On Muriate of Soda. 99 



thereabout on the surface of the ground and below. And 

 the reason wiiy the beasts of prey have so little appetite for 

 the muriate of soda seems to be, that they obtain a substitute 

 for it in the phosphate of lime, which ccnistitutes a principal 

 part of the bones of the animals they feed upon. For it is 

 remarkable, that flesh-eating quadrupeds cranch and swal- 

 low much of the bony as well as of the soft parts of their 

 prey. The alkaline quality of the hme thus appears to pro- 

 duce a salutary effect in their stomachs and intestines, equi- 

 valent to the operation of the soda in such creatures as are 

 nourished by vegetable food. A wolf does not content him- 

 self with devouring the flesh, blood, and entrails of the 

 sheep; his repast is not complete unless he gorges himself 

 with the principal part of the bones too : but the harder and 

 larger bones of deer, elk, and bison, are often left uncon- 

 sunied by the wolf; and therefore remain to undergo disor- 

 ganization in the common way. 



The appetite of these creatures for the muriate of soda is 

 so strong, that when they are obliged to lick a great quan- 

 tity of earth to obtain a trifling proportion of sah, they re- 

 ceiv'e more injury from the former than benefit from th^ \ 



latter; their health suffers; and the infirmity under which 

 they labour is to be ascribed to dirt-eating. It is believed 

 that wild animals have often been killed by finding a plenty 

 of salt water at the licks, and swilling it down too greedily ; 

 as domestic animals have been often known to die in con- 

 sequence of taking suddenly an over-dose of salt. Rushing 

 from the pasturing- and browsing-places to the saline waters, 

 and feeling an ungovernable relish for them, the deer, elk 

 and bison are supposed frequently to have drunk themselves 

 to death. To this cause is another portion of these bony 

 relics at the licks to be ascribed. 



The facts are well remembered, that at the Blue-Licks in 

 Kentucky, where the water had a more than connnon por- 

 tion of salt dissolved in it, the resort of wild creatures was 

 so great when that region was first visited by white men, 

 that the immediate vicinity of thi: lick was trodden to mud, 

 and resembled a vast clay-pit where mortar is prepared for 

 the brick-rftakers ; such was the innumerable crowd pressing 

 and circling round and round to get an opportunity of 

 tasting. Some of the weaker of these have been trampled 

 under the feet of the stouter, and killed on the spot. Many 

 more have been arrested in the mire of their own making; 

 and, with their legs surrounded by theduep and stiff mud, 

 they have strained and wallowed until they died. These are 

 other causes of the abundance of bones, especially of 

 G 2 bisons. 



