REPOET OF CHEMICAL LABOEATORY 239 



The usual method of employment appears to be as follows : A couple of pounds, more 

 or less, of the earth is treated with hot water and, in the morning, the clear dark brown 

 supernatant liqnid is poured off and drunk. An examiuation of the watery extract prepared 

 in this way showed it to contain a considerable proportion of sodium carbonate and 

 bicarbonate along with a certain, usually smaller, amount of sodium sulphate and chloride. 

 A large amount of organic matter — humates, etc. — was present in all the samples, as well as 

 a trace of iodine. The last was however in far too small proportion to have any medicinal 

 effect. 



The exhibition of such a quantity of fairly strong saline solution was naturally 

 followed by purgation. The average native does not require more than this to convince 

 him of the potency of his medicine. 



A Novel Use of Asbestos 



A material, taken at first to be feathers, found surroumling the bones of a human being ■' ^ ^^^^ 

 in an ancient grave at Naga, proved on examination to be finely fibrous asbestos. The 

 asbestos was of yellowish colour, due to the presence of a small amount of organic matter, 

 but on heating in the flame it became a pure white. The loss on heating — water and the 

 trace of organic matter — was 149 per cent. Mr. Crowfoot, Assistant Director of Education, 

 by whom the discovery was made, kindly furnishes the following particulars : — 



" When I had the honour of accompanying the Governor-General to Naga last spring, 

 we saw, like Lepsiiis, signs of an old burial place on the rising ground to the north-east. 

 The graves are marked by flat burnt bricks arranged, some in rough circles, some in more or 

 less regular rectangles. On a second visit, therefore, last autumn, in the company of 

 Mr. Sterry, to inspect the progress of the well, I determined to utilize the services of one of 

 the well-sinkers in investigating the spot. 



" We selected one of the most regular of the oblong graves and removed the bricks 

 which had been simply laid in a single course upon the surface of the ground. As we dug 

 down the earth proved to be loose and soft, obviously the filling of a narrow shaft, the sides of 

 which were firm. At a depth of 4 feet we came upon fragments of bone and a substance which 

 looked like mouldering feathers. Continuing, we found that these belonged to a skeleton 

 lying from north to south, with the head to the south, and originally wrapped completely in 

 the same feathery substance, which Dr. Beam has shown to be asbestos. Of funeral 

 offerings, of beads or jewels, there was no trace, and the bones were too much broken to 

 enable us to say exactly how the body lay, that is, whether it had the eastward tilt which is 

 characteristic of Muslim burials. None of the men with us, two Arabs and a Sudanese, 

 recognized the grave as Mohammedan and there is no tradition about the place among 

 the people? 



"As to the period to which the burial belongs our only clues at present are the 

 following : — 



"Naga was still a flourishing town in the third and fourth centuries, A. D.; this is proved 

 by the style of temples remaining. The bricks set round the grave undoubtedly came from 

 some building connected with this town. The burial, therefore, cannot be more than 

 l,.'iOO years old. but whether it belongs to the Christian period (up to. say, 1,500 A.D.), or 

 to the Muslim period (after 1,500 A.D.) we cannot say. 



" The single line of bricks which marked the grave has not been covered ; from this one 

 might argue that the bui-ial was very recent, but the accumulation even on the lower parts 



