Page:Antiquity of Man as Deduced from the Discovery of a Human Skeleton.djvu/19

Rh panied the exhumed remains. The following is Dr. Flight’s "Report":—

"The bone is considerably altered in appearance and character; it is of a fine dark brown colour, and is readily reduced to a powder in an iron mortar. When heated, water and only oily matter are evolved, and it turns black or nearly so; treated with soda-lime, a large quantity of ammonia is given off. The density of the bone is 2⋅138, that of the recent tibia was found to be 1⋅985. Treated for twenty-two hours in the cold with the requisite amount of hydrochloric acid, of specific gravity 1⋅04, it was found that:— "The part dissolved consists of lime-phosphate &c. The insoluble portion, removed by heating, 11⋅63 per cent., comes next that found by Frémy in fossil ox-bones from the Oreston Caves. He found in the external part of a metatarsal 11⋅0 per cent. Frémy also found in rhinoceros-ribs from Fansan, Gers, of silica and fluoride 1⋅4 per cent. I send you some of the powdered bone; and

"I remain, &c.,, D.Sc., F.R.S."