170 Mr. Gibbes on the Conversion of Animal Muscle 
“ of the earth, and the salt and lixivious liquor of the body , 
.< had coagulated large lumps of fat into the consistence of 
“ the hardest Castile soap ; whereof part remaineth with us. 
Lord Bacon, in his work intituled Sylva Sylvarum, also 
mentions this curious circumstance : “ You may turn (almost) 
“ all flesh into a fatty substance ; if you take flesh and cut it 
« into pieces, and put the pieces into a glass covered wit i 
“ parchment ; and so let the glass stand six or seven hours in 
“ boiling water. It may be an experiment of profit for mak- 
“ ing grease or fat for many uses ; but then it must be of such 
“ flesh as is. not edible, as horses, dogs, bears, foxes, badgers. 
“ &c/' . . , 
Animal muscle, having lost its living principle, has been 
generally supposed to undergo, when exposed either to the 
action of air or water, that kind of decomposition only which 
is known by the name of the putrefactive fermentation. Since 
the discovery of the bodies in the Cimetiere des Innocent at 
Paris, this subject has been more attended to ; and a substance 
much resembling spermaceti, is now known to be formed by 
combinations which take the animal flesh and water. 
If you put flesh under water, and let it stay some time, it 
will get very offensive, and the putrefactive fermentation will 
in some measure most assuredly take place. This seems to have 
been the reason why the substance remaining in the water had 
not been more accurately examined, it being imagined that 
as this decomposition had commenced, the whole would be 
changed in the same manner. It would appear strange, l t te 
same substance, exposed to the action of two such different 
bodies as air and water, should undergo precisely the same 
change. That they do not, has been lately proved by many 
