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church for interment, and the relations growing im- 
patient ; but we had no reafon to fufpedb any defed: 
there, from any previous complaint. 
All her bones were more or lefs affeded, and 
fcarce any would refift the knife : thofe of the head, 
thorax, fpine, and pelvis, nearly to the fame degree 
of foftnefs: thofe of the lower extremities much more 
diffolved than thofe of the upper, or of any other part. 
They were cut quite thro’ their whole length, with- 
out turning the edge of the knife, and much lefs re- 
finance found, than firm mufcular flefh would have 
made; being changed into a kind of parenchymous 
fubftance, like foft dark coloured liver, only meeting 
here and there with bony lamina, thin as an egg- 
fhell. 
Thofe bones were mofb diffolved, which, in their 
natural hate, were mod compad, and contained mofb 
marrow in their cavities ; and the heads of them were 
leafb diffolved. 
This, perhaps, is the more worthy obfervation, as 
it held good throughout, and looks as if the wonder- 
ful change they had undergone might be caufed by 
the marrow having acquired a diffolving quality : 
for it was evident the diffolution began withinfide, 
from the bony lamina remaining here and there on 
the outfide, and no- where elfe, and the pain not be- 
ing increafed at firfb by external preffure. 
The periofbeum was thicker than ordinary: the car- 
tilages rather thinner ; but no-where in a ftate of dif- 
folution like the bones. 
The day after this examination, fome of the whole 
fubftance of the leg and thigh-bones, that was intirely 
ditfolved into a kind of pulp, was fent to an ingenious 
chemift; 
2 
f 
