was interested
(according to the public papers) with this question. In digging a well
at Blois, in June of that year, "some workmen drew up from about a yard
beneath the surface a large flint, weighing about fourteen pounds, and
on striking it a blow with a pickaxe, it split in two, and discovered,
snugly ensconced in the very centre, a large Toad. The Toad seemed for a
moment greatly astonished, but jumped out, and rather rapidly crawled
away. He was seized and replaced in the hole, when he settled himself
down very quietly. The stone and Toad, just as they were, were sent to
the Society of Sciences at Blois, and became immediately the subject of
curious attention. First of all, the flint, fitted together, with the
Toad in the hole, was placed in a cellar, and imbedded in moss. There it
was left for some time. It is not known if the Toad ate, but it is
certain that he made no discharge of any kind. It was found that if the
top of the stone were cautiously removed in a dark place he did not
stir, but that if the removal were effected in the light, he immediately
got out and ran away. If he were placed on the edge of the flint, he
would crawl into his hole, and fix himself comfortably in. He gathered
his legs beneath his body; and it was observed that he took especial
care of one of his feet, which had been slightly hurt in one of his
removals. The hole is not one bit larger than the body, except a little
where the back is. There is a sort of ledge on which his mouth reposes,
and the bones of the jaws are slightly indented, as if from long resting
on a hard substance. Not the slightest appearance of any communication
whatsoever between the centre and the outside of the stone can be
discovered, so that there is no reason to suppose that he could have
drawn any nourishment from the outside. The committee, consisting of
three eminent naturalists, one of whom has made Toads his peculiar
study for years, made no secret of their belief that the Toad had been
in that stone for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years; but how he could
have lived without air, or food, or water, or movement, they made no
attempt to explain. They accordingly contented themselves with proposing
that the present should be considered another authentic case, to be
added to the few hundreds already existing, of Toads being found alive
imbedded in stone, leaving it to some future savant to explain what now
appears the wonderful miracle by which Nature keeps