The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-11-13
VITALITY OF FAocs.


a Question that has AgitatSd Science for
Many Years.
How long it is possible for frogs to
live without air and food has been .
matter of experiment many times; but
in the face of well established instances
like those quoted it is difficult to conduct
experiments that will be considered as
being of conclusive character. That
these creatures should be allie to live not
for centuries only, but for ages, appears
contradictory to all reason and common
sense. In some cases frogs have been
found in cretaceous rocks. The oldest
fossil toads and frogs occur in tertiary
rocks. If, therefore. those found in Gre
taceOus rocks had been there from their
formation it would be equivalent to say
ing that the live frog could be ages and
ages older than its fossil relative. To
most people such a declaration would be
the height of absurdity. If thoroughly
inquired into it would probably be dis
covered that in each case there
was q assure in the rocks or trees
in which frogs have been found
large enough for the admission of water
and the embryo frog which has devel-
Oped there. 1t has been assumed by
some that the frog naturally contains an
acid which by chemical action on the
stone provides that the space at the
frogs disposal shall be as large as its
body. A second hypothesis is that not
the egg, but the primary frog, scarcely
larger than the egg itself, falls into the
rock or tree and continues to grow, de-
irving air and food in the form of small
insects from the water that penetrates
to its abode. Certain it is that frogs,
when artificially secured in air-tight and
water-tight vessels, speedily die. Ex-
periments made by members of the
French Academy q century ago proved
this. Milne Edwards early in the pres
ent century inclosed frogs in vessels inn
perviOus to air. and the creatures speed
lily persisted. Three frogs were once in
closed in a close box for eighteen
months. at the end of which time one
was dead, and the remainder in dying
condition. DIR. Mccartney buried a
toad in a vessel covered with a slate
about foot deep in the ground.
At the end of q fortnight it seemed
well and as plump as
before. When, however, he in.
closed the same toad in an air-tight
vessel and buried it, it soon died. and at
the end of a week was much decayed.
DIR. auckland made some experiments
which are claimed as conclusive. He
placed twelve toads separately in
twelve holes cut in blocks of hard flinty
sandstone. They were firmly sealed in.
The imprisoned animals were buried
three feet deep on November 26. 1925.
At the same time four toads were de.
posted in holes cut in the heart of an
apple tree and the opening securely
plugged. Four others were also placed
in plaster of Paris, covered with luting.
On December 10. 1926, all the buried
tOads were examined. All in the hard
stone and in the tree and two in the
plaster of Paris were dead. The re-
mainder were dying, but some placed
in a softer stone were in tOlerably good
health, and some were actually fatter
than when placed in the holes. From
this it would appear that in positions
where water can penetrate, frogs may
live and even thrive. although buried at
a considerable depth, entirely away
from the light and any visible means OF
subsistence Chambers journal.