1719: Toad Encased in an Elm Tree

In the Histories of the Royal Academy of Sciences for the year 1719 (France), the following short account was published.

        A toad had been found within an elm tree; the tree was the size of a man, and the toad had been enclosed in the middle at a point about three or four feet above the root. The toad, "of medium height" and thin, sprang out alive from it's encasement; there was no crack or hole that could have allowed the animal entry, food, or air. The fact was attested to by a Mr. Hubert, former Professor of Philosophy at Caen, who wrote of the event to a Mr. Varignon (presumably a representative of the Royal Academy).