THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 
 MRS, PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
HISTORY 
 
 EMBALMING, 
 
 PREPARATIONS IN ANATOMY, PATHOLOGY, 
 AND NATURAL HISTORY: 
 
 INCLUDING 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF A NEW PROCESS FOR EMBALMING. 
 
 BY J. N. GAiNNAL. 
 
 PARIS, 1838. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH, WITH NOTES AND 
 ADDITIONS. 
 
 BY R. HARLAN, M. D. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 PUBLISHED BY JUDAH DOBSON, 
 
 No. 106 Chestnut Street. 
 
 1840. 
 
MERRIHEW & THOMPSON, PRINTERS 
 
 7 Cartei^'s alley. 
 
LOCKED 
 CASE 
 
 NOTE OF THE TRANSLATOR. 
 
 It will be reasonably anticipated from the title of the 
 present volume, that it embraces subjects of equal interest 
 to the general and professional reader, as well as indispen- 
 sable material for the researches of the practical anatomist 
 and student of natural history. 
 
 The latter class will find in it all the requisite details for 
 a successful prosecution of its arduous, intricate, but favorite 
 pursuits ; whilst those of its patrons of the former class, can- 
 not fail to be interested in the various and important facts 
 and discussions embraced in a general history of embalming 
 from the earliest ages to the present period, so hiseparably 
 connected with the moral and physical history of our own 
 species. 
 
 An additional subject of interest to all classes will be 
 acknowledged in the facts and observations elicited by the 
 arduous and industrious researches of the author, whilst in- 
 vestigating the new process of embalming, which has led 
 to such happy results to the students of anatomy and na- 
 tural history. The great importance, in all respects, of M. 
 Gannal's discovery, has been fully and adequately acknow- 
 ledged by the different commissions appointed by the Insti- 
 tute of France, and the Royal Academy of Medicine, who 
 have awarded to its author both honour and profit, as a 
 real benefactor to science, to the progress of which he has 
 so substantially added. The current of the text, together 
 with the notes and illustrations of the translator, embraces 
 all the discoveries of the age, of this nature, of value to the 
 practical anatomist and naturalist, consisting both of ori- 
 ginal observations, and of highly important information con- 
 tained in the stanclartl works of D(! Bils, Rnysch, Swanmier- 
 
NOTE OF THE TRANSLATOR. 
 
 dam, Claiidems, De Rasiere, Dumeril, Hunter, Brescliet, 
 Pole, Margolin, Bell, Cloquet, Swan, Parsons, Horner, &c. 
 
 Concerning the nature, extent, and merits of the new dis- 
 covery of M. Gannal, the translator, has spoken in the ap- 
 pendix, from a personal acquaintance with the author and a 
 minute examination of the collection of embalmed objects 
 contained in his cabinet at Paris. 
 
 Philadelphia, September, 1840. 
 
ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PllEFACE, p, 5. 
 
 IxTHODucTiox, p. 9 Embalming among the Egyptians — Cause and ori- 
 gin of this custom — Opinion of authors : Cassien, Herodotus, Diodorus 
 
 Siccuius, Maillet, Bory de Saint Vincent, Volney, Pariset, etc First idea 
 
 of embalming offered to the Egyptians by the mummy of the sands — Opi- 
 nion of Count de Caylus de Rouelle — Plan of this work — IN'atural mum- 
 mies — Mummies of the Guanches — Of the Eg)-ptians — Of the Jews Of 
 
 the Greeks and Romans — Of modern nations — Mummies the object of su- 
 perstitious dread — History of the Pole, Razevil — Mummy employed as a 
 remedy in disease — Its marvellous properties — Officinal mummy of Crol- 
 
 lius — In what embalming consisted among the Egyptians and Guanches 
 
 What it has been among the moderns — What my discoveries have made 
 of it — Motives which have induced me to publish this work. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Of embalming ix genekal, p. 21 Tendency of bodies to decomposi- 
 tion — Variable, according to countries, species, and individuals — Fact re- 
 ported by Ammien Marcellin — Consequences deducible from it, for the na- 
 tives of hot countries — for temperate and cold countries — Facts observed 
 by Maillet — Astonishing analogy observed in the caverns of Saint Michel, 
 at Bordeaux — Various processes of embalming — With gum — With ho- 
 ney — W^ith wax — The embalming of Alexander — Of Agesilas — Brine 
 unknown — Fact of TulUola, reported by Coelius Rodiginus — Another by 
 Valateron — Embalming with aromatic and astringent substances — With 
 resinous and bituminous substances — Empyricism of the moderns Pro- 
 cess of Ruysch, of Swammerdam — Note of Strader — Appreciation of these 
 methods — Useful deductions to be drawn from them — Penicher thinks it 
 impossible to embahn without emptying the large cavities — Fact in sup- 
 port of his opinion — My experiments to this effect on infants. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Natural Mummies, p. 35. — Power of nature — Importance of seeking her 
 ways in the study of her phenomena ; to follow her lessons — Division of 
 natural mummies — Mummies due to the particular qualities of the soil — 
 Note communicated by Drs. Boucherie, Bermont, and Gaubert, concerning 
 the mummies of Saint Michel, at Bordeaux ; thermometrical and hygro- 
 metrical observations ; chemical analysis ; results — Similar facts observed 
 at Palermo— At Toulouse — History of M. de la Visee — Mummies due to 
 the general qualities of the air and soil — Mummy of the avalanches — Time 
 of its duration — Mummification by a cold and drj' wind — Morgue of the 
 Great Saint Bernard — Note communicated by Dr. Lenoir — Mummy of the 
 Sands — Testimony of Herodotus — Description of father Kirchcr — In 
 Egypt — In Mexico — These facts establish a simple connexion between the 
 productions of nature and those of human industrv. 
 
 1 
 
2 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 EjiBAiMivr. OF THE GuANCHEs, p. 48. — Rescmblance between the embalm- 
 ings of the Guanches, and those of the Egyptians — Consequences deduci- 
 ble from this resemblance — Description of the processes drawn from the 
 Essay of M. Bory de Saint "Vincent — Duration of embalming — State in 
 which are found these mummies at the present day — Probable duration of 
 their preservation — Catacombs at Fer, the Canaries, &c. — Construction of 
 mausoleums — Fact observed by M. Jouannet of two Guanch mummies. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Embalming among the ancient Egyptians, p. 54. — What comprises the 
 labour of embalming — Disposition — Thermometrical and hygrometrical 
 state of the caverns in which the bodies were deposited ; what advantages 
 for preservation resulted from these — Recital of Herodotus — Of Diodorus 
 Sicculus — Orpheus transposes these usages into Grecian mythology — Judg- 
 ment of the dead — The place where they are deposited — Models of em- 
 balmings presented to relatives — Three kinds of embalmings ; description 
 of each by Herodotus — Horror existing for those charged with making the 
 incisions — Invocation to the sun, previous to casting away the intestines — 
 Precautions taken for the preservation of the bodies of young females, or 
 those of high rank — Commentaries on the narratives of the ancients — Suc- 
 cession of means discussed — Opinion of Rouelle concerning natrum — Ex- 
 amination of the linen bandages in which the mummies are enveloped — 
 Analysis of the embalming material by Rouelle ; explanation of several 
 passages — Exhibition of models — Price — New details furnished by Diodo- 
 rus — Quantity of bandages found around a single mummy — Embalming of 
 bodies without sepulture — drowned persons for example — Mummy of a 
 prince of Memphis — Examination of this mummy by Rouelle, and the 
 Count de Caylus — Extracts from the work of M. Rouyer, (great work upon 
 Egypt ;) the details which he furnishes complete our knowledge of Egyp- 
 tian embalming ; how many kinds of mummies he acknowledges — Mum- 
 mies having an incision on the left side — Mummies without any incision — 
 Exploration and description of the plain of Saggarah, by De Maillet — Visit 
 to the subterranean chambers — Mummy, near which was found a symboli- 
 cal statue — Description of an antique found in a tomb— Mummies pre- 
 served upon beds of carbon — Conclusion drawn from facts contained in this 
 chapter. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Or EMBALMING, FROM THE TIME OF THE EGYPTIANS DOWN TO OUH DAYS, 
 
 p. 89. — Honours of embalming, conferred by other nations on distinguished 
 men only — Doubts on the efficacy of this operation — Example of Alexan- 
 der, and of Ptolemy — Embalming among the Jews — Embalming of Jesus 
 Christ — Employment of wax among the Persians — Methods of De Bils, of 
 Ruysch, of Swammerdam, of Clauderus — Description of the cabinet of 
 Sieur Desenclosses — Silence regarding the processes of preservation em- 
 
