40 ANALYSIS OF SOME ANCIENT BONES. 



wine lees. This colour it much stronger in the body of the 

 bones, than in their head, where on the contrary it is brown- 

 ish. 



filled with j n ti lt . body of the bones, as well as in their heads, are a 



crvstiils . 



number of white shining crystals, which have the appear- 

 ance of sulphate of lime. These crystals, by forming in 

 the interior of the bones, have raised their laminae, and ren- 

 dered them so brittle. 



They are supposed to have been buried in the eleventh 

 700 years old. J , , i 



century, consequently to be at least 700 years old. 



Boiled in water, Exp. 1. Being - reduced to powder, and boiled in 300 

 tcid 1 parts of distilled water, they imparted to it a very pleasing 

 red colour. The decoction was slightly acid. On the ad- 

 dition of ammonia its red colour was immediately destroyed, 

 and a greenish precipitate formed, which became blueish in 

 drying. The base of this precipitate was ammoniaco-mag- 

 nesian phosphate. 

 lost 0-35, and The substance of the bones thus boiled had lost only 35 

 hundredths of its weight. Its purple colour was exceed- 

 ingly diminished. 

 Residuum dis- 'rj ie pol tion not dissolved by the water was in great raea- 

 solv.d in nitric !...»• , • • • , & 



acid. sure dissolved in weak nitric acid witout any effervescence. 



Nothing remained but a few hundredths of a white powder, 

 which was mingled with some brown membranes. This re- 

 siduum will be noticed hereafter. 

 Phosphate of What the nitric acid had dissolved was phosphate of lime, 



mixed with a small quantity of red colouring matter. 

 The bone Exp. 2. A piece of one of these bones immersed in weak 



nHri^a Td th nitl 'i'- •^ was soon dissolved, leaving only a soft red sub- 

 stance, which retained nearly the bulk and shape of the 



Residuum fragment. The nitric acid itself was turned red. The sub- 

 dissolved in . , ,• i i • i i i i • i • 

 alcohol gave stance mentioned dissolved in alcohol, and imparted to it a 



out a red co- verv fi ne rec j C() lour, perfectly resembling that of archil dis- 



lourlikear- ■*•-»■ \\r\ *i i * 



ch ij t solved in the same menstruum. When the substance in 



question was dissolved in alcohol, some brown flocks were 

 left, being the remains of the membrane of the bone, that 

 bad escaped decomposition. 

 Colouring ^he matter that gives the purple colour to the bones 



therefore is soluble in alcohol, and even in water. Alkalis 

 mixed with it give it a very tine green colour, perfectly si- 

 milar 



