as, at the close of the experiment, they can be sealed at the open end, and placed on a card with descriptions, for future reference. I weighed the quantity of fat in one instance, and found that half a milligramme was much more than enough to obtain the melting point with the capillary tube. (_b_) HUMAN ADIPOCIRE. Towards the close of the year 1853, I visited a grave yard in Philadelphia, the remains of which were being removed, and from which, through the kindness of the superintendent, I obtained specimens of adipocire and valuable information. The surface of the burial ground was depressed about four or six feet below that of the neighbouring streets, and was of a very moist nature. Many of the bodies were converted more or less into adipocire, and of these, all had been large persons. There was none among the remains of children. I obtained specimens from two persons. No. 1, was from a large man, which had been buried from ten to fifteen years; the ground was very moist, and the coffin rotten; the grave was seven feet deep. The adipocire was from the middle of the coffin, and was in irregular lumps. No. 2, was from a very large man; buried five or six years; the ground moist, though not so much so as number one; the grave five feet deep. The ground around the coffin was of a bloody colour, and all of the body was decayed, except the lower portion. The shape of the rump was plain, and the legs separate; the fat was at the bottom of the coffin, and the bones (femur, tibia) were lying along it. The adipocire contained an impression of the bone, was spongy and dark-coloured on the inside; and on the outside it was smooth, white, and presented impressions of the grave clothes, and here and there appearances as if of the hair follicles and sebaceous glands, but which lost this appearance when viewed with the microscope. There was no hair on this specimen. The pieces of adipocire of this specimen were large, at the thickest part being about three inches in thickness; they presented the shape of different parts of the leg, though flattened; tough fibrous bands, like aponeuroses, were seen in some parts traversing the mass of fatty matter. The appearance of these two specimens with the microscope, was very similar to each other and to the sheep adipocire. Powder scraped from them, with a fine needle, gave no appearance of fat globules, but irregular masses, mingled with membranous matter; a portion sliced off with a sharp knife, presented by reflected light, brilliant, white, irregular fatty fragments, but no traces of globules. When alcohol was added with heat, the fat disappeared, leaving membranous matter, and fibres not-anastomosing (the white element of cellular tissue.) The addition of acetic acid causes the fibres to disappear, and without showing nuclei.