on the Bones of Animals. ,J57 



the probability, that the bones, already formed 

 in ail animal, may, during the use of madder, 

 become red, and after its disuse gradually 

 resume their natural colour, by the agency of 

 a power entirely independent of their depo- 

 sition and absorption ; That this is probable I 

 shall now proceed to prove. 



Before it was discovered that madder pos- 

 sessed this property of tinging bones, phy- 

 siologists had long been of opinion, that th^ 

 various parts of the body, being worn out by 

 the performance of their actions and function?, 

 were gradually removed, emd replaced by n^^v 

 materials. They had seen, as Mr. J. B^ll 

 observes, the whole osseous system by tjie 

 morbid removal of its solid part, rendered so 

 soft and flexible as to bend under the common 

 weight of the body and ordinary action of 

 parts ; the regeneration of many bones which 

 had been destroyed by disease ; the rapid ab- 

 sorption of fat in some diseases, and its speedy 

 reproduction ; and lastly, the gradual change 

 which the fluids of the body undergo, as well 

 as some of its insensible parts, the hair and 

 naiisj hence they supposed that the s^me 

 process of change and renovation went op in 

 ev<?ry' organ, and that the bodies of aninwis 

 were not composed of the same identical 

 particles, of which they would consist at some 



3 



