on the Bones' nf /1nimah\ 163 



" of parts oven in the harcicM bones. We are 

 " accustomed to say of the whole body, that it 

 " is daily changed ; that the oklcr particles 

 " are removed, and new ones, supply their 

 "place; that the body is not now the same 

 " individual body, that it \vas ; biit it coulci 

 *^ not be easily believed that we speak only 

 *' by guess concerning the softer parts, which 

 " we know for certain of the bones. — When 

 *' madder is given to animals, withheld for 

 " some time and then given again, the colour 

 " appears in their bones, is removed, and ap- 

 ** pears again with such a sudden change, as 

 " proves a rapidity of deposition and absorption 

 ** exceeding all likelihood or belief; all the 

 " bones are tinged in twenty-four hours ; in 

 " two or three days their colour is very deep, 

 ** and if the madder be left off but for a few 

 ^ days, the red colour is entirely removed.'* 



Although by this chemical explanation of 

 the effect of madder upon the bones, the doc- 

 trine of the imperceptible change in the com- 

 ponent parts of animal bodies, loses the support 

 of a foct, which has, since its discoveiy, been 

 universally consickrcd as its strongest proof; 

 nevertheless, indisputable arguments, derived 

 from different sources, still place that doctrine 

 amongst the best supported opinions in phy- 

 siology. 



