INTESTINE OF A SHEEP. 
35 
arsenic, but none could be discovered. Another portion was 
boiled in distilled water, and sulphuretted hydrogen passed through 
the filtered liquid, which produced no change of colour on precipi¬ 
tation ; but on adding ammonia, a copious precipitate of a 
whitish-black colour took place. A second portion of the filtered 
liquid gave a blue precipitate with the ferrocyanide of potassium. 
The precipitate by sulphuretted hydrogen and ammonia was col¬ 
lected on a filter, well washed with water, dried, and treated with 
nitric acid, diluted with distilled water, and again filtered. On 
adding ammonia a copious precipitate was obtained, which re¬ 
sembled phosphate of lime coloured with a little iron. The preci¬ 
pitate was well washed with water and dissolved in acetic acid, 
which, upon further examination, proved to be phosphate of lime*, 
and a small portion of phosphate of iron remained undissolved by 
the acetic acid. The filtered liquid which held the phosphate of 
lime and iron in solution was found to contain a small quantity of 
sulphuric acid, but a much larger portion of phosphoric acid. 
The intestine which had been boiled in distilled water was then 
boiled with nitric acid until nearly dissolved; the excess of acid 
being expelled by evaporation, was diluted with distilled water and 
filtered. The solution contained sulphuric acid, lime, and a small 
portion of iron. 
From this examination I was led to conclude the presence of 
Superphosphate of lime, 
Sulphate of lime, 
Sulphate of iron, 
which constitutes the well-known valuable compound of bones and 
sulphuric acid so extensively used for manure, but containing 
rather a larger quantity of iron than I should have expected to 
find, unless the acid was very impure; pieces of iron, however, 
might have been accidentally dissolved with the bones by the acid, 
or any other metal might exist in such a compound, but none 
could be discovered in the part which I examined. 
The contents of the intestines contained a considerable quantity 
of the same constituents, but none was found in the sweepings of 
the troughs which the sheep were fed from; nor had any of the 
compost been used on the premises for six months previous, which 
renders the case the more mysterious. 
Mr. Spooner was of opinion, from a careful post-mortem ex¬ 
amination which he made of the bodies of many of the sheep, that 
the appearances on the intestines were such as would very pro- 
* Seven ounces of intestine boiled for twenty minutes in distilled water 
gave 7*5 grains. 
