the Nutritious Portion of Bones, 8fc. 59 



superfluous for the moment, but they ought not to be over- 

 looked in future. 



It was natural to presume that an experiment so important 

 would not be lost, but that it would attract the attention of the 

 military administrations, especially as the process was practised 

 at Paris as well as Strasbourg, whilst all communication 

 between the two towns was interrupted. But as soon as the 

 danger had disappeared it was no longer thought of. I at- 

 tribute the neglect into which it has fallen principally to the 

 death of the Prdfet, who acknowledged its importance, and 

 intended to have furnished the fortresses of his department in 

 peace-time with supplies of bones and acid. When Strasbourg 

 was again threatened, in 1815, I returned there, and made the 

 same proposal to the Duke of Albufera, who commanded the 

 military division of the Rhine. The Marshal expressed his in- 

 tention of profiting by it, but a few days afterwards he gave up 

 the command : on that occasion his principal staff-officer, 

 Baron de St. Cyr-Nugues, inserted in the Journal of Military 

 Medicine for 1815, printed in Paris, an account of what had 

 been done at Strasbourg in 1814. This was the first public 

 announcement of the advantages of my process. This process 

 was afterwards recommended by M. Michelot, in the Revue 

 Encydopedique for 1822, vol. xiii. 



Still I am not aware that any country has adopted this 

 precaution, so easy of adoption and so important. I attribute 

 this neglect partly to habitual, but dangerous, indifference to 

 perils which are not immediate, and partly to the opposition of 

 private interests. A supply of bones and acid, which are not 

 liable to damage, holds out no temptation to speculators, and 

 little profit to commissaries. The French government, in 1817, 

 began to supply their colonial garrisons and their navy with 

 gelatine prepared in the manufactory of Robert and Co. in 

 Paris ; but this application, however good, is not what I recom- 

 mend — viz. the supplying fortresses, with gelatine, not prepared 

 by art, but gelatine contained in bones in their natural state, 

 together with a proportionate quantity of acid. This recom- 

 mendation is founded on this importiant circumstance, that the 

 mineral part of bones is the best preserver of their animal 

 substance. Bones are, therefore, an important resource against 



