CHAPTER VI.

ON EMBALMING THE DEAD.

From the earliest times, the attention of mankind has been given to the preservation of the bodies of the dead. With the ancient Egyptians, the art was carried to its highest degree of perfection. The motive which led these people to devote so much care to this object, is still conjectural; yet it would seem to have originated, in part at least, as a sanitary measure, for preserving the purity and healthfulness of the atmosphere.

While so little is known of the method by which they produced such wonderful results, as to have placed the process among what have been termed the “Lost Arts,” yet, from a careful examination of a large number of mummies, it would appear that the operation consisted:

_First._ In the removal of the abdominal and thoracic viscera, through an opening in the left side beneath the ribs; and of the brain through the nostrils, by breaking through the crebriform plate of the ethmoid bone; or through the mouth, by boring through the basilar process of the occipital bone.

_Second._ Subjecting the body for a long time to the action of an alkali, (natron,) after having filled the cavities with various gums and spices, etc., and thus removing the fatty portions.

_Third._ A rapid desiccation, after further additions of balsams, resins, etc.

_Fourth._ Enveloping the whole body in numerous bandages saturated with gum or bitumen.

Modern nations, have long practiced evisceration, in connection with the use of various substances for preserving bodies. In the middle ages, the art of embalming consisted in mixing aromatic substances with salt, and filling the bodies with the same. Henry I. of England, is said to have been thus embalmed in 1135. Long and deep incisions were made in various parts of the body, these filled with the composition, and then carefully sewed up, the body afterwards enveloped in a beef’s skin, and enclosed in a coffin.

Louis C. Bils, a nobleman of Holland, and Ruysch, a Dutch physician, in the latter part of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth centuries, acquired great celebrity from their success in embalming bodies. Both died, however, without imparting their secrets to others.

The discovery of the preservative properties of corrosive sublimate in 1762, was soon followed by its employment by Chaussier, Beclard and Larrey, in the preserving of bodies. Dr. Franchina of Naples, employed arsenic also, with considerable success; but from the danger to dissectors, where these poisons had been employed, their use after the discovery of the preservative properties of chloride of zinc, was quite discontinued.

The latter substance, with carbolic acid, constitutes the best antiseptis known at the present time, and these are more generally employed than any other for preserving dead bodies.

The objects of the process of embalming at the present day, are threefold: 1st. It permits the delay of burial where this is desirable from the absence of friends; or of the ready transportation of the bodies of those who may have died a long distance from home, and that free from decay and post-mortem change. 2d. As a sanitary measure in large towns and cities, where many bodies are placed in family vaults, instead of being buried in the ground. 3d. For the preservation of bodies for the purpose of anatomical study.

For either of these objects, it is desirable that the process be simple, easy, quick and inexpensive.

Frequently in the large cities, and occasionally in the country, the physician will be called upon to perform this operation, but without some information upon the subject, he will be unable to comply with the request.

The operation at the present time, consists simply in filling the vascular system with a preserving fluid, by injecting the same into some one or more of the arteries; the substance employed being either carbolic acid or chloride of zinc in solution; the latter, from possessing greater preserving power without the disagreeable odor of the carbolic acid, being much more frequently employed.

_Preparation of the Zinc._ In the large cities, the chloride of zinc may be obtained of the manufacturing chemists ready made; but in the country, the physician may manufacture the solution himself, by the following process:

Place in an open stone jar, ten pounds of muriatic acid, and add to the same, old scrap sheet zinc, _ad libitum_. It should be frequently stirred, and allowed to stand in the open air for from twelve to twenty-four hours, or until the acid has so acted upon the zinc as to have become thoroughly neutralized, forming thus a saturated solution of the chloride of zinc.

The quantity required of this solution to preserve a body, will depend upon the state of the weather, in connection with the size of the body, cause of death, etc.; more being required in hot weather, or in a large body, or in such diseases as are followed by a tendency to rapid putrefaction. In all cases, however, the rule should be to _throw in as much as the vessels will hold_, varying the strength according to the weather, character of the body, etc. With young, thin subjects, and cool weather, the chloride may be diluted one-half with water; but in warmer weather, and with a large body full of fluids, a proportion of two-thirds zinc, or even stronger may be required. It will be well to commence by throwing in a weaker solution, which, by not constringing the small vessels, will pass more readily into the extremities, and follow by a stronger for filling the large vessels of the trunk.

