BONES. 



BONES. 



Prt. 



Gelatine and oil - .... 51 

 Phosphate of lime - .... 37-7 

 Carbonate of lime ----- 10 

 Phosphate of magnesia - - - -13 



100- 



v The enamel of teeth is the only portion of 

 bones hitherto analyzed, which is entirely des- 

 titute of cartilage. It is true that fossil bones 

 contain none ; but these have probably, in a 

 former state of the earth, been acted upon by 

 fire; for Mr. Hatchett found in some bones 

 from Hythe in Kent, taken out of a Saxon 

 tomb, the same proportion of cartilage as in a 

 recent bone. Teeth have been analyzed by 

 Mr. Pepys : he found them to be composed of 



Phosphate of lime 

 Carbonate of lime 

 Cartilage --- 

 Loss 



Adults'. Children's. 



- 64 62 



6 3 6 



- 20 20 

 10 12 



100 



100 



M. Merat Guillot has furnished us with a 

 statement of the earthy constituents of 100 

 parts of the bones of different animals ; from 

 which the farmer will perceive that the com- 

 position of the bones of all animals is very 

 similar. 



Lobster shells, egg shells, &c., are all conr 

 posed of the same ingredients as bone. The 

 poor of Dublin are often employed for the pur- 

 pose of pounding oyster shells for the use of 

 the cultivators of the soil; and a similar plan 

 might, I should imagine, be very advanta- 

 geously adopted in some of the populous dis- 

 tricts of this country : for, although such shells 

 do not contain the same proportion of phos- 

 phate of lime as bone, yet they contain a suffi- 

 cient quantity to render them highly valuable 

 as fertilizing substances. 100 parts of lobster 

 shells yield 



Carbonate of lime (chalk) - 

 Phosphate of lime 

 Cartilage - - - - 



- 14 



- 26 



1 00 parts of cray-fish shells contain 



Carbonate of lime 

 Phosphate of lime 

 Cartilage 



100 



Parts. 



- 60 



- 12 



- 28 



100 



100 parts of ^ens' egg-shells contain 



Carbonate of lime 

 Phosphate of lime 

 Animal matter - 



194 



100- 



There is yet another source from whence the 

 phosphate of lime might be obtained in large 

 quantities for the use of the farmer, viz., the 

 fossil bones or native phosphate of lime, which 

 is found in various districts of this country, in 

 very considerable quantities, and would only 

 require crushing or powdering to render it 

 nearly as useful to the farmer as the recent 

 bones. That the cartilage or oily matter of the 

 bone does not constitute the chief fertilizing 

 quality is shown by the fact, that the farmers 

 who use bone dust will as readily employ that 

 which has first been steamed, and all its fatty 

 portion extracted by the preparers of cart 

 grease, as they will the unused fresh bones. 

 It is acknowledged, says the Doncaster Agr. 

 Soc. in their Report, to be a prevalent opinion 

 amongst intelligent farmers, that manufactured 

 bones are equal, in their effects, to the raw 

 bones. Mr. Short, in the year 1812, "boned 

 twenty-four acres, at the rate of fifty bushels 

 an acre. On one part of the field he pat Lon- 

 don bones, which had the oil stewed out of 

 them ; and another part was tilled with bones 

 collected from Nottingham, which were full of 

 marrow, and a third part with horses bones, 

 having much flesh upon them. He could not 

 see any difference in the turnips produced 

 from these : they all produced a good crop. 

 But the next crop was not so good where the 

 fleshy bones had been laid." And Mr. Horn- 

 castle adds, "A strong fermentation takes place 

 in the boiled bones ; when thrown in a heap 

 they become extremely offensive, and when 

 they obtain this bad smell, I consider they are 

 in a state to break up for manure." And, says 

 Mr. Halkett, of New Scone, in Perthshire, 

 " After numerous trials between what we call 

 green bones with all the marrow and fat in 

 them, and dry ones free from it, I have always 

 found that the latter raised by far the best 

 crops. Therefore, I have arrived at the con- 

 clusion that the less animal fat in them the 

 better, and that the boiling of them before 

 crushing, instead of impairing them is a bene- 

 fit." (Quar. Journ. of Agric. vol. ii. p. 180.) 



The mineral substance called the Apatite, 

 found in the Cornish tin mines, is nothing but 

 phosphate of lime; 100 pans being composed 

 of 



Phosphoric acid 

 Lime - 



Parts. 

 4.5 

 55 



"Too 



The phosphate of lime is also found in ma- 

 ny parts of the north of England, in Hungary, 

 and, in immense beds, in Spanish Estrema- 

 dura, where it is said to be so common in many 

 places, that the peasants make their walls and 

 fences of it. 100 parts of this substance, 

 called by mineralogists the phosphorite, con- 

 tain 



Phosphoric acid and lime - 



Carbonate acid - ^ 



Muriatic acid - 



Fluoric acid - 



Silica - 



Oxide of iron - - - 



- 93 



- 1 



- 0-5 



- 25 



- 2 



- 1 



10JT 



