National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-11-07
AatiuuaI gepHbIitau
IMPRISONED FROGS AyD TOADS.

I IMPRISONED FROGS AND TOADS.
| The imprisonment Of frogs and toads in
stone is much more remarkable than that in
the trunks of trees, even if we believe only
modicum of the narratives published on the
subject. The statements are unmistakable,
and are made in all good faith, that living
frogs and toads are occasionally met with thus
imbedded, and that exact impressions of their
bodies, corresponding to their respective sizes,
are left in the cavities of the stone where they
are found. Chatsworth is credited with hay
ing once had 1--WE do not know whether it still
exists marble chimney piece with a print of
a toad in it; there was a Evolutionary account
of the place and msnner fnWhich it was found
The Mining Journal contains an account of q
discovery made by miner at Peny- Daran,
near Merthyr-Tydvf. When working at =
depth of forty five feet his mandrel struck into
piece of shale; a frog, large but weak, IeaPed
out and erawled along the ground with some
difficulty; the eyes were full sized, but appar-
emily sightless; the mouth seemed as if perma-
nently closed, and the spine was twisted as If
it had been compelled to adapt itself to a mar
row and ill-shaped space. The frog, when
liberated, grew in size and weight, but could
not be fed; he appeared to breathe through the
skin covering the lower jaw. We certainly
his prodigy to admiring visitors at a public
house in Merthyr; and considering the inteu-
sity Of popular belief on this subject, we must
view indulgently his inscription "The great
est wonder Of the world a frog found in q
stone forty feet below the surface of the earth,
where it has been living without food for tie
last five thousand years "
The first question is, how much of these mar
ratives to believe; and the second, how to ac-
count for so much as we do believe. That frogs
~ 81, IL
long abstinence, that their power of hiberna-
ton is something extraordinary, and that the
skin has the property Of acting upon the
atmosphere in such way as to fulfill in some
degree the functions of the lungs, are facts
admitted b. naturalists. The toad also, when
kept in damp place, can live several months
without food of any kind. Smellie, while eau
tiously abstaining alike from positive belief
and absolute incTedulity, recommended obser-
want men to attend to such positive explana-
ton as the following: SIN the rocks there are
many chinks as well as assures, both horizon
tel and perpendicular, and in old trees nothing
is more frequent than holes and yacuities of
various dimensions. Though these assures
and yacuities the eggs Of tOads may acclden-
tally be conveyed by water, the penetration of
which few substances are capable of resisting.
After the eggs are Matched the animals may
receive moisture and small portions of air
through the creYices of rocks or the channels
of aged trees; but" he modestly adds, 81
mean not to persuade, for cannot satisfy my
self" Mr.. Broderip, the naturalist, does not
admit the probability of Smellie's conjecture
concerning the conveyance Of the frogs eggs
by water.
No one now doubts that frogs, toads, snakes
and lizards really do issue occasionally from
rock broken in a quarry, hard stone lOosened
in well-sinking, and coal or shale dug
in a colliery; but the question is whether the
substances were really solid and impossible
n al he atn T0r P1oI nj
remarked that ''the evidence is never perfect
to show that the reptiles were entirely inclOsed
in solid rock. No examination is ever made
until the reptile is first discovered by the
breaking of the mass in which it was con-
tanned and then it is too late to ascertain with
out carefully replacing every fragment (and in
no case that have seen reported has this ever
been done) whether or not there was any hole
or creyice by which the animal may have en-
tered tie cavity from which it was extracted.
Without previous examination it is almost i'm
possible to prove that there was no such COM
munication."
DR.. auckland, to test the matter in some de-
gree, made some remarkable experiments. He
caused twelve circular cells or cavities to be
cut in large block of coarse Oolitic limestone,
with provision for air-tight glass cover to each
cell. Twelve other cells were cut in a block of
silicious sandstone. Twenty-four live toads
were put into the cells, one in each, the covers
fastened down air-tight, and the blocks of stone
buried three feet deep in garden. They were
left undisturbed for twelve months, at the end
of which time the cells were opened.
All the tOads in the sandstone rock were
dead, but most of those in the Oolite (tke-eeIls
of which were larger) were still living. Some
had lessened in weight, some had increased.
But as a few of the plates of glass were found
cracked, it was deemed possible that minute
insects might have entered. The living toads
were left alone for another twelve months, at
the end of which time all were dead. Seen
through the glass covers, the poor fellows
seemed to be always awake, with open eyes.
Perhaps they were marveling what crime Of
theirs had subjected them to sentence of two
years solitary confinement.
To sum up: The best naturalists now agree
that, however wonderful the ascertained phe-
nomea really are, frogs and toads cannot live
one year wholly without air, nor probably TIVE
years wholly without food.