CONTENTS. 3 
 
 ployed by these authors — Composition of the balsam given by Penicher — 
 Salt of Clauderus — Brine of Charles de Maetz — Preservation of the body 
 of Saint Thomas — Formulae : balsamic wines, compound brandy, vinegar, 
 cere-cloth — Mixtures for soaking the linens : liniment, balsamic powders — 
 Various methods of embalming, to the number of four — Embalming of the 
 heart — Preservation of the heart of an Abbe — Embalming of Madame the 
 Dauphine — Reflections. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Art of embalmixg in ouu day, phevious to mt discovekies, p. 118. — 
 Opinion of M. Pelletan upon the imperfect state of this art — Dispute among 
 the physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries, upon the question of preced- 
 ence — Embalming the senators of the empire — Improvements proposed by 
 M. Pelletan — Application of the discoveries of Chaussier upon the preser- 
 vative properties of the deuto-chloride of mercury to the art of embalming — 
 Embalming, as practised by Beclard — Preservation of the body of Colonel 
 Morland, by M. Larrey — Remarks — Preservation of the body of a young 
 girl of ten years, by M. Boudet — Reflections on these facts — Embalming 
 of Louis XVIIL, King of France — Fifteenth observation — Criticism — Em- 
 pyricism in this art — Exact appreciation of the preservative properties of 
 the deuto-chloride of mercury — Superiority of the means which I propose. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Means for the preparation and preservation of parts of normal 
 anatomt, of pathologic ax anatomt, and of natural history, an- 
 TERIOR TO THE Gannal PROCESS, p. 141. — Importance of such prepara- 
 tions to the physician and naturalist — Plan of a museum — Engravings : 
 pieces in wax, artificial pieces in carton, in white wood — The methods of 
 preparing recent organs and tissues — Process of Swan, of Chaussier — 1. 
 Generalities concerning the operations which precede preservation — Choice 
 of subjects — Dissection — Maceration and corrosion — Injections ; evacuants ; 
 repletives; conservatives; washings; ligature of vessels — Separation and 
 distention of parts — 2. Methods of preservation of naturalists — Preserva- 
 tion by desiccation — Methods divided into four series ; rectified spirits of 
 wine ; deuto-chloride of mercury, and other metallic substances — Earthy 
 salts — Process of tanning — Desiccation — Preservation in liquids, acids, al- 
 kalies, salts, alum, volatile oils, alcoholic liquors — Means of preservation 
 practised by naturalists : soap of Becoeur, soapy pomatum — tanning li- 
 quor — antiseptic powder — gummy paste — preservative powder — German 
 powder — powder of Naumann, and of Hoffman — Preser\'atives in liquors : 
 bath, naturalist preparers in Paris, tanning liquor, bath of the Abbe Ma- 
 nesse — Liquors as washes ; essence of serpolet, of turpentine — Liquor of 
 Sir S. Smith — Bitter spirituous liquors — Varnish — Liquors employed as 
 injections — Liquors in which objects are preserved which do not admit of 
 drying — Spirit of wine — Liquor of Nicholas — Of George Graves — Of the 
 Abbe Manesse — Critical reflections — Appreciation of each of the proposed 
 means — (1.) For desiccation — New methods which I propose for the pre- 
 
4 CONTENTS. 
 
 paration of dry parts — Example of an injection by my method — ^The sub- 
 ject submitted to the examination of a scientific commission — Application 
 of my process to the preservation of mammiferous animals — Of birds — 
 State of the tissues — (2.) For preservation in liquids — Nitric Acid — Alco- 
 hol — Weakened alcohol — Alum : chemical demonstration of its insufficien- 
 cy for preservation — (3.) Means of preservation applied to each tissue — 
 Fibrous tissue — Articulations — Aponeuroses, tendons and ligaments — 
 Process of M. J. Cloquet — Osseous tissue — Maceration — Ebullition — 
 Bleaching — Cutaneous tissue — Cellular tissue — Synovial and serous tis- 
 sues — Brain — Spinal marrow — Nerves — Blood-vessels — Muscular tis- 
 sue — Heart — Lungs — Eye — Fcetus — Envelopes. 
 
 CHAPTER Vni. 
 
 Gannal's process for the presehvatiojt or normal anatomy, pa- 
 thological ANATOMY, AND NATURAL HISTORY, p, 197. — Differ- 
 ence between the processes of preservation offered to anatomists, and 
 those practised for embalming : 1. Preservation of bodies for dissection — 
 Table of my experiments in 1828 — In 1831 — Kindness of M. Professor 
 Orfila — What formerly existed upon this matter — My point of departure 
 proceeding from the practice of artists — Action of Acids — Salts — Alumi- 
 nous salts — These possess in the highest degree the preservative property — 
 Selection to be made among these salts — My first experiments — Satisfy- 
 ing results — Proved by commissions appointed by the Academy of Sci- 
 ences, and the Academy of Medicine — Series of researches — JVIisreckon- 
 ing — New experiments — Superiority of the acetate of alum — Facts — 
 Chloride of alumine, its defects — Arsenic, and bad results — First report 
 of the Academy of Sciences — First report of the Academy of Medicine — 
 Definitive report of the Academy of Medicine — Reflections — Some good 
 results obtained at first from a mixture of alum, nitrate of potash, and 
 chloride of sodium — Not sustained above the 10° of centigrade — Bath — 
 Light furnished by it— Data for new researches — Acetate of alumine ex- 
 cellent — Reason for renouncing its use for amphitheatres — Simple sul- 
 phate, its analysis — Demonstration of its superiority over acid sulphate — 
 Various liquors of which it is the base — Black colour of the skin — Its 
 cause — Report of the commission of the Institute — Experiments of MM. 
 Serres, Dubreuil, Bourgery, Azoux, Velpeau, Amussat — My process ap- 
 plied to the dissecting rooms of Clamart: 2. Anatomical preparations — 
 Those of pathology, and Natural history — Facts, proving a perfect preser- 
 vation during many years — Composition of various preservative liquids — 
 Usage — Example of the preservation of dry pieces by the simple sul- 
 phate — All my experiments first attempted on the foetus — Circumstances 
 
 the most unfavourable : 3 Embalming — There remains for me a series of 
 
 experiments to perform, to enable me to practise embalming — Data to 
 which I must confine myself — Have I attained my end ] — Answer to this 
 question by facts — Exhumation — First observation — Second observation. 
 
 Appendix, p. 253. 
 
To Messrs. Members of the Academy of Sciences. 
 
 Gentlemen, — From the commencement of my re- 
 searches upon the preservation of animal matters, you have 
 encouraged me by extending your support to efforts which 
 my own resources would not perhaps have enabled me to 
 continue ; in this path strewn with so many difficulties, and 
 disgusts, I have endeavoured to show myself worthy of 
 your high protection. 
 
 At a later period, when I was able to offer to physicians 
 and naturalists methods of preservation superior to those 
 previously known, you conferred upon me the prize founded 
 by Monthyon. I have pursued my researches with the 
 view of adapting my process to the art of embalming ; the 
 happy results which I have obtained have inspired me with 
 the idea of comparing my mummies with those obtained by 
 processes different from my own. 
 
 Finally, I have extended this parallel between my pro- 
 cesses and those formerly applied, to preparations of healthy 
 anatomy, to pathological anatomy, and to natural history. 
 
 My labour terminated, I have thought it my duty to de- 
 dicate to you a work the publication of which is due to the 
 decision which your wisdom and justice have dictated. 
 
