into a Substance much resembling Spermaceti. 171 
experiments, and that the putrefactive fermentation is not at 
all necessary in the formation of this fatty matter, I think 
some of the following experiments will shew. 
After having seen some of the matter found in the Cimetiere 
des Innocens at Paris, I concluded that in some situations the 
same kind of substance might be easily found ; accordingly I 
examined some of the macerating tubs belonging to anatomi- 
cal schools in town, and I found that in most of them the flesh 
was nearly changed into this kind of fat. By the indulgence 
of Dr. Pegge, the anatomical professor in Oxford, I was per- 
mitted to examine the receptacle in which the bodies are de- 
posited, after he has finished lecturing on them. This place is 
a hole dug in the ground to the depth of about 13 or 14 feet, 
and, to remove all offensive smell, a little stream is turned 
through it. I found, on first looking into it, that the flesh 
was quite white, and on drawing up the first piece, I found it 
changed in the manner before described. From this place I 
have procured at least 12 pound weight of a substance equal 
in every respect to spermaceti. 
Having seen many specimens of different animals, which had 
been changed under somewhat different circumstances, that is, 
where some had been buried in dampish ground, some in wet 
ground, and some even in water itself, I began to suspect that 
I might bring about the same change in a shorter time, at least 
I might determine the time necessary for it: with this view a 
piece of the leanest part of a rump of beef was confined in a 
box full of holes, which being tied to a tree near a river, was 
suffered to float in it. On taking this up from time to time, I 
perceived that it gradually got whiter and whiter, and at the 
Z 2 
