"Hands off," was the imperative order of the proprietor, and I
bowed to the decreer. I craved permission to apply a drop of
acid in order to determine certainly whether the material was
gypsum or ordinary limestone, but my request was denied. If on
the application of acid there had been no effervescence, the
inference would be that the specimen was not limestone, the
material of which petrifactions are usually composed. But although
chemical tests and manipulations were prohibited, there seemed to
be no disposition to forbid the use of our eyes--at a respectful
distance. And the proprietor very kindly refrained from exacting
a promise that we would not express an opinion, if we should have
temerity enough to form one.

I take it that this specimen was carefully placed in its present
locality. Had it been washed from a distance, it would have been
fractured and mutilated, and it would not in all likelihood, have
lodged in its present easy and natural position.

If this were once a living man, he must have died ages and ages ago.
If buried, the accumulated deposits upon his grave, in this low
piece of ground, during thousands of years would have been deeper
than three feet. If he were drowned, or if he lay down on the
surface of the earth to die, the flesh would have decayed and
dropped from his bones without petrification. If he were petrified
in his present locality, we ought to find other petrifications in
its immediate neighborhood, whereas all the twigs and branches
which covered and surrounded him are free from the slightest
encrustation.

Human bodies do not petrify in layers; but the strata in the