SECRETARY'S REPORT. 229 



The bones of this hog were in a perfect state of preservation, 

 the hair also was not changed. 



The quantity of adipocere was quite large, showing that the 

 whole soft parts of the body had been converted into this 

 substance. 



The color of this substance was a perfect white. 



The yellow tinge is produced by exposure to the air and 

 light. 



The specimen which I show you is from one of two cows 

 which belonged to my neighbor, and were killed by eating green 

 clover in August, 1863. I permitted him to bury them in my 

 horse-manure heap, upon my farm, where they have laid to this 

 6th of December, 1864. The part of the animal which was 

 changed to adipocere was in contact with the ground in a kind 

 of pit, deeply covered with compact manure, which excluded 

 the air, and was constantly charged with water. 



The carcase of a horse was buried in the same heap of 

 manure in April, 1864, in a higher and drier part of the heap. 

 Nothing remained to be seen of this animal except the bones, 

 hoofs, and hair, all the other parts had been incorporated with 

 the manure. 



The time required for the decomposition of animal matter in 

 a warm horse-manure heap, cannot be many days. 



No offensive gaseous exhalations, where the covering is two 

 feet, can be discovered. 



My principal object in this communication is to call the 

 attention of farmers to the best and most profitable way of dis- 

 posing of domestic animal bodies, which die of disease or 

 accident. 



Almost every country town has its veterinary cemetery, 

 usually selected in some loose, sandy, or gravelly soil, in con- 

 sequence of its easy excavation. This porous sand will not 

 absorb and retain the gases; hence there are frequent com- 

 plaints to the selectmen of the town, who are believed to 

 possess legal and sanitary powers sufficient to correct all mis- 

 demeanors which may offend the body politic. The difficulty 

 then is to find the man whose olfactories can endure the stench. 



The nuisance is usually suffered to exhaust itself while the 

 case is under adjudication. 