 Allow me, gentlemen, to consider this dedication as a 
 new encouragement which you are willing to confer upon 
 me, and trust in the respectful sentiments with Avhich I have 
 the honour to be, your very humble and very grateful ser- 
 vant, 
 
 Gannal. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 I HAD terminated my first researches upon the preserva- 
 tion of animal matters, and proposed to pubhsh them ; my 
 notes were collated and my work prepared, when the idea 
 struck me that in place of confining myself to the exposition 
 of the results which I had obtained, I might, with advan- 
 tage to science, present a history of the art of embalming 
 from the highest antiquity to our time, and compare my 
 processes, with those in use for the preservation of objects 
 of normal anatomy, pathological anatomy, and natural his- 
 tory. 
 
 This determination has decided me to publish a vo- 
 lume, in place of a pamphlet of fifty pages. 
 
 I had no model to follow, for no author had re-united in 
 the same book, the elements of which I wished this might 
 be composed. I found myself, therefore, necessitated to 
 collect together in the following pages the materials scattered 
 tliroughout numerous works. 
 
 For emhalming, Plutarch, Herodoi us, Diodorus Sicculus, 
 Stacy, Pliny, Cicero, Porphyrus, Prosper Mpin, Cassien, 
 Clauderus, Penicher, Baricel, Rodiginus, Corippus, 
 Gryphius, Crollius, the Reverend Fathers Kircher and 
 Mhiestrier, De Maillet, Volney, Rouelle, the Count de 
 Caylus, MM. Pariset, Rouyer, Bory de Saint Vincent, 
 and numerous other authors, have furnished me with des- 
 criptions and materials, which I was obliged to put in order 
 and bring before the eye of the reader, in order to present 
 to him a useful lecture, and in some sort preparatory to my 
 own ideas. As my point of departure was scientific data, 
 opinions and facts have come in place as the recital needed 
 them; and thanks to this idea, which has never abandoned 
 
PREFACE. 7 
 
 me, the numerous materials from which, in the commence- 
 ment, I feared disorder and confusion, have come, as if by con- 
 sent to dispose themselves in order ; so great is the influence 
 of a general idea in the arrangement of facts. I believe 
 that I have reduced to exact proportions the art of embalm- 
 ing among different nations. My predecessors had referred 
 too httle to nature, too much to man, in the appreciation 
 of Egyptian embalming; they had not sufficiently estimated 
 the dilficulties of the same practice among nations less fa- 
 voured by climate. Facts reconsidered and interrogated 
 with the aid of lights afforded by the recent progress of 
 physics and chemistry, have furnished us with consequences 
 naturally resulting from their attentive examination. 
 
 When the history of an art is followed step by step, as we 
 have done for that of embalming, one is astonished at a 
 psychological fact, equally applicable to every case — we see 
 how idle and common place the human mind is, and how 
 little prone it is to spontaneous activity. The gross and 
 inconsiderate imitation of the Egyptian processes during a 
 long series of ages, is one of the most remarkable examples 
 of this disposition. 
 
 Trials directed by a spirit of analysis and critical exami- 
 nation have enabled me to substitute for complex operations, 
 for long difficult and expensive operations, most frequently 
 inefficacious, a simple means, of a determined action, and 
 submitted for several years to the examination of committees 
 appointed by the Academy of Sciences and the Academy 
 of Medicine. 
 
 In order to trace the history of the preservation of objects 
 of anatomy and natural history I have had no occasion to go 
 back to an epoch distant from our own ; for this science is 
 altogether new. Beyond the discoveries of Chaussier, on 
 the preservative properties of the deuto-chloride of mercury, 
 the labours of MM. Dumeril, Cloquet and Breschet, there 
 is very little existing on this subject. So that I hav^e con- 
 cluded, after a complete exposition of the preservative 
 means given by these authors, it only remained for me to 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 propose the preservative substances which, after numerous 
 experiments, have appeared to me preferable to those 
 which they have recommended. They possess a pecuhar 
 merit for tlie formation of cabinets of natural history, that of 
 reducing the expense to at least one-nineteenth. 
 
 I have considered it my duty to give here the details of 
 the composition of the liquids employed, either as baths or 
 injections, by the physician and naturalist ; the interest of 
 science imposing on me this obligation. But, as regards 
 embalming, the same motive does not exist ; I have conse- 
 quently abstained from giving in totality the means employed 
 in this operation, reserving to myself the care of this pro- 
 cess on the request of families or physicians.* ^ 
 
 It was not until after many unsuccessful efforts that I suc- 
 ceeded in discovering a method capable of insuring the inde- 
 finite preservation of bodies deposited in the earth. A 
 thousand unexpected difficulties arose in my path ; and to 
 cite only one, at the end of eight or nine months of preser- 
 vation, a vegetable production, known to botanists under 
 the name of byssus, for a long time embarrassed me ; I tried 
 jmmerous means, before discovering one capable of suppres- 
 sing this formation. 
 
 The perfection to Mdiich I have brought the art of em- 
 balming, leaves little to desire. So convinced am I at length 
 of the efficacy of the processes which I employ, that I shall 
 be always ready, at the request of the authorities or of fa- 
 milies, to exhume those bodies which I have already em- 
 balmed in great numbers, at any expressed period of time. 
 
 • This paragraph, evidently empyrical in its bearing, is derogatory to 
 Gannal as a man of science. We further believe that the pretended 
 secret of his manipulations is of little consequence to the success of the 
 operation: it is generally understood that to the fluid acetate of alumina 
 (produced by the chemical action induced by the mixture of the solutions 
 of acetate of lead and alum,) to be injected, a little arsenic is added, to 
 prevent the formation of the byssus, and attacks of insects, also some car- 
 mine, to give to the subject a healthy colour. — TV. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The Egyptians embalmed their dead, and the processes 
 which they employed were sufficiently perfect to secure them 
 an indefinite preservation. This is a fact of which the py- 
 ramids, the caverns, and all the sepultures of Egypt offer us 
 irrefragible proofs. But what were the causes and the ori- 
 gin of this custom? We have in answer to this question 
 only hypothesis and conjecture. In the absence of valid 
 documents, each one explains according to the bias of his 
 mind, or the nature of his studies, a usage, the origin of 
 which is lost in the night of time. One of the ancients in- 
 forms us that the Egyptians took so much pains for the pre- 
 servation of the body, believing that the soul inhabited it so 
 long as it subsisted. Cassien, on the other hand, assures us 
 that they invented this method because they were unable 
 to bury their dead during the period of inundation. Hero- 
 dotus, in his third book, observes, that embalming had for 
 its object the securing of bodies from the voracity of ani- 
 mals; they did not bury them, says he, for fear they would 
 be eaten by worms, and they did not burn them, because 
 they considered fire like a luild beast that devours every- 
 thing it can seize upon. Filial piety and respect for the 
 dead, according to Diodorus Sicculus, were the sentiments 
 which inspired the Egyptians with the idea of embalming the 
 dead bodies. De Maillet, in his tenth letter upon Egypt, re- 
 fers only to a religious motive the origin of embalming : " The 
 priests and sages of Egypt taught their fellow citizens that, 
 after a certain number of ages, which they made to amount 
 to thirty or forty thousand years, and at which they fixed 
 the epoch of the great revolution when the earth would re- 
 turn to the point at which it commenced its existence, their 
 souls would return to the same bodies which they formerly 
 
