The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-08-05


commerce is TO have O leading place
So m1uy sugs and bug, are O.. work
upon the rose bushes. SO many harm
mI insects a,a-e the gardens. that the
toad ha. come Co be badl, needed.
Hence We me TO have him a, any cost
Iu fact the toad is to be obtained even
DO The Commissioner shall be obliged
TO trade Eoyaist, ior him az the rate
LOT one toad 20 the bunch.
Shakespeare has much to say about
this interesting reptile The toad made
port %. the witches broth in Macbeth
and he is described as the toad, ugly and
yenomous which "hath yet a pre-
cious Jewel in his head Milton saw
Satan "sQuat ike a toad at the ear Of
Eve, all of which shows that the Prince
of Darkness IN spite Of his spiked tail,
cloyen foot and b.islets, was able, be
times, to get himself into a comfortable
attitude There is mention, moreover,
Of the toad in the Tdlmud and ancient
Chinese writings show that the reptile
was used in making a cooling febri-
fuge
Since shakespeare day the toad
has improved in character and de-
creased in wealth. That is to say,
while ugly to look upon as Of yore,
he Is not venomous and carries no
jewelry within or about his person.
Like the frog in his external aspect,
except for his dull hue, he IS even at
tractive to the eye Of science and
philanthropy 70 be sure, he is
dreaded by the small boy who charges
him with Impartlng warts but to the
husbandman, the insects he consumes
renders him a thing Of comfort aud a
10y forever. Upon the crest Of every
observant and selfrespecting gardener
ought to be a toad rampant, with or
without gules, according to taste in
bucolic heraIdry.
The habits of the toad find their
active display in the dead vast and
middle Of the night. By day the reptile
lies in a cool creyiCe duly bordering
on the problems of existence. When
the sun goes down he awakes and
wlnks significantly at belated worm.
As the stars come out he also comes
out and from then until morning he at.
tends strictly to his business. With
him business means the largest con-
sumption Of insectivora in the briefest
limit of time. 1t is marvellous how
many creeping and flying things he can
stow away under his spotted vest and
neither disturb his digestion nor i'm
pair his appetite
Famous as the toad is in song and
story, willing as be has been to give
point and edge to the rhetoric of the
orator and the verse of the poet, familiar
as he is to many races of men, he is a
stranger to these Islands. We have
toadieS, but no toadS. The latter were
known in prehistoric times, as witness
the still living toads which are some
times hewn from the matrices OF
primeval rock, Neracious chronicles
have it that the toad was found in
Ireland consorting with snakes and
that St, Patrick, in a moment of un.
scientific folly exercised him But
the fact remains that Hawaii had and
has him not. How that could have
been, in an economy of nature which
permitted such natural food and prey
for the toad as-well, say Kenyon and
NOrrie-to become prevalent here, is
past finding out, 1t is one Of the
mistakes Of nature to provide bane
and withhold an antidote-a mistake
which she does not often make.
Returning to the subject of the toad's
warts, we hasten to say that while he
has them himself they are not con
taglous, We boldly take this ground
even at the risk Of a contest with DR..
Trousseau, who may, on finding that
the Government wants the toads, pro
claim that they are disseminators OF
the fungus eXCrescenCe Of the human
hand Even if they were it would not
matter, as a great poet has said that
a wart is merely a "dimple turned
over" and we shall still insist, even if
a Commission reports otherwise, that
dimples are to be cultivated and not
suppressed Still firm regard to truth
enables US to say that the toad's warts
do not pass to the human skin either
| by Contagion, infection, incubation OF