6o JOURNAL OF THE 



and easily torn, but in part fairly well preserved. The valves be- 

 tween the auricles and ventricles were preserved in place and shape. 

 The arteries and veins were hardly to be distinguished at any point. 

 Other thoracic and abdominal organs had disappeared, excepting 

 partly decomposed connective tissue which they contained. The 

 bones of the body were considerably altered. The outer compact 

 layer was neither so thick nor so hard as normally. Thin bones, 

 as ribs, were easily cut with a knife. The inner portion of the ribs, 

 radius and ulna (including the marrow) was also changed to 

 adipocere. 



The body had been origiftally buried in moist earth, and at the 

 time of removal (six years later) water was found standing in the 

 bottom of the coffin. There was nothing to indicate whether or not 

 tha body had been for any length of time covered with water. But 

 having been buried during early spring, the rainy season of that 

 section, it is probable that not long after burial the water passed 

 from the surrounding soil into the case in sufficient quantity to keep 

 the body thoroughly moist, if not wet. It is believed that animal 

 bodies do not undergo such a change, except when submerged be- 

 neath water, or buried in places where there is an excess of moisture, 

 and a scarcity of oxygen. 



ANALYSIS OF A DEPOSIT FROM SALT-MAKING. 



W. B. PHILLIPS, PH. D. 



During the late war between the States the difficulty of procuring 

 salt for domestic and government consumption induced its manufac- 

 ture in some of the south-eastern counties of the State. These estab- 

 lishments were located along the coasts of Brunswick and New Han- 

 over counties, among others, and the method employed was a simple 

 concentration of sea water in shallow iron pans to the crystallization 

 point of the sodium chloride. A series of pans enabled the operator 

 to work cheaply and expeditiously. There would thus be left in the 

 pans begining with No. 1, deposits forming an ascending scale of 

 solubilities, the least soluble salts in pan No. 1, and so on. We 

 would of course naturally expect this to be the case, and an oppor- 

 tunity has been presented to me for verification of what we might 

 expect from pan No. 1. The most insoluble substance in sea water 