 2 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 inhabited. But, in order to arrive, after death, to this wished 
 for resurrection, two things were absokitely necessary ; first, 
 that the bodies should be absokitely carefully preserved from 
 corruption, in order that the souls might re-inhabit them; 
 secondly, that the penance submitted to during this long 
 period of years, that the numerous sacrifices founded by the 
 dead, or those offered to their manes by their relations or 
 their friends, should expiate the crimes they had committed 
 during the time of their first habitation on earth. With these 
 conditions exactly observed, these souls, separated from their 
 bodies, should be permitted to re-enter at the arrival of this 
 grand revolution which they anticipated — remember all that 
 had passed during their first sojourn, and become immortal 
 like themselves. They had further the privilege of commu- 
 nicating this same happiness to the animals which they had 
 cherished, provided that their bodies inclosed in the same 
 tomb with themselves, were equally well preserved. It is 
 in virtue of this belief that so many birds, cats, and other 
 animals are found embalmed with almost the same care as 
 the human bodies with which they have been deposited. 
 Such was the idea of perfect happiness which they hoped 
 to enjoy in this new life. In expectation of this resurrection, 
 the souls inhabited the airs nearest the dwellings where re- 
 posed the bodies they had animated. But superstition alone, 
 it could scarcely be believed, would induce men to save 
 from destruction the mortal spoils of individuals whom they 
 had loved whilst living. 1 much prefer looking for the 
 source of this usage in the sentiment which smvives a che- 
 rished object snatched from affection by the hand of death. 
 Since death levels all distinctions — respecting neither love 
 nor friendship, — since the dearest and most sacred ties are re- 
 lentlessly broken asunder, it is the natural attribute of affec- 
 tion, to seek to avoid in some degree, a painful separation, 
 by preserving the remains of those they love and by whom 
 they were beloved. Love, tenderness, and friendship, do 
 not terminate with the objects which gave them birth — they 
 survive and follow them even beyond the tomb." — (Boryde 
 
TNTRODUCTION. 1 I 
 
 Saitit Vincent, Essay on the Fortunate Islaiids. — Embalm- 
 ing of the Guanches.) The same author adds: " The cus- 
 tom of preservmg their dead, which was only national 
 among the Egyptians and Guanclies, that is to say, with 
 men the least instructed, and a nation the most learned, is, 
 as we have said above, proof of a profound sensibility among 
 nations with whom it is general. Without doubt, an en- 
 lightened policy would contribute much to introduce, ex- 
 tend, and confirm the practice. It proves an intelligent go- 
 vernment, one full of solicitude for the happiness of its sub- 
 jects." The opinion of Volney, revived and adopted by 
 Pariset, in his memoir on the causes of the plague, is closely 
 allied to the preceding. " In a numerous population, under 
 a burning climate, and a soil profoundly drenched during 
 many months of the year, the rapid putrefaction of bodies 
 is a leaven for plague and disease. Stricken by these mur- 
 derous pests, Egypt, at an early day, struggled to obviate 
 them; hence have arisen, on the one hand, the custom of 
 burying their dead at a distance from their habitations ; and 
 on the other, an art so ingenious and simple, to prevent pu- 
 trefaction by embalming: a secondary precaution, more im- 
 portant and more efficacious, with which the primary could 
 not dispense, and which, exacting attempts, trials, and ex- 
 periments, could only be obtained as a last result — an art 
 by no means expensive, of a simplicity and facility of exe- 
 cution, which rendered its immediate application popular, 
 general, and, perhaps, uniform for all dead bodies. Research 
 and luxury followed at a later period." The sentiments to 
 which the authors above cited attribute the origin of em- 
 balming among the Egyptians exist in every man, viewed 
 either as a social or isolated being. One individual may be 
 induced to embalm the bodies of his relatives or friends by 
 motives of superstition; another from egotism or personal 
 interest; a third from motives of salubrity or common inte- 
 terest; another, in fine, is impelled by an instinctive affec- 
 tion to perform the sacred duty of preserving the remains 
 of those who were dear to him. But none of these mo- 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 lives possess a character of generality and perpetuity, which 
 consecrates a usage and renders it popular; it was therefore 
 left to government to interfere and give it the force of law. 
 
 The noble sentiments of affection, of respect, and of vene- 
 ration, had then, Avithout doubt, the priority; and every- 
 thing proves to us that these inspired the admirable art of 
 embalming, and that they were above all invoked by le- 
 gislators. 
 
 Nature, besides, upon this torrid soil, gave the first idea 
 of this mode of preserving the remains of men and animals : 
 the mummy 1 of the sands, a natural j^henomenon, was a re- 
 velation to a people so wise and industrious. The course 
 of our work will demonstrate, we hope, the simple connec- 
 tion of these facts; it had already arrested M. le Comte de 
 Caylus, who, in a memoir read to the Academy of Inscrip- 
 tions and Belles-Lettres, in 1749, thus expresses himself: 
 " The Egyptians, according to appearances, owe the idea of 
 their mummies, to the dead bodies which they found buried 
 in the burning sands which prevail in some parts of Egypt, 
 and which, carried away by the winds, bury travellers and 
 preserve their bodies, by consuming the fat and flesh with- 
 out altering the skin." 
 
 The same opinion is advanced by Rouelle. In our gene- 
 ral history of the preservation of the human body, the 
 mummy of the sand, and those induced by other local cir- 
 cumstances, will have the first place; and the art of em- 
 balming among the Egyptians and the Guanches will oc- 
 cupy the second. This art, we have already said, presents 
 among these people, a general character, which does not 
 appear in any other comitry. No where, indeed, are the 
 processes of preservation so efficacious, and these two na- 
 tions alone, have been able to endow their mummies with 
 the power of resisting destruction. 
 
 1 Momie or mumie : the etymology of this word is not well known : 
 the Jesuit Kircher supposes that mum is a Persian word, and Pere Mar- 
 tini, an Arab name, signifying a dried corpse: other writers derive 
 mummy from amomum, the name of an aromatic plant. These conjectures 
 I leave to the etymologists. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 We shall see in the sequel this custom establish itself 
 among the Jews, the Greeks, the Romans and moderns — 
 but it no longer displays a general character; it is no longer 
 a law, a social institution ; religious belief, superstition, per- 
 sonal interest, salubrity, no longer obliged them to recur to 
 it. Sentiments of veneration, respect, and attachment, to 
 which we have given the priority to all others, sufficed to 
 perpetuate this custom, and have preserved it for a long se- 
 ries of ages, from the epoch of the Jews, down to our day. 
 
 Joseph commanded the physicians in his service to em- 
 balm the body of his father, which they executed according 
 to order, in the space of forty days. — (Genesis.) 
 
 Saint John informs us, that Nicodemus took a hundred 
 pounds of a mixture of myrrh and aloes, with which to 
 embalm the body of Jesus Christ, which they enveloped in 
 sheets with aromatics, according to the usual mode of bury- 
 ing the dead among the Jews. 
 
 Testimony of a similar natm-e, transmitted to us by his- 
 torians, show us this usage in vigor among the Persians, the 
 Arabians, the Ethiopians, &c.: for kings, princes, and per- 
 sons of distinction, to whom they would not consider that 
 they had rendered the respect due to their memories if they 
 had failed to preserve preciously what remained of them. 
 
 Corippus, in his funeral oration on the Emperor Justinien, 
 thus expresses himself on the embalming of this emperor : 
 
 "Thura sabaea cremant, fragrantia mille 
 Infundunt pateris, et odoro balsama succo, locatis 
 Centum aliae species; unguenlaque mira feruntur 
 Tempus in aeternum sacrum servantia corpus."^ 
 
 The Romans, nevertheless, often contented themselves, 
 in washing and rubbing the body with certain perfumes. 
 "Tarquinii corpus bona femina lavit et unxit.""^ 
 
 1 They burned the incense of Arabia, balms and perfumes of every 
 kind filled a thousand vases, and the body is for ever preserved from 
 corruption by essences possessing wonderful properties. 
 
 2 A benevolent woman washed the body of Tarquin, and rubbed it with 
 perfumes. 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The Egyptian mummies, which are distinguished from 
 those of other nations by the admirable state of preserva- 
 tion in which we find them at the present time, have been 
 for the philosopher a subject of interesting study and re- 
 search, — for the ignorant, a cause of astonishment and su- 
 perstitious fear; for physicians, an empyrical remedy for a 
 long time in vogue. The history of Razevil, the Pole, proves 
 the evil influence attributed to mummies. He had purchased 
 at Alexandria, two Egyptian mummies, one of a man, the 
 other of a woman, in order to take them to Europe ; he di- 
 vided them into six pieces, which he separately enclosed in 
 as many boxes, made of the bark of dried trees, and in a 
 seventh box he placed idols discovered with the two bodies. 
 But, as the Turks forbid the sale and transport of these mum- 
 mies, fearing lest Christians might compose some sorcery of 
 them to the injury of their nation, the Polonaise concluded 
 to bribe the Jew commissioned to examine the bales and 
 merchandise. The plan succeeded, the Jew shipped all the 
 cases as shells, to be transported to Europe. Previous to 
 setting sail, I found, says he, a priest returning from Jeru- 
 salem, and who could not accomplish his voyage without 
 the aid which I gave him on this occasion, in inviting him 
 to take passage in our ship. One day, whilst this good man 
 was occupied in counting his breviary, there arose a furious 
 tempest, and he warned us, that besides the danger, he per- 
 ceived two great obstacles to our voyage in two spectres, 
 which continually haunted him : the tempest over, I taunted 
 him as a visionary, because I never imagined that my mum- 
 mies could have been the cause of it. But I was obliged in 
 the sequel to change my opinion, when there happened an- 
 other storm, more violent and dangerous than the first, and 
 when the spectres again appeared to our priest whilst he 
 was saying his prayers, under the figures of a man and wo- 
 man dressed as my mummies were. 
 
