ord which prove the possibility of Toads surviving
a protracted incarceration, effected by man, and therefore without their
will. In 1809, on opening a gap in a wall at Bamborough, in
Northumberland, for the passage of carts, a Toad, which had been
incarcerated in the centre of a wall, was found alive, and set at
liberty. A mason, named George Wilson, when building this wall, sixteen
years before, had wantonly immured the animal, in a close cavity formed
of lime and stone, just sufficient to contain it, and which he plastered
so closely as seemingly to prevent the admission of air. When
discovered, it seemed at first, as must naturally be supposed, in a very
torpid state; but it soon recovered animation and activity, and, as if
sensible of the blessings of freedom, made its way to a collection of
stones, and disappeared.[107]

Mr F. W. L. Ross of Broadway House, near Topsham, an acute and
experienced naturalist, narrates the following circumstances:--"In the
year 1821, I was residing in the country, and in my court-yard was a set
of stone steps for mounting on horseback. These being useless to me, I
desired they might be removed. On taking them down, the lowest step, a
coarse red conglomerate, measuring about three feet in length, ten
inches in depth, and about fourteen in width, was raised by a heavy bar.
It had been well bedded in mortar, in which, while soft, a Toad had been
evidently placed, as there was no appearance of any way by which it
could have found ingress or egress, the mould or cast being as perfect
as if taken in plaster. On the removal of the stone, the Toad remained
torpid for a few minutes, when it seemed to revive, and then crept out.
From the owners of the property I ascertained that the steps had been
placed there forty-five years before, and, to the best of their
knowledge, had never been moved.

"The second account is from a clergyman, and originated in my informing
him of the above. He caused a pit to be dug in his garden, six feet
deep; at the bottom was laid a slate, on which a full-sized Toad was
placed, with an inverted flower-pot over it. The hole and edges were
well luted with clay; the pit was then filled in, and on that day twelve
months reopened, when the Toad was found alive, and as well as when
inclosed in its living tomb. If, therefore, it could exist in such a
state for twelve months, it is not impossible that it might do so for a
much longer period."[108]

These curious facts de