Most of our readers, no doubt, have noticed accounts of living
toads, that have been found enclosed in stones and trees. This is
perhaps one of the most extraordinary facts that has come within the
observation of naturalists; so extraordinary, indeed, that few, on
the first mention of it, have given it credence. So many instances,
however, have occurred, attested by authority so respectable, that
it would seem there now remains little room for doubt. Some of the
most remarkable may here be mentioned--instances that are well
substantiated, and which have led inquiring men to investigate as
minutely as possible the philosophy of the matter.--A living toad
was found in a large stone at Newark, on Trent, in England--it was
white, measured three and a half inches, and appeared incapable
of bearing light; for its motions argued an incompatible state,
and in an hour it died. But in this time it was seen by several
hundred people.--Three living toads were discovered lying together
in a stone quarry near Cassel. No aperture was discoverable on the
outside of the stone. The toads could with difficulty be removed
from their bed, and endeavoured to return whenever they were
removed, but died in the course of half an hour. More of the same
kind might be added; every one's recollection will no doubt, supply
him with instances which have occurred in our own country. Though
naturalists have endeavoured to account for this astonishing fact,
yet we think their speculations have been in general very visionary.
The best account we have seen, is that by J. G. J. Ballenstedt,
rector of Papsdorf, in the duchy of Brunswick. The substance of
this we present to our readers, hoping that will at least be found
amusing, at a time when political news is scarce, and uninteresting.
More than amusement need not be expected; for we regard his
speculation as we do most speculations of mineralogical travellers
and geological societies--mighty light, airy and unsubstantial
stuff. But let his rectorship be heard.
Another world besides the one we now inhabit, has had its existence,
inhabited, as ours is, by animals terrestrial and marine. A
time was when all that is now land was covered by the ocean, as
the secondary mountains, with their beds of petrified marine
productions, abundantly prove. "There, where at present the plough
turns up the soil, and countless cornfields shine with their golden
harvests--where immense forests spread their luxuriant trees,
among which numerous wild animals sport--where hills and mountains
raise their varied summits--where herds of cattle graze--where
rivulets and rapid streams wind through valleys, and where cities
and villages are now situated--there formerly raged the waves of
this ocean--there swarmed hosts of marine animals, of numberless
forms and magnitudes."--The Almighty spoke, the waters disappeared,
and these animals were left on dry land; those belonging to the
dry land were swallowed up, together with their habitations, in
the great deep. Sea animals that have been petrified, are found at
the present day in the bosom of the earth; and under the bottom of
the sea are discovered river muscles and the beds of former great
rivers. Whole forests were buried, and have been subsequently turned
into coal. The slime and mud of the bottom of the sea, when left
dry, was hardened into stone, and strata of regular conformation;
which, to produce the present irregularity met with among them, (we
suppose,) have undergone divers severe twistifications, by means of
earthquakes, the great steam engine of geologists, whose boiler has
burst more than once; we may credit the accounts of these profound
world makers.
During this awful catastrophe, these living toads were probably
enclosed in their stony prisons. They were covered and buried
with mud, which afterwards was hardened into stone by the active
exertions of Mr. Unknown Process, a worthy old gentleman, of
astonishing powers, who occasionally has the kindness to assist poor
philosophers in their immense task of creating worlds. In this mud,
poor fellows, they would have gone the way of all flesh, had it not
been for their peculiar organization; for they possess the "power
of sleeping and remaining in a state of torpor during the winter
without having occasion for any nourishment during that period."
When enclosed in mud, therefore, the same process went on as in
winter, but for a longer time.--They had nothing to do but to go to
bed, and get to sleep as soon as possible, and enjoy a comfortable
nap of several thousand years, till accident should unhouse them,
and turn them out to enjoy the glorious light of the sun, and a
thousand other things they had never dreamed of. Being fast asleep,
and so closely and comfortably wrapped up in a stone blanket
several feet thick, "no exhalation could take place from them, and,
therefore, there could be no necessity to replace the lost animal
juices by various nourishment." Wonderful phenomenon! The toad, this
highly and much despised animal, was of all others the only one
capable of undergoing this experiment of nature, and, thereby, of
viewing a second time the light of the world. All others the most
noble and most beautiful of creatures, even man himself, had it not
in his power to live to see such a blessing. Man, with his fellow
creatures, could only pass into a new world in a petrified state;
insects of a former world could only be preserved from complete ruin
in amber, and the mammoth be preserved partially in ice; but the
toad was capable on account of its tenacious powers of life, and its
peculiar nature, to pass from the old world into the new one, in a
living state, and by these means to be snatched from destruction. It
has twice trodden the theatre of the world!!--Wonderful phenomenon!
we respond. Wonderful, indeed, when we take into consideration the
many other created beings that sleep during winter, which had the
same risk to run of being enclosed in this mud, and therefore,
"from their peculiar nature," had the same chance of enjoying a
comfortable nap of several thousand years.
[_Milledgeville Journal._