The record-union., 1898-04-12
TURNED TO SOAP.
REMARKABLE BODIES IN A
PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM.
Exhumed After Resting in Peace
for a Century in Colonial
Graveyard.

Remarkable as it may seem, there
are on exhibition in alright glass
cases at Wister Museum, University of
Pennsylvania, and at the College of
Physicians Thirteenth and Locust
, streets, the mummies of man and
woman, which it is claimed, have turn
ed into ammonial soap. They were Sc
cured for the museums by the late i'r.
Joseph Leidy, who discovered them in
a downtown graveyard during eXca-
NatiCnS 20 make room for civic improve
mentS.
Both mummies were those >of ex-
! tremely stout people. The man III life
must have weighed at least 2UO
pounds. and the woman even more.
When they were exhumed they were
in remarkable state of preservation.
considering that they had been in the
grave over 1GO years. They are cer-
, tainly striking curiosities
One explanation is found in the tenn
, perature of the earth where the bod.
les lay. and in the humidity of the soil
as well. Both the conditions, coupled
with the exclusion of the air. act upon
, the fatty animal matter, changing it
into ammonlal soap. It's professional
name is adipocere. Adipocere is COM
posed ~of the chemical compounds Of
the ammonial margrates and the mar
CRATES of potassium and calcium The
latter being secured from the earth
: The body of the man which rests in
WiSter Museum was that of a COLONEL
gentleman. Upon its legs at this late
date are two high stockings, the only
remaining evidence of the Knicker-
booker garments that were worn in the
olden Philadelphia days. Very little
of the history of this man has been re-
corded. The card upon his breast bears
this inscriptions The body of a fat
man. the fat having turned to ammo
nial soap-a condition known in chem
istry as adipocere. Died in 1893. aged
G3, of yellow fever"
There is no name. DR.. Leidy has
carefully allowed any further history
to remain in oblivion, for fear that the
posterity of the deceased might arise
and claim the body. Even the ceme-
terry wherein the body lay for MANY
years is not named, but report has it
that it was secured from place some
where on Third street In that case
the cemetery is probably that which at
one time surrounded st. Joseph's Par
ish, at Third street and Willing's alley,
cemetery which was entirely oblit-
Grated about the time that Dr. I.eidy
secured the mummies 1t was the same
burying ground which contained the
last remains of the girl and boy who
inspired Longfellow in his Evan
geline." Many of the bodies when the
graves were opened We're not removed
because there were no claimants for
them. Evangeline and Mable were
among that number, and they rest at
present under pavement close by the
Sunday-school building which was
erected at that time
The remains that were found when
the cellars We're dug We're taken out
and the two cases of adipocere were
among that number Nobody claimed
them, and they probably would have
shared the same fate with many 9TH
ers that of being carted away and re-
inferred in a nameless grave. but for
the Intervention of DR.. Leidy, who had
heard of the peculiar find Of the grave
d1ggers. and who appreciated their
worth in the interest of science
A numerous story is told on the good
doctor by his friend, the eminent sur
geon DR.. William Hunt 1t seems that
one day DR.. Leidy rushed breathlessly
into DR.. Hunts sanctum, and an
They are taking the bodies out Of a
down town cemetery
You don't say So" said the surgeon
with a smile.
But they found two cases of adj
pocere."
DR.. Hunt began to grow interested.
Don't you think they would make
good specimens for our museum?"
DR. Hunt thought they would, and
advised the excited physician to go and
get them But to get them was an
other and an altogether different mat
ter. When DR.. Leidy approached the
workmen they fatty and Indignantly
refused to deliver over to him the
specimens
we can only give those bodies over
to their relatives, doctor"
Whereupon DR.. Leidy went to the
nearest drayman, and, handing him
note addressed to the foreman of the
grave diggers, instructed him to bring
back to the museum what he received
The man did as he was ordered. handed
the note to the proper man. and stood
waiting. The foreman opened the let
ter and read:
Kindly deliver to bearer the bodies
of my grandmother and grandfather,
and oblige, etc.
1t was grim joke, but it was sue
cessful The specimens were accord
ingly transferred to the draymans
wagon and in due season reached their
ion.-PEiladelphia Times