San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-07-30
A STARTLING DISCOVERY.

P%etrifaction of Bodies in the Gene
teries of Macon, Ga.
From the Macon Telegraph.
The process of petrifaction by which
human bodies, wood and other organ
ic substances are turned into stone is
q strange and interesting one. Slowly,
but surely, as the years go by, the
particles of silica or lime, according to
the nature of the bed in which the
object lies, enter in and take the
places OF the organic atoms, and that
which once lived and grew becomes
hard, imperishable rock.
There is something startling in the
idea of a human body, doomed to die
and decay, and yet, instead of pass
ing back into the dust from whence
1t sprang, changing into q stone that
may outlast the marble shaft raised
above it.
Additional interest will be felt In
this subject when it is known that
this remarkable process has o
than once taken place in the ceme-
possible to say to what extent petrifi-
cation has taken place, but the re-
moval, within the past two years OF
two bodies that had turned COM
pletely into stone, proves that such a
condition does exist there.
A gentleman, who on several occ a.
sions superintended the removal of
remains from cemeteries, in CONVEX
satlon with q reporter recently, gave
an interesting account of how he
made the discovery.
ga good while back" said he, II
had to exhume the remains of a baby
whose relations wished to remove it
to another city for burial. The baby
had been buried thirty years and
was only IS months old at the time
OF its death. SO L was prepared to
find nothing but a few fragment, of
bones at the most.
"You can judge of my surprise
when, after the earth was removed.
1 found the casket in a perfect state
of preservation. When the pick
struck it, it resounded with a sharp,
stony ring. 1 was sure, however,
that, although the casket might be
intact, the body itself must have
long ago persisted away.
$50, when we went to lift out 1.-The
little casket, our curiosity was great
ly excited by its great weight. 1t re-
quired the efforts of foul strong men
to raise it to the level of the ground.
II had never seen q petrified body,
but felt convinced that this must be
one, and 1 proceeded to find out il
such were the ase Soon the small
lid covering the glass was removed.
A coating of dew had gathered on the
glass, and, when L wiped that away,
/ could see clearly into the casket.
''Then 1 saw a sight which gave me
a sensation which 1 can hardly de-
scribe. That baby, which, thirty
years ago had been laid away in
there, was just as perfect in form and
feature as though 1t had died but an
hour before.
"But it was only in form and con-
dition that it was like a human, for
the color and texture of the skin and
and hair wese turned into the dark,
ashen gray surface of a solid rock.
None of the features were shrunken
nor mishapen, put were plump and
full, looking as though they had been
chiseled from stone.
IA strange thing, however, had
happened to it's waist. All of the
upper part of the body, including Its
head, shoulders, breast and arms,
were unchanged in shape. But right
at the waist there was a large lump
of what appeared to be charcoal
which seemed to have grown from
within outward, and it was large
enough to extend almost entirely
across the body. What it was 1 dc
not known and do not pretend to say
but it did not resemble stone, like thu
rest of the body.
81 did not take away the glass COW
ering from the casket, and thus wa
unable to ascertain positively whether
the lower limbs were also petrified
but there was no doubt about the res
of it. 1 would have liked very mucl
to investigate further, but would no
take the liberty of doing so, ard s.
the lid was shut down and the ligh
closed, perhaps forever to the mos
wonderful object 1 eyer saw"
"Dld you ever find any more speci
mems Of petrifaction?" asked the re