by NOR
tai eyes. Finding it unpleasant in the hot.
parchcd fields, anl also running great
chance of being then and there dried up by
the heat Of the sun. they wisely rctrcatcd To
the coolest and damrcst places they could
find viz, under cl,d~ anil stones, where. on
account OF their dusl;y c'lur. they escaped mo-
ticc. Down come, the rain, out come the
frogs pleased with the chance. Forthwith
appears an article in tho county paper; the
good folks flock tuscctho p'caomcuJu. There
are Iie frogs hopping about the ,s,ors re-
member the shaver. and II simple country
man Swcars the frog fell in the showcr,nnd
he saw them fall: frogs, VISITORS countrymcn
editor, arc ali pleased, and nobody unlo-
cc.NcS them, npr are tLay willing Ia he undo
cciycd.