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building, and consisted of a block of blue marble, in which a rectan- 

 gular excavation had been made, which was closed on top by a 

 marble slab sunk down into the stone, and secured by common 

 mortar. The papers and coins had been deposited in a half gallon 

 wide-mouthed glass jar with glass stopper, secured by ordinary seal- 

 ing wax, and the jar laid down in a horizontal position, in direct con- 

 tact with the bottom of the cavity. When opened, the cavity itself 

 contained no water. The reasons which induce him to suppose that 

 the water found its way in from the outside at an early period, either 

 during or soon after the erection of the building, but subsequently 

 again evaporated from the cavity in the stone, are: — i. Though the 

 marble slab seems to have been well secured, there are evident signs of 

 a gradual infiltration on all sides of the cavity, but particularly on one 

 from a calcareous film deposited on it, most observable in the bottom of 

 the chisel-grooves. 2. A thin white film of carbonate of lime deposited 

 externally on one side of the jar, indicating a distinct water line. No 

 such v/ater line, however, was perceptible in the cavity of the stone, 

 seeming to indicate that the infiltration and subsequent evaporation 

 had been gradual, and the jar floating. 3. The entire decolorizalion 

 and corrosion of the sealing wax outside the stopper, causing it to be 

 loose and friable. This action is ascribed to the lime of the water. 

 A portion of the sealing wax, which, during the sealing, had run into 

 the jar and yet adhered to the stopper, was discolored on the outer 

 surface, but perfectly fresh inside, and was found to consist of nothing 

 but the ordinai-y resinous matters and vermillion (sulphuret of mer- 

 cury), without oxide of lead or earthy matters. That outside left by 

 incineration a little more ash, which efiervesced with acids. 4. 

 Traces of a thin layer of sealing wax having been secured in the molt- 

 en state between the stopper and the neck of the jar*, and of its subse- 

 quent removal by the infiltration, so that the stopper now fits further in 

 the neck than when the jar was in the cavity. This is known by corre- 

 sponding stains on both the ground surfaces of the joint. The water in 

 the jar became almost entirely absorbed by the renaoval of the papers 

 from it. What was left of it, would not filter clear, it had a feeble alka- 

 line reaction on litmus, contained only ti'aces of sulphuric acid and 

 lime, did not blacken metallic silver, [the jar was not opened or exa- 

 mined till about ten days after its removal,] yielded at first no precipi- 

 tate with niti'ate of silver, but after some time a dark brown, and tfie 

 solution assumed a dark blood red colour. The corrosion of the 

 coins was therefore mainly ascribed to the sulphur in the glue ox 



