"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in
message k...
The message
from "Mike Lyle" contains these
words:

Have I been labouring under a serious misapprehension?

No. Not very serious ones, anyway. Builder's lime is (or should be)
completely unhydrated. (And is bad news for the skin.)

Using Google on "Builders' Lime" turned up 110,000 hits. I stopped
looking after I found 20 which stated that builders' lime is slaked
lime or hydrated lime or calcium hydroxide.

It was always presumed that because of its caustic nature it would
destroy bodies, and several murderers have come to grief because it
in
fact tends to preserve the body.

Executed murderers were (unless this is UL) buried in a bed of
quicklime
until it was discovered that it didn't have the intended effect. It
is
still widely believed to get rid of bodies...

I found this interesting quote:

"When St Ignatius had died his mortal remains were covered in
quicklime and did not decompose quickly. That's why parts of his body
could easily be recognized and were taken away by these relic
hunters."

Franz