334 The American Naturalist. [April, 
Through the kindness of Dr. Anderson, First Assistant 
Chemist on the Experiment Station, who made the chemical 
analysis of the water, soil and body, I am enabled to submit 
herewith his report on the same: 
With a view of determining the agency by which the body 
was kept in so excellent a state of preservation, the soil in which 
the body was buried, the water which percolates through the 
soil from the spring above, and the flesh from the body itself 
were all subjected to chemical analysis. 
The soil presents no peculiarity in its composition, further 
' than it is a highly silicious soil. It contains 95.91% of insolu- 
ble residue, and 2.94% of soluble silica, thus giving nearly 
99% of silicious matter. Next in importance as regards quan- 
tity comes alumina and oxide of iron—nearly 1#—and then 
lime, magnesia, and the alkalies in minute quantities. 
When found, the coffin containing the body was submerged 
in water, and when the coffin was removed, the hole soon filled 
with water. A sample of this water was taken for analysis. 
After remaining in the bottle undisturbed for four or five 
weeks, a considerable sediment, chiefly of sand, formed in the 
bottom, but the supernatant liquid remained decidedly milky 
in appearance. The suspended matter which caused this 
milkiness was found to be silica and alumina, with oxide of 
iron. The water presented no other peculiarity, but contained 
lime and magnesia. 
Naturally, the chief interest attaches to the chemical exam- 
ination of the flesh itself. To preserve the specimen in the 
condition in which it was found, it was kept in a bottle witha 
ground glass stopper. Determinations were made of water, 
fat, organic matter other than fat, and ash. From a number 
of determinations the following averages are taken: Water, 
55% ; organic matter, 44%, 32% of which was fat; and ash, 
1.22%. The least amount of mineral matter found was 0.33% — 
and the largest, 2.10%. It was found to contain silica, alu- 
mina, oxide of iron, lime and magnesia. But, in my estima- 
tion, the most important find was lead. This was not found 
uniformly distributed throughout the specimen. From two to 
three grams of the flesh were used in each determination. In 
