liana Punctata.
described as an Egyptian species it is difficult to saj', but it is almost certain that this species is not found in Egypt, and it is almost as certain that none but the R. cscuhnta does occur in that country (Giinther, "On the Geographical Distribution of Batrachia," Amuds N. II. 1850). It is not at all unlikely, however, that an unusual species ■ft-as selected on this extraordinary occasion, in order to deepen the impression of the vis- itation. A species of tree-frog {Uyla) occurs in Egypt, but ivith this genus we have nothing to do. (See Has- selquist, Tuiv. p. 68, 254; Seetzen, Reise, iii, 245, 350, 364, 400.) But, considering the immense extent of tlic Nile from south to north, and the amazing abundance of these animals which it contains in the state of spawn, tadpole, and complete frog, it is likely that different species, if they do not occur in the same locality, are at least to be met with in different latitudes. Storks and other waders, together witli a multitude of various enemies, somewhat restrain their increase, wliicli nev- ertheless, at the spawning season, is so enormous that a bowl can scarcely be dipped into the water without immcdiateh' containing a number of tadpoles. The speckled species is found westward even to the north of France, but is not common in Europe. It is of ash color with green spots, the feet being marked with
FROISSAKD DE BROISSIA 681
FROMOND
transverse bands, and is said to change its color when j alarmed. It is lively, but no strony; swimuier, the ' webs on the hinder toes extending only half their length: hence, perhaps, it is more a terrestrial animal than the common green frog, and, like the brown spe- cies, is given to roam on land in moist weather. (See Penny Cyclopiedia, s. v.).
Althougli it is very hazardous, in transactions of an absolut?ly miraculous nature, to attempt to point out the instruments that may have served to work out the purposes of the Almighty, we maj' conjecture that, in the plague of frogs, a species, the one perhaps wc have just mentioned, was selected for its a-iility on land, and that, although the fact is not expressly mentioned, the awful visitation was rendered still more ominous by the presence of dark and rainy weather — -an atmos- pheric condition never of long duration on the coast of Egypt, and gradually more and more rare up the course of the river. Travellers have witnessed, dur- ing a storm of rain, frogs crowding into their cabin, in the low lauds of Guiana, till they were packed up in the corners of the apartnvrnt, and continually falling back in their attempts to ascend above their fellows ; and tlie door could not be opened without others enter- ing more rapidly than those within could be expelled (see Roberts, Oriental Illustra'.inns, in loc). Now, as the temples, palaces, and cities of Egypt stood, in gen- eral, on the edge of the ever-dry desert, and always above the level of the highest inundations, to be there visited b}' a continuation of immense number of frogs was assuredly a most distressing calamit}'^ ; and as this phenomenon, in its ordinary occurrence within the tropics, is always accompanied by the storms of the monsoon or of the setting in of the rainy sjason, the dismay it must have caused may be judged of when we relicL-t that tlie plague occurred where rain seldom or never falls, where none of the houses are fitted to lead off the water, and that the animals appeared in localities wliere thej^ had never before been found, and whei-e, at all other times, the scorching sun would have destroyed them in a few minutes. Nor was the selec- tion of the frog as an instrument of God's displeasure M'ithout portentous meaning in the minds of the idola- ti'ous Egj'ptians, who considered tliat animiil a type of Ptliah, their creative power (Wilkinson, Anc. E(j. iv, 351 sq.), as well as an indication of man in emiiryo. The magicians, indeed, appeared to make frogs come up out of the waters (Exod. viii, 7), but we must not understand that to them was given also the power of producing the animals. The effect wliich they claim- ed as their own was a simple result of tlie continuation of the prodigy effected by Moses and Aaron ; for that tliey had no real power is evident not only from their inability to stop the present plague, tlie control which even Pharaoh discovered to be solely in tlio hands of Moses, but also the utter failure of their enchantments in that of lice, where their artifices were incompetent to impose upon the king and his people. (See Kitto's DLiiltj Bible Illustra. in loc). — Kitto, s. v. ; Smith, s. v. See Plagues (of Egypt).
Froissard ds Broissia, Charles, a French Jes- uit missionary, died Oct. 10, 1704, near Pekin, in China, wliere he was laboring in the missionary work of his order. In the bitter controversy between the Domini- cans and Jesuits, (1) whether the Chinese terms Tien and Chang-ti m<ii\\\t the material heavens or the God of heaven, and ("2) whether the ceremonial honors paid to ancestors and to Confucius are religiousactsor only civ- il and political customs, he took an active part, and, in agreement with his colleagues, resolved these questions in the way most favorable to secure apparent success. The Jesuits, adopting the view that these terms meant the God of heaven, and that these ceremonies were simply commendable customs, not repugnant to the Catholic faith, emplo_yed Tien and Chan<j-(i to desig- nate God in the Christian sense, and, following the doc- trine of Escobar (q. v.), that intention gives character