 When the tempest was partially appeased, I privately 
 threw overboard the seven boxes, which was not so adroitly 
 executed, hoAvever, but that the captain got notice of it, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 when, with great dehght, he promised us that we should 
 have no more storms; which effectively happened, and the 
 good priest was troubled with no more visions, I liad a se- 
 vere reprimand from the captain for having embarked these 
 mummies in his vessel, against which the sea had so great 
 antipathy. The theologians of the isle of Crete, where we 
 anchored, justified my conduct, acknowledging that it was 
 lawful to Christians to transport these mummies for the as- 
 sistance of the infirm, and that the church did not forbid the 
 usage." 
 
 The judgment of the theologians of the isle of Crete, proves 
 that the employment of the mummy as a medicine was uni- 
 versally admitted. According to Dioscorides, it is heating 
 and drying in the second degree — it relieves the headach, 
 cures megraim, palsy, and epilepsy — wonderful in relieving 
 vertigo and drowsiness — an antidote against poisons of all 
 kinds — the bite of venomous beasts — useful, according to 
 Rhasis, in the spitting of blood, rupture of blood-vessels, 
 wounds, &c.; — in one word, no remedy was esteemed more 
 efficacious for the human body, than the human bod}^ taken 
 as a medicine. One dram of the oil of mummy of Para- 
 celsus, rendered all poisons innocuous for twenty-four hours; 
 the formula of Crollius, of Fernel, of Clauderus, produced 
 effects equally miraculous. The divine water of Scroder, 
 was the touch-stone by whose aid the issue of a disorder 
 could be known in advance : a dram of this liquor was 
 mixed with nine drops of the blood of the patient, or with a 
 double proportion of his urine ; if these fluids did not mix, 
 it was an infallible sign of approaching death; on the other 
 hand, if they mixed readily, you might anticipate the health 
 or cure of the patient in twenty-four hours. The great 
 king, Francis 1st, wore around his neck a piece of mummy 
 as a preservative against all evils. Powerless preservative ! 
 
 I have designedly placed, after an example of supersti- 
 tion, facts which prove the stupidity, or charlatanism of the 
 profession, it appearing to me instructive to preserve the 
 progressive ascendency; the march from the little to the great, 
 
16 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 in ridicule, as in everything else, is absurd. The difficulty 
 of obtaining mummies enough to satisfy the demand, gave 
 rise to an abominable traffic, against which many physicians 
 remonstrated. "The base avidity of gain increased daily, 
 and they commenced embalming with salt and alum the 
 bodies of those who had died of leprosy, of plague, or small 
 pox, in order to obtain, in the course of a few months, the 
 cadaverous rottenness which flowed from them, and to sell 
 this for true and legitimate mummy; and even at the pre- 
 sent time, they make no scruples to give the name of mum- 
 my to the dead bodies found in the Deserts of Arabia, and 
 make patients take it internally." — (Durenou.) The cha- 
 racters of a mummy of good quality, had, nevertheless, been 
 well determined. "Those bodies are not mummies," says 
 Penicher, "dried by the sands of Lybia, nor those buried 
 and preserved beneath the snow; nor those bodies sub- 
 merged by the sea, thrown up and dried on the coast, even 
 to the last degree of blackness; nor of criminals, hung and 
 dried in the sun — for these are of no use." — (Ant. Sun- 
 torel.) The Pissasphaltum, which is the mummy of the 
 Arabians and the ancients, according to Serapion and Avi- 
 cenna, is not what we desire ; because the odour is disagree- 
 able, and it can possess no other virtue than a mixture of 
 pitch and asphaltum. Neither is mummy a certain fluid 
 which flows from the cofluis of embalmed bodies, mentioned 
 by Dioscorides and Mathioles, and which is only, properly 
 speaking, a mixture of humours, mixed, soaked, and pene- 
 trated by aromatics, of which the embalming consists. 
 
 Andrew Gryphius teaches us, that a good mummy ought 
 to be reddish, light, greasy, and with some odour, but as the 
 embalming materials vary much, as well as their quality, 
 the bodies being more or less well preserved, and it is even 
 possible they may be poisonous, it has appeared expedient 
 to compose a mummy methodically digested. Among the 
 numerous formulae for officinal mummies, we shall content 
 ourselves with citing here that of Crollius. 
 
 Mummy of Crollius. Choose the body of a hanged per- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 son, prelerriiig one with red hair, because hi this sort of 
 temperament the blood is thinner; the flesh impregnated 
 with aromatics is better, being filled with sulphur and bal- 
 samic salt; it ought to be about twenty-four years of age, 
 healthy, whole, and of good constitution; you will take 
 pieces of the flesh of this corpse, they would be still better 
 if taken from the body of a living man ; notably, from 
 the thighs, buttocks, &c.; strip them of their arteries, nerves, 
 veins, and fat, and then wash them well with spirits of 
 wine; then expose them to the sun and moon for two days, 
 during mild and dry weather, to the end that the action 
 of the rays of light of these two planets, particularly of the 
 sun, may exalt and liberate the principles concentered in 
 the flesh; powder it with myrrh, styrax, aloes, saflron, which 
 constitute the basis of the elixir proprietatis of Paracelsus; 
 having previously rubbed the flesh with true balm, macerate 
 it for twelve or fifteen days in a well corked vessel with 
 first qviality spirits of wine and salt, which form of them- 
 selves a species of balm: at the end of this time withdraw 
 the flesh, let it drain, and dry in the sun; let them again, 
 for the same space of time, and in the same manner, mace- 
 rate in a similar fluid, and expose it afterwards to the sun 
 and fire, in the same manner they do hams; flesh thus pre- 
 pared will be found to be an excellent mummy." 
 
 Conceding that the use of the mummy in medicine is one 
 of the strangest and most extravagant abuses of empyricism, 
 the officinal mummy of Crollius must be considered as an 
 improvement, inasmuch as it is divested of the dangers at- 
 tached to other mummies; it was even a benefit, for this re- 
 medy divested of the marvellous, reditced to the level of a 
 common drug, was justly appreciated and soon forgotten. 
 The art of embalming among the Egyptians and Guanches, 
 was carried to a degree of perfection attained by no other 
 nation who followed their example. And, nevertheless, 
 what are the mummies of these countries? They are, ac- 
 cording to the definition of R. P. Kircher, bodies stuffed and 
 filled with odoriferant, aromatic, and balsamic drugs, capa- 
 
 3 
 
18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ble of arresting the progress of putrid decomposition. Nu- 
 merous incisions enabled the preservative matter to enter 
 the cavities and deep tissues: agreeably to the relations of 
 Herodotus, of Diodorus Sicculus, and of Porphyrus, the cra- 
 nium was emptied either through the nostrils, or by an open- 
 ing made in one of the orbits : the contents of the thorax 
 and abdomen were withdrawn and placed in a trunk. " The 
 Egyptians," says Plutarch, "drew the intestines from the 
 dead bodies, and, after having exposed them to the sun, 
 cast them away as the cause of all the sins committed by 
 man." 
 
 The moderns have adopted an analogous mode of prepa- 
 ration, and in our days, previous to my researches on the 
 preservation of animal matters, the processes of embalming 
 were long and complicated. 
 
