408 [Assembly 



that render the greatest portion of the result, viz., ashes, insolu- 

 ble, yet we know that every component of the plant or animal 

 must have gone into its circulation in the soluble form, and must 

 have existed in that form in the circulating fluids. Potash does 

 not exist in plants or animals in the caustic condition, and the 

 insoluble residuum known as leached ashes, must have once been 

 completely dissolved. The earth in the bones of animals is de- 

 rived from this food, and wlule forming a part of their bodies, is 

 rendered soluble or insoluble by some peculiar vital action that 

 is not well understood, though this action is undoubtedly of a 

 chemical nature. If from any cause a portion of bone lose its 

 vitality, the power to remove it by solution in the vital fluids (in 

 the way that healthy bone is continually renovated,) is lost. The 

 dead bone is as insoluble as so much ivory, and a process of fes- 

 tering is set up for its expulsion. This is the condition of things 

 at the bottom of those ulcers known as "fever sores." 



If the food of an animal is deficient in the inorganic ingredi- 

 ents, can these substances be given to that animal in the crude 

 condition, so as to make up for that deficiency'? In other wordSy 

 can the stomach and other digestive organs so alter the nature of 

 crude mineral substances as to render them soluble and fit to be 

 used in the animal economy? If so, animals may, like plants, be 

 benefited by special apjnopriations of these substances. We are 

 naturally inclined to assume the negative of this question and ta 

 suppose that all substances used as food by animals, must be of a 

 vegetable or animal nature. Patent medicine and nostrum makers 

 find it politic to assure the public, that they are '^ entirely vegetabW^ 

 in their composition. Yet it is now generally admitted among 

 physiologists, that when the fond is deficient in these necessary 

 inorganic ingredients, such deficiency may be sometimes remedied 

 by a supply of the raw material. Hens consume lime, rubbish, 

 and waste shells, and if deprived of these substances, or some 

 other supply of lime, lay eggs without shells. Herbivorous 

 animals consume salt. The medicinal actiou of iron is now too 

 well established to be questioned. It is a natural ingredient in 

 the blood, and is generally presumed to produce its effects by 

 entering the circulation. The mineral poisons have been repeat- 



