| Noah Webster |
[Noun] A petrifaction of the human body, or skeleton. Some naturalists have asserted that skeletons of the animal frame have been found petrified in old mines; but the fact is not credited, and the existence of such petrifactions is denied. Capt. Wilford informs us, that in digging a well near the Ganga, some persons found, at the depth of 90 feet, on an old bed of that river, the bones of men and quadrupeds, supposed to be petrifactions. The skeleton of a man has been found in limestone rock, of recent formation, in Guadaloupe. Human bones have also been found, by Prof. Buckland, in the open cave of Paviland, Glamorganshire. He considers them postdiluvian. Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary. |