 In the Dictionary of Medicine, of twenty-five volumes, 
 (Paris, 1835,^ M. Murat traces in these terms the rules for 
 embalming : 
 
 " Before commencing this operation, it is necessary to pro- 
 cure the following objects: alcohol saturated with camphor, 
 camphorated vinegar, a varnish composed of the balsams of 
 Perou and copaiba, fluid styrax, the oils of Muscat, of la- 
 vender, and of thyme, &c., alcohol saturated with proto- 
 chloride of mercury, a powder composed of tan, of decrepi- 
 tated salt, of quinquina, of cascarilla, of mint, of benzoin, of 
 castor, of Jew's pitch, &c. — all these substances mixed and 
 reduced to a fine powder, are sprinkled with essential oils. 
 The powdered tan ought to form nearly half the weight, 
 and the salt one-fourth ; there ought also be placed, at the 
 disposition of the embalmer, a certain number of bandages, 
 linen, sponges, and waxed threads, also several basins filled 
 with pure water, &c. 
 
 " The breast and belly must be opened by large incisions, 
 and their contents extracted ; the brain is removed after the 
 necessary incisions of the scalp, and sawing circularly the 
 bones of the cranium; deep and repeated incisions are to be 
 made in the viscera. If we wish to preserve the intestinal 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 tube, we must open it throughout its whole length, wash it 
 well in water and compress it ; wash it a second time in 
 camphorated vinegar, and finally with camphorated alco- 
 hol. Large incisions must be multiplied on the interior sur- 
 faces of the great cavities, and along the extremities." 
 
 I stop at these details, because they suffice to prove that 
 the art of embalming, down to the present, has had for its 
 object, not the preservation of the whole subject intact, but 
 the preparation of animal matters padded, stuffed with aro- 
 matics and salts : a preparation always incomplete, tedious, 
 and expensive. This is the point from which I start in the 
 preservation of animal matter, and the art of embalming. 
 Have I the happiness of adding a step to science ? my readers 
 shall be the judges. 
 
 The Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Academy of 
 Medicine, have proved that, by one of my processes, sub- 
 jects destined for dissection can be preserved. Bodies kept 
 for several months, and afterwards carried to the amphi- 
 theatre, have been fomid as fresh and a? fit for dissection, 
 as individuals dead only two days.* 
 
 These early successes, and the honourable encouragements 
 which they have received, gave me the idea of bringing the 
 art of embalming to perfection; and I have attained to the 
 power of preserving bodies, with all their parts, both in- 
 ternal and external, ivithout any mutilation or extrac- 
 tion, and so as to admit of the contemjjlation of the per- 
 son embalmed, with the countenance of one asleep. 
 
 This discovery has been confirmed by a commission of 
 the Academy of Sciences, who, in its public sitting in the 
 month of August, 1837, conferred upon me the grand prize. 
 
 Having decided to publish the result of my researches, I 
 thought it best to precede it by a general history of embalm- 
 ing, and it appeared to me that a book which would re- 
 
 ♦ Tlie colour of the tissues is changed, however, being bleached by the 
 acetate of alumine— but this is far preferable to the black putridity, 
 which renders the anatomical subject so disgusting and unhealthy, when 
 ^subjects are scarce. — Tr. 
 
20 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 unite so many interesting documents up to the present time 
 scattered throughout so many works, would not be without 
 interest. If my readers join with me in this opinion, I shall 
 not have laboured in vain, and my work shall have received 
 that recompense of which I am most ambitious. 
 
 Nevertheless, I conceived that my endeavour should not 
 be restricted to the simple exposition of my researches, and 
 that it was a duty I owed, to place at the disposition of my 
 fellow citizens the means of continuing some relations with 
 the remains of persons whom they had held dear. The 
 sentiments of love, friendship, respect, and veneration, which 
 preserves in our hearts as a sacred depot, the memory of 
 friends and relations, give, even to an indifferent portrait, 
 which recalls their features to us, an inappreciable value. 
 The heart warms and vivifies this faint image, and recalls 
 to us the words and actions of those who have departed. 
 
 These same sentiments cause us painfully to experience 
 the full rigour of that law of nature which condemns to the 
 decomposition of the grave, remains so sacred to us. I 
 have desired to offer to persons groaning under an afflicting 
 loss, the means of preserving all that death has left them ; 
 with this intention I have founded an Embalming Society, 
 and I have placed the price for this operation within the 
 reach of the majority of persons. For men destitute of re- 
 sources, who have rendered themselves worthy, by their 
 talents or virtues, of the remembrance of their species, the 
 public authorities may reclaim of us a gratuitous embalm- 
 ing. We shall be happy to preserve to society the mortal 
 spoils of those who honour and are useful to it. 
 
HISTORY OF EMBALMING. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OF EMBALMING IN GENERAL. 
 
 As soon as life ceases in animal matter, disorgan- 
 ization commences ; the constituent elements sepa- 
 rate, to be variously recombined, and to give birth 
 to new compounds. 
 
 The elevation of atmospheric temperature in 
 certain determined hydrometric limits, and the ac- 
 tion of oxygen, are those circumstances which lead 
 necessarily to this decomposition. But, at a given 
 temperature, the progress of putrid fermentation is 
 not the same for all animals; this varies among dif- 
 ferent species, and different individuals of similar 
 species, according to laws not well determined. 
 But so important, however, are these laws, to the 
 art of embalming, that processes which are suffi- 
 cient for the perservation of one body, may fail in 
 their application to others. 
 
 The ancients had well observed, it is true, that 
 the diversity of climates contributed much to the 
 difference in mummies, and to the success of em- 
 balming ; for, according to Camerarius, great differ- 
 ence exists between the bodies of Europeans and 
 
22 OF EMBALMING IN GENERAL. 
 
 Orientals ; the latter, of a dryer temperament, are 
 not exposed to so rapid a decomposition. The ex- 
 ample related by Ammian Marcellni is a convinc- 
 ing proof. Four days, says he, after a combat 
 between the Persians and Romans, the counte- 
 nance of the latter could scarcely be recognised; the 
 bodies of the Persians, on the contrary, were dry, 
 without humidity, without sanies, and without any 
 alteration. 
 
 If sufficient attention is given to this fact, and we 
 consider further, that the thermometrical and hy- 
 grometrical conditions of the atmosphere were such 
 in Egypt, that the bodies abandoned to themselves, 
 become dried and formed natural mummies, we 
 shall perceive how vain and unreasonable have been 
 the attempts of those who, for a long series of ages, 
 expected in the middle and northern portions of 
 Europe to embalm human bodies by processes 
 which are only an imperfect imitation of those of 
 Egypt, even in what is defective. Finally, we shall 
 understand how it happens that the sepulchres of the 
 Guanches and Egyptians, yield bodies in such a 
 perfect state of perservation, whilst those of our 
 country offi3r only bones and dust. 
 
 Whilst according to the Egyptians the just tri- 
 bute of admiration which their profound wisdom 
 and extensive acquirements merit, we ought, in a 
 scientific question, to defend ourselves from the in- 
 fatuation of our predecessors, which led them into 
 error, and appreciate at their just value facts badly 
 observed. 
 
 We read in the letters of M. de Maillet, " the dry 
 and nitrous earth of Egypt has the property of na- 
 
OF EMBALMING IN GENERAL. 23 
 
 turally preserving entire bodies without the aid of 
 any art, especially in those countries at a distance 
 from the Nile. This is a fact which experience does 
 not permit us to doubt. Not long since, there were 
 buried some Frenchmen, in a Coptic church which 
 is in old Cairo, and those who descended the cavern 
 found the bodies of others who had been previously 
 deposited for some time, as perfect as they were the 
 very day that they were inhumed : The clothes 
 even of a Venetian consul, whose corpse had been 
 here interred, were perfectly preserved. I have 
 likewise visited several ancient Mosques, formerly 
 celebrated, but now in ruins, which are situated on 
 the road from Cairo to Suez; these edifices have 
 served as tombs to some Mahommedan kings, whose 
 bodies were here deposited, during the period when 
 Egypt was subject to the Arabs. I investigated 
 some of these caverns, and can assert that I observ- 
 ed bodies so light from desiccation that they could 
 be raised with one hand as easily as if they were a 
 walking stick. Among these bodies, was one 
 which weighed less than four pounds ; I saw also a 
 thigh, which, although it appeared entire and full 
 of flesh, with the leg and foot attached, did not 
 weigh one pound. Finally, the same thing is 
 daily observed by the caravans which go to Mecca. 
 There are none of these wanderers who have made 
 this voyage, who could not testify that the bodies 
 of those who die on the route, are dried to such a 
 decree as to become as light as straw." 
 