Dr. Vivodtsef of St. Petersburg, employs a mixture of carbolic acid and alcohol. Taking alcohol of about ninety degrees, he adds one-fifth its weight of carbolic acid; there being required of this mixture, a quantity equal to about one-half the weight of the body to be injected. It may be thrown into the vessels in the same manner as the solution of the chloride of zinc. The high price of alcohol in this country, would constitute an objection to the use of this substance, even if it afford advantages over the zinc, which it probably does not.

_Instruments Required._ For the satisfactory performance of this operation, there will be required the _anatomical syringe_. This instrument consists of a brass cylinder and piston, of a capacity of twelve to sixteen ounces, with a movable stop-cock, and series of graduated pipes for arteries of different size. Each pipe has a small rim or shoulder at the point to be introduced into the vessel, above which the ligature is applied, which thus holds the pipe more securely in its position.

The absence of the anatomical syringe should not, however, deter the physician from attempting this operation, as, by a little preparation, the common gum-elastic family syringe, of the Mattson or a similar pattern, may be made to answer the purpose. The point of the small or child’s rectum pipe may be reduced with a file, and a shoulder prepared, about one-fourth of an inch from the end, for securely holding it when tied in the vessel.

An apparatus of a complicated character, and working by atmospheric pressure, has been devised for this purpose; but while it possesses very few advantages over the syringe described, it is expensive and not easily managed.

_The Operation._ In the dissecting-room, it is usual to open the chest and inject through the arch of the aorta; but in other cases, one of the common carotids, and better the right, may be selected. Extend the head, placing thus the muscles upon the stretch, and along the inner border of the right sterno-cleido-mastoid muscle, make an incision two inches in length, through which may be exposed the upper portion of the common carotid artery. After detaching the vessel from the surrounding structures, it should be raised upon the handle of a scalpel and two ligatures passed around, one of which is to be tightly tied, high up, upon the vessel. Below this, a longitudinal slit, one-half inch in length, should be made in the vessel, for receiving the pipe of the syringe, which, when in position, should be securely tied with the second ligature, just above the rim. The stop-cock joint may now be fitted to the pipe.

To permit of the escape of as much of the blood as possible, an opening may be made into the jugular vein, ligatures being passed beneath the vessel—one above and one below the opening—that it may be closed at the proper time.

The antiseptic fluid having been prepared in a convenient vessel, the syringe, after having been carefully examined and found in good working order, should be slowly filled, adjusted to the stop-cock joint, the cock opened, and the syringe slowly discharged. Shutting off the cock, to prevent escape of the fluid, the syringe may now be detached, refilled and again discharged, the process being repeated until the vessels are filled with the fluid, which may be known from the resistance offered to its introduction. After a few syringefuls have been thrown into the vessels, the blood will be seen flowing more or less freely from the jugular, and which will gradually change to the clear antiseptic fluid; then the vessel may be tied, to prevent any further loss.

To facilitate the flow of the fluid into the vessels of the extremities, free flexion and extension of all the limbs should be made; and after some minutes, another effort made to force in more of the fluid. A successful filling of all the vessels may be known by the distension of the superficial veins of the chest and arms, accompanied with an escape of a dark fluid from the nostrils and, perhaps, mouth, from an oozing of the fluid through the capillary vessels of the mucous membranes of the head.

If the extemporized gum syringe be used, its pipe should be tied in the vessel as in the other case, the opposite end of the tube placed in the vessel of fluid, and the same thrown in by pressure of the ball. The operation being completed, a ligature should be tightly placed around the artery below the pipe, the latter removed and the incision sewed up.

_Changes Resulting from the Operation._ As the vessels become filled during the operation, the abdomen will gradually swell, the chest become more round and full, the face and eyelids become puffy, while the superficial veins will appear full and dark from the contained blood. In a few hours the skin assumes a pale, ashen hue, with a parchmentlike feel, which will be a sure indication of the success of the operation. In a few days the puffed appearance of the face will have disappeared, when no further change will be noticed, until after several weeks the ears, with the tip of the nose, and ends of the fingers, begin to shrivel and dry up.