232 
PUTREFACTION  AT  31°  BELOW  ZERO. 
action  of  the  fuller's  earth  on  greasy  substances.  It  will  not  be 
so  liable  to  irritate  as  starch,  on  account  of  the  healing  proper- 
ties of  the  earth.  The  subject  is  worthy  of  investigation  ;  and  if 
those  interested  in  the  subject  would  consider  the  matter,  I  have 
little  doubt  but  that  there  may  be  merits  found  connected  with 
the  formula  which  at  first  sight  may  not  appear. — Pharm.  Journ* 
March.  1858. 
NOTE  ON  PUTREFACTION  AT  35°  C.  (31°  F.)  BELOW  ZERO. 
By  Mr.  T.  L.  Phipson. 
We  are  accustomed  to  regard  the  temperature  of  15°  to  25° 
C.  (59°  to  77°  F.)  as  the  most  favorable  to  eremacausis,  fermen- 
tations, putrefaction,  &c.  But  these  spontaneous  alterations  of 
organic  bodies,  although  they  seem  no  longer  to  exist  at  the 
freezing  point,  may,  according  to  all  appearance,  be  perfectly 
manifested  at  the  temperature  of  20°  C,  below  zero  (=4°  F. 
below  zero)  that  is  to  say  when  the  cold  is  extreme.  This  was 
proved  during  Dr.  Kane's  last  voyage  towards  the  north  pole,* 
in  search  of  Sir  John  Franklin,  during  the  years  1853-4-5.  It 
appears  that  the  flesh  of  certain  animals,  the  rein-deer  for  exam- 
ple, was  not  eatable  after  a  short  exposure  to  the  air,  the  tem- 
perature of  which  was  20°  0.  below  zero  (4°  F.  below  zero) 
owing  to  the  putrefaction  which  took  place  very  rapidly.  The 
natives  of  Greenland  consider  extreme  cold  very  favorable  to 
putrefaction,  and  the  Esquimaux  are  in  the  habit  of  removing 
the  viscera  from  an  animal  as  soon  as  it  is  killed,  and  filling  its 
body  with  pebbles  to  preserve  it  from  decomposition. 
It  appears  to  us  that  these  facts  may  be  accounted  for,  partly 
by  the  condensation  of  the  air,  and  its  richness  in  oxygen  at  this 
extremely  low  temperature ;  and  partly  to  the  fact  that  ozone 
may  become  stable  at  a  great  degree  of  cold.  Indeed,  100  cubic 
centimetres  of  air  at  25°  C.  (77°  F.)  and  containing  20  per  cent, 
of  oxygen  in  volume,  are  reduced  to  84.5  cubic  centimetres  at 
20°  C.  below  zero  (4°  F.  below  zero.)  Hence  it  follows  that 
the  quantity  of  oxygen  which  acts  at  a  given  moment  on  the 
*  The  Second  Grinnell '  Expedition  in  search  of  Sir  John  Franklin,  1853-4-5. 
By  Elisha  Kent  Kane,  M.  D.,  U.'  S.  N.  j  2  vols.  8vo,  Philadelphia,  1856. 
