Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1891-08-29
Toads, Tadpoles and Frogs.

TOadS, TadpOleS auo fIo6o'
A long time ago toads were objects OF
.snnerstitious fear. They were associated
with witches and evil ones. loads were
Thought To be the constant companions
of witches. and by this companionshlp
were capable of doing injury to people In
one way or another for injury done to
them. or to 90 on errands of wickedness
for the witches. It was believed that II
one injured a toad his hands would be
covered with warts which could only be
removed by some charm or wltchcraft;
and il one killed toad his COWS would
give bloody milk till the person in some
way found favor with the witches.
Anothersuperstition is told OF wonder
full jewel, precious stone in the toads
head. which must be obtained IN some
other way than by killing the toad, and
which, if once rightly possessed, would
bring to its possessor all the powers be-
slowed by Aladdiu's Lamp. The Sala-
mander, the cyclopedia tells us, belongs
to this family, and comes in for Its share
of the superstition. This little animal,
it was believed, to do the errands OF the
evil ones, could go through fire and not
be burned. 1t may be that there is lit
tie of that superstition yet in mankind
for one can scarcely look at toad With
out an involuntary "ughF They are re-
pulsive surely, and perhaps this is why
the frog, instead of the toad, lie used more
for anatomical experiments. The frog
has been the subject of all sorts OF queer
experiments which prove that his brain
may be removed and he will swallow
what is put into his mouth; his lungs
NAV be taken out and he will breathe
through the pores of his skin; and it has
been estimated that if man were built
asa frog with those peculiar hinges In.
stead of ball and pocket joints that he
might easily leap one hundred and
twenty feet. They are useful to science
in many ways through vivisection.
Frog hams, when properly dressed, are
regarded by epicures as very rare bits
indeed. Frog hams have sold as high as
four dollars and fifty cents per dozen.
You will find them in many first class
markets during the spring. l have been
told that in many cities in Germany and
Prussia that women and men "cry" them
on the streets for the breakfasts of the
weather classes. A common way of
catching the bull frog is by batting hook
with bit of red flannel. Another way is
to form snare of horse hair, fasten it to
the end of a pole with Irvine, let it down
carefully before the fellow as he sits look
ing meditatively into the brook. When
you have it adjusted to nicely say some |
thing to him and he gives leap, you
give jerk and there you have him, just
below his arms. Now skin him and re-
move the hams, which are winter and
finer than the breast of fowl, and eat
them, with little bit of first class sauce.
There are some things about frogs that
you may find out for yourselves. Open
his enormous mouth and look at his
tongue. How is it fastened? Examine
his foot and find the joint or hinge which
gives him such jumping power. [ read
a story the other day about frog and a
baby alligator which were put in an
aquarium together. After while COM
motion was heard. The gentleman
looked to see what was the trouble and
found, as he stated, that Mr.. Frog had
taken down the small sauriaD head first
and was jumping against the glass sides
of the aquarium in vain efforts to drive
down the tail of the victim, which was too
long to find room inside for its accom-
mediation"