 If, then, we would wish to judge a priori of the 
 relative value of the processes of embalming, follow- 
 ed by the people of Asia and Africa, and of those 
 
24 OF EMBALMING IN GENERAL. 
 
 employed by European nations, we ought to start 
 from this double fact — that among the first, bodies 
 abandoned to themselves have a tendency to dry 
 and mummify, both on account of the small quan- 
 tity of fluid they contain, and on account of atmos- 
 pheric influences ; whilst those of the second, rot 
 and dissolve under the influence of contrary causes. 
 
 We think then, with M. Rouyer, member of the 
 Egyptian commission, ttiat tlie most efficacious 
 cause of the perfection of the art of embalming of 
 the Egyptians, and of the wonderful preservation 
 of the mummies, was the climate of Egypt, and 
 chiefly that elevated and equal temperature (20° R.) 
 which exists in the interior of sepulchral chambers, 
 and in all subterranean places specially consecrated 
 to sepulchres. A fact which ought to be joined to 
 this last, has been proved by MM. Docts. Bou- 
 cherie, Bermont, and Gaubert, during a visit to the 
 caves of St. Michle at Bordeaux. These caverns 
 which contain seventy bodies, taken from the neigh- 
 bouring sepulchres forty years ago, and mummified 
 by causes of which we shall speak in the sequel, 
 are of a temperature of eighteen degrees. 
 
 In order to terminate this discussion by a fact 
 universally known, the mummies preserved un- 
 touched for several thousand years in the caverns of 
 Egypt, become altered and destroyed very rapidly, 
 when transported into Europe, and divested of their 
 bandages, they are exposed to the influence of our 
 atmosphere.* 
 
 * The above observations on the natural nnummies of caverns, &c. , 
 apply equally to the numerous specimens of Indian mummies found in 
 Peru, Brazil, the Western States of North America, &c. — TV. 
 
ON EMBALMING IN GENERAL. 25 
 
 These various observations convince me that a 
 precise knowledge of the art of embalming among 
 the ancients, would not suffice to preserve bodies in 
 our country ; and what we do know, decides me to 
 push my researches in another direction. 
 
 Besides, the methods for embalming have varied 
 with time, place, and circumstances. The Ethio- 
 pians, inhabiting a country which furnishes in it- 
 self more gum than all the rest of the world, con- 
 ceived the idea of enclosing the body in a melted 
 
 In the autumn of 1839, in my journey down the Rhine, I visited Pop- 
 plesdorf, near Bonn, where there is an ancient church, formerly a mo- 
 nastery, called " the Kreuzberg." It is situate on a high and dry hill. I 
 descended its vault in order to examine some two dozen of mummified 
 monks, some of them four centuries old. They were all habited in the 
 costume of the period, and appeared to have died at an advanced age. 
 These are natural mummies, or the result of simple desiccation, the 
 skin resembling leather. It is probable that we may refer to similar 
 causes, those interesting subjects discovered three or four years ago, in 
 a cave of the church of St. Thomas, at Strasburg, viz., the mummified 
 bodies of the Count de Naussau (Sarsbruc/c) and his daughter. These 
 relics, six hundred years old, are both habited in the costume of that 
 epoch; the coat, small-clothes, &c. , of the father, have been replaced 
 by exact imitations, but the habits of the daughter are actually those in 
 which she was buried, consisting of a blue silk gown, richly ornamented 
 with lace, with diamond rings on her fingers, and jewels on her breast. 
 The body is well preserved, with the exception of the face : bunches of 
 silvered flowers still adorn the top of the head, arms and shoulders. 
 The features of the Count are almost perfect. I could not observe any 
 external signs of artificial embalming having been resorted to. The skin 
 was of a yellowish colour. The famous mummy of St. Carlo Boromeo, 
 in the vault of the splendid Duomo di Milano, is another remarkable in- 
 stance — the body is as black and solid as an Egyptian mummy ; it was 
 removed from a cemetry in the vicinity, after having remained there 
 many years ; no artificial means had been resorted to for its preservation. 
 
 The climate and soil of Egypt have been equally efficient in preserv- 
 ing vegetable life. The French naturalists who accompanied the army 
 to Egypt, sent home fruits, living seeds, and other portions of twenty 
 different plants, including the common wheat and onion of the present 
 day — as was proved by the germination of the seeds and roots in Eu- 
 rope. — 7V. 
 
 4 
 
26 ON EMBALMING IN GENERAL. 
 
 mass of this transparent matter, and tTius to pre- 
 serve them hke insects enveloped in fluid amber, 
 and which are found uninjured and very visible in 
 the middle of this substance w^hen solidified. This 
 mode of preservation has led some to suppose, that 
 the Ethiopians preserved their dead bodies in glass. 
 Honey was formerly used for embalming ; the body 
 of Alexander the Great was rubbed with honey, as 
 the following verses prove : 
 
 " Due et ad aemathios manes, ubi belliger urbis 
 Conditor hiblseo perfusus neciare durat." 
 
 This use of honey is further confirmed by J. B. 
 Baricel, Andre Rivin, and R. P. Menestrier. Pliny, 
 book xxii. chap. 24, says that honey is of such a 
 nature, that bodies placed in it do not corrupt. 
 
 They made use also of wax for embalming, as we 
 read in Emilius Probus, at the end of the life of 
 Agesilas : " Having fallen sick, he died, and that 
 his friends might the more conveniently carry him 
 to Sparta, for want of honey they enveloped his 
 body in wax." The Persians, on the report of Ci- 
 cero, employed the same matter : Persse jam cera. 
 circumlitos condiunt, ut quam maxime permaneant 
 diuturna corpora. 
 
 The ancients also made use of a sort of brine, the 
 composition of which is unknown. Coelius Rodigi- 
 nus, in his book of antiquities, remarks that, during 
 the pontificat of Sextus IV. they found on the Ap- 
 pien way the body of a girl, retaining still all the 
 beauty of her face, the hair of a golden blond, and 
 tied up with bands, also gilded — it was thus pre- 
 served in a brine, which entirely covered it, and it 
 was thought to be the body of TuUiola, the daughter 
 
ON EMBALMING IN GENERAL. 27 
 
 of Cicero. And Valateron assures us that, by a pre- 
 paration of an unknown salt, the body of another 
 female was also found entire in a mausoleum near 
 Albania, in the time of Alexander VI.; this Pope or- 
 dered it to be thrown secretly into the Tiber, fear- 
 ing the superstition of the people, who run from all 
 parts to see it, because the body still retained its 
 beauty, although thirteen centuries had elapsed since 
 its deposition. 
 
 The Jews, after closing the mouth and eyes of 
 the dead, shaved them, w^ashed and rubbed them 
 with perfumes, then enclosed them in a coffin along 
 with myrrh, aloes, and other aromatics, in great pro- 
 fusion. 
 
 The Egyptians had a great number of processes 
 for embalming. The valuable w^ork of M. Rouyer 
 places this fact beyond a doubt : natron, cedria, bitu- 
 men, asplialtmn,pisasphaltum, different aromatic sub- 
 stances to drive off insects, varnishes, more or less 
 costly, were used in their different preparations; 
 finally, bandages multiplied, and endued with gum 
 Arabic, closed all access to air and humidity. The 
 mummies of the Guanches, which so closely resem- 
 ble some of those of Egypt, were sewn up in skins, 
 after having been stuffed with aromatics and dried 
 in the sun. 
 
 The moderns have employed for the preservation 
 of dead bodies, numerous substances both fluid and 
 solid ; spirits of wine, oils, tinctures, compound lini- 
 ments, brines, etc., constitute the first class; pow- 
 ders, composed of all parts of balsamic and aromatic 
 plants, form the second. 
 
