the egg, that the shell was nearly full of a beautiful transparent golden or amber-coloured fluid, very thin, and running like dissolved gelatine. In the course of a few hours this fluid was slightly gelatinised. The membrane lining the shell was detached, but not destroyed; the shell was dry, brittle, and firmly attached to the surrounding plaster. The experiment was repeated with another egg, but was modified by allowing the apparatus to cool very slowly in the air at 60°. On breaking the plaster and cutting through the egg, no fluid was found, but in the centre a soft yellow substance (probably the yolk), about the size of a hazel nut, and slightly glistening on the surface. On gently drying this substance it became firm, retaining its colour and looking like amber, but not so hard.

THE BODY OF A DEAD TOAD DEHYDRATED IN CARBON. The iron flask was partly filled with fluid plaster of Paris. On this layer a bed of vegetable carbon, in fine powder, was laid, and the body of a toad recently dead was buried in it. The carbon mound was next enclosed in plaster; the flask was closed, and half an hour later it was placed in the iron chamber with ten ounces of water. The temperature was first raised to 350° Fahr., but was brought down to 340°, and was retained at this degree for an hour and forty minutes. The gas was then turned off, and the apparatus was allowed to cool slowly. On opening the flask the body of the animal was found to be altogether destroyed, and so mixed with the carbon that no part of it could be defined.

DEHYDRATION OF THE BODY OF A DEAD FROG IN SAND.

The body of a frog recently dead was buried within the iron flask, in moist fine sand compressed with

moderate firmness. The flask was then put into the iron chamber, with six ounces of water, and the temperature was raised to 340° Fahr., and sustained for an hour and a half. The flask was opened twelve hours afterwards, and the results of the experiment were found to be nearly the same as when carbon was employed. The animal was destroyed, and no distinct organ or structure could be distinguished.

DEHYDRATION OF THE BODY OF A DEAD FROG IN PLASTER OF PARIS.

Fluid plaster of Paris was poured into the iron flask until the flask was half full. The body of a frog recently dead was now laid on the plaster, and allowed to mould itself to it. When the plaster had become rather firm, another quantity of fluid plaster was poured in, so as to bury the frog completely and fill the flask. An hour later the flask, which had been closed, with pressure, was placed in the iron chamber. The temperature was raised to 340° Fahr., and sustained for two hours. Twelve hours later the flask was opened, and a mould of the frog was found, the organic soft parts of the body having been destroyed. At the lower part, in the centre, was a black spot; the spot consisted of blood which had gravitated to the lowest part. Besides this, there was a little débris of earthy part of bone within the mould. The impression of the body was beautifully marked in the plaster.

DEHYDRATION OF THE BODY OF A FISH IN PLASTER
AND ALUM.

Some plaster of Paris, made into a fluid with water containing alum in solution, was poured into an iron

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flask until the flask was half filled. The body of a dead fish, a common sprat, was cut in half transversely, the two halves were laid upon the plaster, and the flask was filled up with fluid plaster and closed. When the plaster was firm the flask was placed in the iron chamber, with four ounces of water, and the temperature, raised to 340°, was sustained at that degree for an hour. Twelve hours afterwards the flask was laid open, and the plaster cut in half, when two moulds were found one of the upper, the other of the lower, half of the fish. The markings of the body of the fish were delineated on the mould; a small portion of bone (spinal) was left; a dark-coloured fine spot, surrounded by a shiny scaly substance, indicated the position of the eyeball; a little filamentous débris remained, consisting probably of the scaly covering of the animal.

After exposing the body of a dead fish to heat in plaster of Paris as described in the last experiment, I made two comparative experiments. In the first of these I placed another similar fish above the water in the iron chamber simply, not encasing it, that is to say, in any substance. The heat was then raised to 340° Fahr. and sustained for an hour and a half. Twelve hours afterwards, on opening the chamber, the fish was found to have been entirely destroyed, with the exception of some small portions of the scaly covering. In the second comparative experiment, by means of a rod, I plunged the body of a dead fish suddenly under molten lead. The whole of the structure of the animal was immediately reduced to a charred mass, the carbon alone remaining undestroyed. I noticed that a portion of the charred mass, spongy in character and light, retained the form of the animal as it floated to the surface of the lead, from which

I saw that it was quite possible to obtain what might be called a carbon skeleton of an animal-a skeleton, that is, of the base on which all the organic structures are formed during life. From the first of these two experiments it is clear that exposure of an animal body direct to water gas at a high temperature is rapidly destructive. From the second experiment we learn that the sudden exposure of an animal to intense heat without moisture destroys by a different or, at all events, by a modified process. This may be due to the rapidity of action of the greater heat, the lead while in the molten state having a temperature of 604° Fahr.

DEHYDRATION OF THE EYEBALL IN PLASTER OF PARIS.

An eyeball removed from an ox recently killed was placed in the iron flask surrounded by plaster of Paris in the fluid state. When the plaster had set the flask was placed in the iron chamber with six ounces of water, and the heat, raised to 340° Fahr., was sustained at that degree for an hour and a half. Twelve hours afterwards, on opening the flask, a very perfect mould of the eyeball was found in the plaster, but all the structures were resolved and removed except the pigment. At the bottom of the mould there lay a dark thin membranous substance, perforated in the centre, and being, I think, the posterior part of the iris, with a portion of the choroid.

DEHYDRATION OF SPONGE IN PLASTER OF PARIS.

A portion of fresh clean sponge was placed in the iron flask, and was surrounded with plaster of Paris in the fluid state. The flask was closed with gentle pressure, and when the plaster it contained was firmly set it was put into the iron chamber with six ounces of water.

The heat was raised to 340°, and was sustained at that degree for two hours. The apparatus was then allowed to cool, the flask was removed and opened. On breaking across the plaster of Paris block, a beautiful cast of the structure of the sponge was presented. The appearance of the cast is attempted to be depicted below in Fig. 3. The sponge was not entirely destroyed,

there being left in the mould a sort of fine webwork, which stretched from one raised point to another. This webwork resembled spider's web in lightness and structure, and it absorbed water from the air.

DEHYDRATION OF THE BODY OF A DEAD FROG IN CHALK.

The iron flask was filled with finely powdered chalk in which the body of a frog recently dead was buried.