Under this heading, we will present to our readers an essay upon the causes of the dissolution of the human body. The writer, Mr. W. W. BALL, of Bangor, Michigan, who published the following in THE CASKET of March, 1877, has kindly allowed us to republish it, for the benefit of those who have not read it, and also as a proof that the theories advanced in this volume cannot be refuted. We give the article at length. The statements advanced in the essay, also the course of treatment adopted in the preservation of bodies, will be found to possess great similarity with the different methods herein given. BY W. W. BALL. As soon as the vital action ceases, decomposition ensues in the substances which were before the very elements of life, viz.: blood, lymph, chyme, chyle and gastric juice, become active agents in its destruction. In the blood, the most important agent during life, as soon as life ceases it becomes one of the first to produce that blackened, putrid and sloughing condition we find shortly after death. The blood being left in every part of the body, it breaks up and forms new compounds, of which only a general outline is attainable, for want of definite chemical analysis or microscopical observation. The fibrine and serum separate; the former, which contains most of the red corpuscles, albumen, saline and fatty substances, glutinates or coagulates on the sides of the vessels themselves, while the serum permeates the surrounding tissues, uniting with oxygen carried off from the pulmonary structure during life, and these, having an affinity for the tissues, form those compounds termed sulphuretted and carburetted hydrogen gases, giving rise to that effluvium which characterize deceased bodies. CONDITION OF THE BLOOD. After death the blood is found in two forms. This is owing to certain diseases and circumstances. The first is encountered when death has ensued after a long stage of sickness. The vital fluids become exhausted by disease, and the organs of circulation become too weak to perform their office of circulating the fluid they contain; hence, dissolution takes place in the blood from want of constant and rapid action. Thus the fibrine becomes lodged and coagulated in the veins and capillary system. The fibrine and serum separate, leaving the fibrine coagulated or clotted, and the serum, a transparent, fatty or oily liquid, permeates the tissues of the flesh. Usually the arteries are found without any blood remaining in them. In instances of this kind there will be no difficulty encountered from the corpse turning black, as the gases cannot force the blood to the surface into the capillary system, because the fibrine is lodged elsewhere, but the flesh may turn brown or saffron color to some extent. DIFFICULT CASES.