42 LETTERS TO BROTHER JOHN. 



his secret, though large sums of money had been 

 offered him. If any man deserved to have con- 

 fession extorted from him by the rack, it was 

 Ruysch. 



What I have said of the red raw flesh, is also true 

 of the bones, especially of young animals : for 

 the internal structure of the bones is honeycombed 

 and highly spongoid, and their cells are every- 

 where filled with vessels and nerves. From all this 

 there results another consequence ; which is this 

 that nearly the whole of the body consisting of 

 tubes, and these tubes being filled with fluid, a very 

 large proportion of the whole body must consist 

 of fluid. This, too, is true. If you take a piece 

 of human muscle (that is, what you call, in meat, 

 the lean part) of the size and thickness of an ordi- 

 nary beef-steak, and dry it perfectly, it will become 

 no thicker than a sheet of paper. In fact, fully 

 nine-tenths of the body are fluid. The next large 

 proportion consists of the solid matter composing 

 the nerves and the coats of vessels. What remains 

 is too trifling for consideration. 



Au revoir adieu ! 



E. JOHNSON. 



