BONES. 



BONES. 



The horns of the deer are similar in compo- 

 sition to bones ; but those of black cattle are 

 totally different ; they approach nearer in com- 

 position to animal muscle, as may be seen by 

 the following analysis of Dr. John; 100 parts 

 of the horns of black cattle yielding this 

 chemist 



Albumen 

 Ditto with Gelatine 

 Fat - 

 Various salts, &c., &c. 



Parts. 

 - 90 



1 

 1 



100 



100 parts, however, of a fossil horn, ana- 

 lyzed by M. Braconnot, yielded 



Parts. 



Phosphate of lime 692 



Water II 



Gelatine ------- 4'6 



Carbonate of lime ----- 4-5 



Bitumen ------- 4-4 



Silica - 4 



Phosphate of magnesia - - - - 1 



Alumina 0*7 



Oxide of iron ------ 0'5 



100- 



The excrements of those birds and animals 

 which feed upon animal matters approach very 

 nearly to bone in chemical composition ; and 

 I have little doubt but that the dung of sea 

 binN might be profitably collected from some 

 of the rocky islands on our coasts. This is 

 actually done among the South Sea Islands by 

 the Peruvian farmers, and to such an extent, 

 that, according to M. Humboldt, fifty vessels, 

 each carrying from fifteen hundred to two 

 thousand cubic feet, are annually loaded with 

 this manure at the island of Chinche alone. 

 This manure is known in South America under 

 the name of Guano, and is too powerful to be 

 used in large quantities. It abounds in phos- 

 phate of lime. (A quantity has recently been 

 imported into England : it contains 36 per cent. 

 of phosphate of lime.) Some of the dung of 

 sea-fowl collected on a rock on the coast of 

 Merionethshire, was tried at the request of Sir 

 Humphry Davy, at Nannau, by Sir Robert 

 Vaughan, and produced a very powerful, 

 though transient effect, on some grass land. 

 The very soil of some of the rocks, which 

 have been for so many ages tenanted by these 

 water-fowls, must be completely impregnated 

 with the earthy matters of bones. See GUANO. 



All the constituent parts of bones are found 

 in vegetable substances. The cartilage of 

 bones is composed, according to the examina- 

 tions of Mr. Hatchett, of a substance nearly 

 identical in all its properties with solid albu- 

 men. Now, 100 parts of albumen are com- 

 posed of- 



Carbon ....... 52-888 



Oxyeen ....... 23-872 



Hy.lrogen 

 Azote 



oo 



" The primary sources from which the bones 

 of animals are derived, are the hay, straw, or 

 other substances which they take as food. 

 Now if we admit that bones contain 55 per 

 cent of the phosphates of lime and magnesia 



(Berzelius), and that hay contuins as much of 

 them as wheat-straw, it will follow that 8 Ibs. 

 of bones contain as much phosphate of lime 

 as 1000 Ibs. of hay or wheat-straw, and 2 Ibs. 

 of it as much as 1000 Ibs. of the grain of wheat 

 or oats. These numbers express pretty exactly 

 the quantity of phosphates which a soil yields 

 annually on the growth of hay and corn. Now 

 the manure of an acre of land with 40 Ibs. of 

 bone dust is sufficient to supply three crops of 

 wheat, clover, potatoes, turnips, &c., with 

 phosphates. But the form in which they are 

 restored to a soil does not appear to be a mat- 

 ter of indifference. For the more finely the 

 bones are reduced to powder, and the more in- 

 timately they are mixed with the soil, the more 

 easily are they assimilated." (Liebig's Organ. 

 Chem.) 



It is perfectly needless to specify any vege- 

 table substances into which the three first of 

 these substances enter, for the vegetable worM 

 is almost entirely composed of them, and ( e- 

 casionally a portion of azote is also found in 

 vegetable substances, but the three first are 

 invariably present. The flour of wheat, the 

 poison oi' the deadly night-shade, the oxalic 

 acid of the wild sorrel, the narcotic milk of 

 the lettuce, the stinking odour of the garlic, 

 and the perfume of the violet, are, by the con- 

 trivance of their divine architect, only some of 

 the results of the mixture of carbon, 03 ygen, 

 and hydrogen. 



But the chief constituent present .tn all 

 bones we have already seen is the phosphate 

 of lime ; and how absolutely necessary this 

 substance is for the healthy vegetation of 

 plants, will be apparent from the following ta- 

 ble, which contains the results of the exami- 

 nation by MM. Saussure, Vauquelin, and a few 

 other distinguished chemists, of the ashes or 

 solid contents of a number of vegetable sub- 

 stances : 



100 parts of the ashes of the grain of the oat yielded 



of phosphate of lime - - - 39-3 

 straw of wheat yielded of phosphates 

 of lime and magnesia - - - 6'2 



seeds of wheat ----- 44'5 



bran ------- 46'5 



seeds of vetches - 27'99 



golden rod (Solidago virgaurea) - 11* 



plants of turnsole (Helianthus annvs\ 



bearing ripe seeds - - - - '22-5 



chaff of barley 7'75 



seeds of barley ----- 32-5 



seeds of oats ----- 2 



leaves of oak ----- 24- 



wood of oak ----- 4'5 



bark of oak ** 



leaves of poplar - - - - I 



wood of poplar - - - - I 



leaves of hazel ----"": 



wood of hazel - 



bark of hazel - 



wood of mulberry - 



bark of mulberry 



wood of hornbeam 



bark of hornbeam - 



seeds of peas 



bulbs of garlic - 



Phosphate of lime has also been found in 

 the marsh bean (Ptcia faba), and in the pea- 

 pod or husk, by Einhof ; in rice, by Braconnot ; 

 in the Scotish fir, by Dr. John ; in the quin 

 quina of St. Domingo, by Fourcroy; m th 

 fuci, by Gaul tier de Claubry, and in many 

 others; in short, as Dr. Thomson remarks 



195 



35- 

 5-5 

 2-26 

 8-5 



23- 

 45 



175 



