Arkansas true Democrat., 1858-10-06

Ilon unsPotted in the community among which she dwels
 May God bless you, my dear friend, and long preserve you the home and influence you now eiJoy' hememoer the poor exile afectionately Vo all wno yet think kindly of her, and believe me. Yours sincerely afectionate.
 EMILY C.. HStraordinary Account of Human Petri.
 faction
 in the Alta California, of July 20, is pub. 1shed letter from German physician at Ft. Langley, on Frazer river, which gives detail- ed account of the death of miner by petri- lacton, consequent upon drinking mnera, naid known as aotter of crystaizHioa--a solu- tioh of slllca-tound. in a geole. The state- heht IS very crcum5tantlal and very interest lnS' but so opposed to scientific experiences that It appears hardly entitled to full belief As the dscoyery, if true, IS one of great in VereSt and importance, we give the letter de- ScHolng the case l. will be seen that the wr. ter announces his intention to transmit spaei menS of the petriied body to the Acad ,mv of Natural science in Philad .lphia for examna- tan. If he has done so, We shall hear of him again:
 Fort Lrnyley June 19 '59.
 EDITORS ALTA The circumstances attend ing the recent death of one of my party are so remarkable that l hasten to make them known-not merely as caution to others, but as presenting facts of the highest scientific in terest.
 The individual was a c0uutryman of mine, a Prussian by birth, nam d Ernest Flucterspegel. who accompanied me from San Francisco Oh my proposed expedition to the Frazer river mdnea. On reaching this place 1 decided, upon lntormlton received from gentlemen of the Hu i'or'S Bay com pany, to leave the usual route by the river, on account of the very hiph lreshet, and attempt to reach the digginys by way ot the great lake called after Mr. Harri- son, one of their Itm3uted traders and thence 0oy the Lelowuts river. In ascending the lake. was compelled by storm to enclmp on a small stream running down from the noun tahS, and It being still early, some of the party went up the bed of the torrent to prospect.-- ms man Ernest and another Wilhelm Fled Ter, had ascended some distance, anI ii nlnyno Soid' amused themselves with breaking open some gsofes, which they found abund .ntlv. Some of your readers may problb!v have seen these upon the waters of Like Superior For the information of the unscienti6c will state that they are rounied masses of quartz | varying ln s'ze from few inches to som ,tim,s a couple of feet in diameter These g.ol,, occasionally, as is often the case with single chrystalS, contain a transparent fluid, known to mneralo5lst' as the water of chryStalization --l lluid chlrgsd with solution of tn, sub stance forming them, and from which, ind eed. the chryotils are a5greEase1, according to fIel laws ot figure, into tfsrent geom e5r:ca soli ls The quantity of this liquid Is usually so small that It has never attracted attention, except as suo!act of clroIty; but 1t appears that on this occasion Ernest, in striking one of these geoieS. broke oil piece, leaving cup, which, according to the staem snt of his companion. contained hall pint ot water. The unfortu- nate man, with testing remark, upon the beau ttul cup of chrystal, took it up and swallowed It at drauIht. It's eifecbs were not inn edja. tely perceptIble He returned toward the camp win his companion, but before reaching it com | plllned ot sense of pain and weight in the epig 'stric and left hypochon lrac respons. Ol arriving with the aid of his compan:on, he was already speeches. He had been much heated by the walk, and had p.rspired freely but the natural warmth of the skin was now gone, and cold beals of sweat covered his face. Much alarmed, but not guessing the cause of his illness, l laid him in bed, applied mustard poutices to his feet and used vigorou, fric5ion. All attempts to make him swallow brandy were IruitleSs. His pulse was feeble, the heart beat with violent but very ire esula action, and in about fifteen minutes be expired
 On questioning his companion as to the man. ner in which Ernest had been attacked, he in- formed me that he had drank some water from schllsel stein, and l concludel that he had swallowed some mineral poison, though could conceive of none which would have acted with such rapidty, and with such peculiar symptoms. | Upon removing the body, and attempting prop erly to dispose the limbs an unusual rigidity Wa. observel. h vigorous men 1t is very un- common for the rigor nsortis to appear mme- | dtately following somatic death, where the oc- currence is su lien (see Won Bibra, Uejer de Kpocken UaI Zttne,) but in this case the risi li- | ty set m at once, and increasel minute by min ute, until Tn the course of two hours ani half the whole body became as stiff and inhexible as boarl. The muscles, however, were still capable of receiving an nle1taton by the fin ger, but afforded cracking sensation, or crep- itatlon on being pressed, as if the minute ca plarles were in a state of congelation or ossi6- cation.
 As the case seemed to be very extraord- nary one, l at once resolved to institute a post m 'rtem examination, and for this purpose re- maned Tn camp over the next day. Assuming the Cause of the death to have been some pois- onous substance contained n the water of the geode, 1 proceeded to examine the stomach and duodenum. On making an incSion from a point opposite the xyphod cartilage to the um- bilious, through the skin, superficial tasca and abdominal muscles, the knife gave grating sensation, and applying lens of medium pow CT, observed that the smaller blood vessels were solid and apparently ossified. The sto- mach and duodenum were then removed from the abdomen, and, on sitting them open with the enterotome, found several hard masses of the size of a haze-nut, looking like gallstones, and evidently composed of biliary matter, but as hard as the hardest quartz. Evidence of food also existed, and large mass containing flores of muscle and unligested potatoes mould ed to the form of the antrlm pvlyr, were ta- ken out of the like soidty. This sodlfiea. tion of the contents of the stomach, of. he food and the blie-their conversion in fact into stone, struck me with astonshment, the more the coats of the stomach appeared very nearly normal.
 next made an opening into the cavity of the throax with the costatome, and pushing back the drenchel sternnm over the face. dis covered the heart tn sitA aud of a natural col or, but it was as hard IS and strongly resem- bled piece of red jasper exhibiting here and there those varied colors which givesuch beauty to that mineral. By means of small hatchet l separated the heart from its connections with the sorts, pulmonary artery and vena cavey, and with some difficulty was able to break it in pieces The right ventricle and auricle were composed centrally of solid of dark purple color, which was evidently the venous blood petrified while the Jeff chambers vied in the color of their central portions with the richest