60 ObsefuatioJis on the Mammoth. 



peau, & de poils. Pallas I'a decrit tres-exactement 

 dans les Nov. Comment. Petropolit., tome 13. p. 



585." 



Whether this first kind of petrifaction, of which 

 Blu men bach speaks, and which he calls simplement 

 calcines, has been the cause of the preservation of these 

 substances, or \Ahether it be the effect of the marine 

 salt, with which the earth, where they were buried, has 

 been constantly charged, must be left to future inves- 

 tigation. I pretend not to decide. Had they been 

 buried deep in the earth, that circumstance alone 

 might have prevented a decomposition ; but the 

 depth of five or six feet seems insufficient to arrest 

 that chemical action, which changes the appearances 

 of organized bodies. The fact, however, is decisive, 

 as to the principal question. It has summoned the 

 discordant opinions of philosophers before a tribunal, 

 from which there is no appeal. 



Williamsburgh, October 6th, 

 1805. 



NOTE ON THE PRECEDING PA?ER. BY THE 



EDITOR. 



Mr. Francis Nevil, in his account of the Elephan- 

 tine teeth that were discovered in the north of Ire- 

 land, early in the eighteenth century, has mentioned 

 some facts relative to the long preservation of vcgeta- 



