The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-10-19
CAN pETR|FY ANIMALS
ITALIAN CLAiMe TO HAVE Ole.
COVERED SECRET PROCESS.
Comes to America to Show Scientific
Men What He Can do--stun.
) blss on Mysterious Chemical
by Accident.

Crosse, q chemist Of Vercelli, Italy.
now visiting here, declares he has
found way to turn organic sub.
stances into stone. Crosse wants to
stay long enough to convince the
scientific men of this country that his
discovery is practical.
The chemist has brought with him
several substances upon which he has
tried his process, the basis OF which
he holds profound secret. GrossC
discovered 1t by the merest accident.
Instead Of chipping an equestrian
statue out Of block of marble In the
future, all that will be necessary will
be to get horse. put q man on his
back, apply the new process and there
will be statue true to life In every
detail. The dog which has guarded
the house during his lifetime can Oc.
cupy the front lawn ~ statue after
his death, while the man who finds his
ahinity can be sure OF keeping her al.
ways by applying the new process i'm.
mediately. So far Mr.. Crosse has
confined his experiments to bugs,
snakes and smaller animals. though
thore does not seem to be any demand
for petritlsd reptiles.
The chemical by which these re.
suits are achieved remains a secret,
but 1t is easy TO see what a complete
monopoly OF the statue-maling bust.
ness Crosse may obtain.
Fourteen years aso, while he was In
Peru, he had occasion to send case
OF eggs to Ecuador. He had no way
of refrigerating the consignment and
began experimenting with preserva,
tives. He bored tiny holes in the eggs
and tried injecting various chemicals.
None seemed to accomplish the work
In trying one powerful drug he In.
jected small quantity in several
eggs and few hours later found
every one of them as hard as rook.
He tried to break the shells hut could
not make the slightest dent
Crosse held the eggs before strong
light and was surprised to find that
the yOlk and white OF each one were
ss perfect as before petrifcatlon. lie
continued his experiments ON beef and
vegetables. The result was the same
with each trial. No matter how soft
the original substance, It was con.
verted into stone.
The chemist went back to vercelii
and before gathering Of doctors at
the Hospital MarrixianO, gave series
of demonstrations. The body OF a.
dog was petrified In standing position.
and the animal was made to look as
natural as life. Beetles, frogs, snakes
and other things were put through the
process, and after being petrihed re.
tanned their lifslike appearance.
In each instance the chemist inoc.
ulated the specimen with small guam
tity of the mysterious drug by means
OF q hypodermic syringe. Crosse was
always careful that the spectators
should not see the chemical. When.
ever he used II he went behthd. q
screen, then brought the specimen ont
and allowed the doctors to watch the
process of petrificatiOn as Il went on
Crosse says IL takes about three
hours. He has among his specimens
here q chicken that was petrified,
wings and all. This. he says, was done
three years ago. The chicken looks
about as 1t would In the baruyard.
Its eyes have their original luster and
every detail Is perfect.
by my process, said Crosse, ~
will be able to preserve animals ex.
actiy as they appear In life. 1t can
Petrify au elephant as easily a. a tiny
bug. II 10 sll done the same way, by
the use of the chemical and the hypo
dermic syringe.
II have tried the experiment on hu
man legs and arms and the result has
been perfect While ! have not tried
to petrify any large bodies. such as
those Of horses or elephants. l do not
think It would require more than Ave
or six hours, at the most.
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