H6 On the JLffect of Madder Root 



OBSERVATIONS 



Qn the Effect of Madder Root on the Bones 

 of Animals, 



By Mr. B. GIBSON. 



Read April lO, i8oi. 



Ti 



HERE is, perbaps, no phenomenon, which 

 Ciccurs in an animal body more curious, than 

 the tinge communicated to the bones of living 

 animals, whose food has been mixed with 

 madder root. This, like many other facts, to 

 which no reasoning t'/ /?r/(97'/ could have di- 

 rected us, was discovered by chance. Mr. 

 Belch&r, dining with a calico printer on a leg 

 of fresh pork, was surprized that the bones, 

 instead of possessing their usual whiteness, 

 were of a deep red colour ; and on enquiring 

 the cause of it, w^as informed, that the pig had 

 been fed upon the refuse of the dyers' vats, 

 and had received so much' of the colouring 

 matter of madder into the system, that its 

 bones were dyed by it. So interesting a fact 

 has attracted very much the attention of ana- 

 tomists, and has been used in many physiologi- 

 cal and pathological enquiries; it may not 

 therefore be uninteresting to give a short 



