20 ON ADIPOCIRE, AND ITS FORMATION. 
mistake, which was not discovered until too late. In these cases the fat was partially 
removed from the heart, but not to any great extent. 
C. Boiled six eggs, removed the shells from two, which weighed then 88 grammes; ran 
pin-holes to the centre in two, which weighed 97 grammes, and left the shells upon the 
remaining two, which weighed 96 grammes; these were together placed in a glass-stop- 
pered bottle, and covered with water. These different substances did not delay to decom- 
pose and give out offensive odours, and the eggs especially maintained their proverbial 
character in this respect; in fact, on the approach of the cholera season I was obliged to 
place the bottle of eggs on a plate, cover it with a large inverted beaker glass, and heap 
the rim of the beaker with hypochlorite of lime. With regard to the heart, the contents 
of the bottle containing mineral water, as might be expected, preserved their lively red 
colour for a longer time than in the case of the bottles containing river water. 
The appearance of these bottles, on December 13th, 1854, was as follows :-— 
The cheese A was converted into a white, thick, grumous mass, lighter than water, and 
which when diluted with a little water, presented the appearance of pus; under the micro- 
scope with moderate power, angular transparent fragments constituted the principal part, 
and among these, polarized light showed many broken blade-shaped crystals without a play 
of colours; a few globules of oil were also seen. The material A was removed to a glass- 
stoppered bottle, more water added, and was set aside. A portion of the cheese used in 
this experiment had been preserved in paper; it was found hard, and on the surface oily. 
It was placed aside in a cork-stoppered bottle. 
B. The bullock’s heart had been so divided, that each half contained an auricle and ven- 
tricle, which were placed in the bottles, (a) with water, (b) with carbonic acid water. 
The appearance of the contents of these bottles at present is similar, though (a) seems 
to be more disintegrated. In both of these, the cavities and valves of the heart main- 
tain, in a measure, their form, and the chorde tendinee are in perfect preservation: the 
serous covering of the heart is consistent; and in (0) it is, in parts, quite black from 
sulphuret of iron. ‘The fluid in both bottles reacts strongly alkaline; when the mass of 
the heart is cut open, the muscular fibre appears of a dirty, yellowish-red colour, and 
when examined under the microscope, shows the fibre, but without any of the cross- 
markings in (2.) In (a,) which was more disintegrated, by the addition of water and a 
power of 700 diameters, the fibre could be seen broken in small portions, and giving evi- 
dent traces of both longitudinal and cross-breaking up of the sarcous substance. The fibres 
of (a,) treated with hot and cold alcohol evinced no change; with hot acetic acid they 
shrunk in dimensions. The weight of (a) dripping with liquid was 330 grammes, that of 
(6) 275 grammes. 
0. The Eggs.—The water was strongly alkaline; the shelled eggs were seen in broken, 
