The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1908-09-11

atom of truth in them, did Il good
deal to preserve the a!rca,iy well
established prejudice aginst the ""cn-
omous toad.'
In other directions the unfortun-
ate reptile has suffered much a. the
hands Of man. The c.lamrl.pn has
been lgnorantly credited with being
able to subsist on air, but the toad
from time immcmorial hn, been c.n-
sidcrcd capable Of dispcnsin. even
with that commodity. Tin ,ft-:old
stories Of toads being di severed alive
in solid blocks of stone or coal led
one Hcrissant, Frcnchman, in the
year 1777, to make experiments to
discover how much the ro;Salon or
garden toad would endure without
dying. lie shut up three toads in
sealed boxes in plaster, and they
were deposited in the Academy Of
Science. At the end of eighteen
months the boxes were opened, one OF
tho toads being dead and the othsr
two living. Nobody could doubt the
authenticity of the facts, says the
historian, but the experiments were
severely criticised, as we'll as the OBJ
scrvations which they seemed to c"a-
firm. 1t was contendcd that some air
must have reached the prisoners
through an imperccptiblc hole, and
some probability was given to this
contention by the researches of DR..
Edwards, published in 1917. The doe
tor observed that toads shut up il
boxes covered with plaster and ap-
parcntly deprived Of air lived mucl;
longer than those treated in same way
and placed under water. Herissant g
critics were therefore justified ii SUD-
posing that he had failal to make his
boxes airtight, but no one seems ("
have denied the fact that two Of the
miserable captives were able to liv.
for a year and half without fu,..
DR.. Buckland. father of the famous
Frank, made some much more cX-
haustive experiments upon toads.
Two blocks of stone were taken, one
Of porous oolitc limestone and one of
a compact sillicious sandstone. Twen-
ty-four cells were cut in the stone
and in November, 1925. Il live toad.
whose weight had been previously as
certaincd. was placed in each cell. a
glass plate was sealed over each cav
ity and slate above that, the two
blocks of stone being buried 3 feet
deep in DR.. Buckland garden. Elev-
cn months later the stones were dug
up and examined. All the toads in
the sandstone were dead, but the
greater number of those in the lime
stone were alive. All except two,
however, were much cmaciated, the
exceptions having actually increased
in weight. but it was supposed that
these might have been nourishcd by
some insects which had crawlcd
through crack in the glass. The liv-
ing toads were put back again and
carefully rcscalcd, but all were dead
before the end Of the second year.
-Four others, incloscd in the trunk Of
IN apple tree and hcrmctically sealed
were found dcad.at the end of year.
In spite Of such apparently conclu-
sive evidence as this we find the Rev.
Geo. Young in his theological Sur
vcy Of the Yorkshire Coast (publish-
ed in 1929, bringing forward several
instances Of living toads having been
found within solid blocks of sand
stone. "We are the more particular
in recording these facts' he obser-
YES, "becausc some modern philoso-
pliers have attempted to explode such
accounts as wholly fabulous.' Jesse,
the naturalist, also declared that he
knew man who put toad in flow
CT pot, sealed it mp so that no insect
could get in, and buried the pot in
the garden at Il great depth. At the
end Of twenty years the flower pot
was dug mp, and its occupant was not
only in perfect health, but had grown
| almost too big for his residence
There is no doubt that toad can 60
longer without food or air than many,
perhaps any-creatures, but that is
no reason why he should be the victim
of so much gratuitous cruelty. But he
always has been much misundcr-
stood creature, and one supposes that
he always will be. Prejudice and toads
die hard.
VERY LOW RATES,