Use of the Gelatin of Bones, Wtt 



committees, that they cannot make better use of a portion, at 

 least, of the funds, placed at their disposal, than by preparing 

 and dealing out to the Greeks the food which it is the object of 

 this paper to bring under their notice ; of all descriptions of food 

 that can be sent to them, the most wholesome, the most 

 nutritive, the most economical, the most portable, and the most 

 easy to preserve. 



The process of extracting gelatin from bones was resorted to 

 for the relief of the poor, during the scarcity of 1816 and 1817, 

 both at Geneva and at Munich. 



In London, and many parts of England, bones fetch a high 

 price, being used as manure ; they are also used in refining 

 sugar, and making sal volatile. At Paris, the price is as high as 

 eight francs per cwt. In the greater part of Europe, however, 

 they are thrown away as good for nothing. What I propose, 

 therefore, is that the Philhellenic committees should make it 

 their business to obtain an abundant and regular supply of this 

 material, from all the great maritime towns, where they may be 

 had, for the most part, for the mere cost of collecting. What 

 an immense quantity might not be collected from the consump- 

 tion of meat at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Hamburgh, Antwerp, 

 Marseilles, Genoa, Leghorn, Naples, Cadiz, Lisbon, &c., if 

 depots were established in those cities. The extraction of the 

 gelatin might either take place on the spot, or the bones might 

 be transmitted to a common depot — say any one of the Ionian 

 Islands. There are several reasons why Greece itself would 

 not be a proper situation for such an establishment. I sent to 

 Greece, some tune since, instructions for conducting the process, 

 but no notice was taken of them . A people unused to manu- 

 factures and the operations of chemistry are not likely to direct 

 their attention to such subjects amid the din of arms, and in 

 the presence of an invading enemy. Greece cannot supply so 

 large a quantity of bones as would be wanted, nor has she at 

 hand the acid necessary to decompose them. Though the 

 process is exceedingly simple, yet it would meet with obstacles, 

 and be liable to fall into discredit if conducted by inexperienced 

 hands. 



I do not mean that the bones would require to be subjected 

 to any very strict examination before they were used. Bones 