 We shall examine, hereafter, more in detail these 
 
28 ON EMBALMING IN GENERAL. 
 
 various systems of preservation — nevertheless, what 
 we have mentioned, proves that they were only in 
 a slight deo^ree efficacious. And even the so much 
 boasted methods of Clauderus, Derasieres, &c., and 
 the wonderful secrets of Debils, Ruysh, Swammer- 
 dam, appear to us only applicable to retard a little 
 while the progress of decomposition. The following 
 is extracted from the article Anatomical Preparations 
 of the Dictionary of Medical Sciences : 
 
 " It is said that Ruysh possessed the means of 
 preserving the flexibility and other vital properties 
 of the different tissues of our bodies. When the 
 Dutch anatomist sold his cabinet to the Czar, Peter 
 L, he gave a manuscript in which he made known 
 the composition of a preservative fluid, expressly 
 stating that this liquor was nothing more than spi- 
 rits of wine ; the spirit of malt, to which was only 
 added, during distillation, a handful of white pep- 
 per. But it appeared that Ruysh had not given the 
 true composition of his liquor, or rather, that he had 
 exaggerated the virtues of it, for it is far from pos- 
 sessing the effects which have been attributed to it. 
 After the death of Ruysh, they thought they had 
 discovered his means of preserving. In 1731, Geof- 
 froy was charged to make experiments ; but the re- 
 sults did not correspond to the anticipations." 
 
 We find in a note added by Strader, at the end of 
 his edition of the works of Harvey, another version 
 relative to the proceedings of Swammerdam, which 
 is as follows : 
 
 " It is with reason," says he, " that we prefer to 
 the Egyptian method, an art which so hardens dead 
 bodies, that they lose nothing of their substance. 
 
ON EMBALMING IN GENERAL. 29 
 
 and change neither in colour, nor in form ; that they 
 leave to the anatomist all desirable leisure for ex- 
 amination, without presenting any effusion of blood, 
 nor that disgusting filth so repugnant to the delicate 
 practitioner, and which frequently prevents the ex- 
 amination of the entrails of subjects. 
 
 "I shall publish, as was communicated to me, 
 this admirable process, in which I w^as formerly li- 
 berally initiated by CI. Dn. Swammerdam, which 
 is beyond all praise. It is necessary, then, to obtain 
 a pewter vessel of sufficient size to contain the body 
 to be embalmed ; place at the distance of about two 
 fingers depth of the bottom, a hurdle of wood, pierced 
 with many holes; place the body on this hurdle, 
 and pour on oil of turpentine to the height of three 
 fingers, keep the vessel quiet, tightly, and less and 
 less hermetically covered during a certain space of 
 time ; in this manner the oil, of a penetrating na- 
 ture, will infiltrate by degrees into the body on 
 which it is poured, and will expel the aqueous por- 
 tions, the principle cause of the fermentation which 
 tends to corruption. This aqueous portion descend- 
 ing by its specific gravity, and distilling through 
 the flesh, will, in time, occupy the space between 
 this and the bottom, and during this time the more 
 subtle part of the balm will exhale, as the vessel is 
 less closely covered ; the more it evaporates, the 
 harder the body becomes, and will imbibe the thick 
 lees of the oil, the effect of which may be compared 
 to that of a gummy marrow : it can then, conse- 
 quently, remain out of the liquor and in open air 
 without corrupting, without any fear of putrefaction, 
 or of the worms. As to the time necessary to allow 
 
30 ON EMBALMING IN GENERAL. 
 
 the body to remain in the balm, this varies accord- 
 ing to the nature of the subject to be preserved. 
 The following rules on this head must be observed : 
 
 " The embalming of an embryon of six months, 
 may be accomplished in about the same length of 
 time. 
 
 " The skeleton of the same embryon requires only 
 about two months. 
 
 " The membranes of the heart, three months. 
 
 " The vessels of the liver, and of the placenta, 
 cleared of their flesh, one month. 
 
 " The vessels of the spleen, ten days. 
 
 '' The intestines, one month. 
 
 '* A certain time is thus assigned for other vessels, 
 which would not be difficult to discover or deter- 
 mine by experiments. 
 
 " It is always necessary to pay attention, that dur- 
 ing this operation, the parts be a little contracted 
 and compressed in an equable and convenient pro- 
 portion ; the coction of the body prevents the skin 
 forming wrinkles, whether it be made before the de- 
 position in the oil, or after it has soaked there for 
 two months. In order that the subject may retain 
 all its beauty and whiteness, it must be macerated 
 for several days in alum before embalming it. In 
 order that the members may retain a convenient 
 form and position, they ought to be plunged into 
 the balm on the commencement of winter, about the 
 month of November, to expose them afterwards to 
 the cold, not to freeze, but to harden them lightly. 
 
 " In following this process, with care, we destroy 
 entirely all the germs of putrefaction concealed in 
 the body, to such a degree, that the entrails even 
 
ON EMBALMING IN GENERAL. 31 
 
 are profoundly penetrated with this bahn, and are 
 able to resist the constant attacks of the air. 
 
 " If it is desired to preserve a part, without the 
 process above mentioned, the blood must first be 
 extracted by a brine, and the salt subsequently with- 
 drawn by rain water, and, after having placed it in 
 the shade to prevent its putrefying, endue it with a 
 mixture composed of three quarts of oil of turpen- 
 tine, and one quart of mastic, which will communi- 
 cate a brilliant appearance to it, and even a sort of 
 light crust, particularly if a greater quantity of mas- 
 tic is used in the preparation. 
 
 " As regards the preparation of the members and 
 their appendages, a particular process must be ob 
 served. The vessels must be well dried, of what- 
 ever matter they may consist, and afterw^ards place 
 the rods in them well fitted to the cavity ; and pre- 
 viously endued with suet, which is to be carefully 
 withdra^\ii in a few days ; thus the members, large 
 and small, ought to be placed in cotton, well soaked 
 in suet, to be stretched in the direction of their 
 length, as, for example, we stretch the meshes of 
 capillary vessels on sticks rubbed with suet, from 
 whence they are readily detached by means of a 
 little fire placed beneath, which causes the suet to 
 melt. 
 
 "But sufficient has been said for the present ; per- 
 haps, hereafter I shall have a more favourable op- 
 portunity to relate other similar facts, or even more 
 admirable ; for I have seen with Swammerdam, of 
 whom I have spoken above, various pieces embalmed 
 with so much talent, that, besides all their natural 
 properties, they possessed also that of being always 
 
32 ON EMBALMING IN GENERAL. 
 
 soft and flexible ; I must forbear transmitting for 
 the present this process, in order not to lessen the 
 eclat of the fine work I have just described, and in 
 introducing a still more beautiful one on the scene, 
 etc." 
 
 After so precise a description, I hoped to make 
 something out of this process ; but nevertheless, I 
 must confess, that after having repeated these ex- 
 periments with the greatest care, I was no more suc- 
 cessful in my trials than Mr. Geoffroy was in 173 L ; 
 only I have proved that, when bodies are prepared 
 according to my process, and afterwards plunged 
 into turpentine, they preserve a remarkable freshness 
 and suppleness. After much reflection upon this sub- 
 ject, I have come to the conclusion, that Ruysh and 
 Swammerdam have never made known but a part 
 of their system of preservations, and that, previously 
 to immersing the body in either of the two liquids 
 of which we have spoken, they subjected them to 
 some preparation. In fine, those very authors who 
 boast of the admirable perfection of their processes, 
 have not left a single preparation to show as an ex- 
 ample to justify their praises ; and, as a proof of their 
 exaggeration, we have the testimony of an author 
 {Penichcr) profoundly versed in this matter. '' Those 
 authors," says he, " who boast of having embalmed 
 without emptying the great cavities, and by con- 
 fining themselves to injections by the mouth, by 
 the anus, or by holes made in the armpits, would 
 be embarrassed to show satisfactory results from 
 such superficial embalming; for, sooner or later, 
 these nuisances will overcome all the embalmer's in- 
 dustry, and all the expense he may have been at to 
 
OF EMBALMING IN GENERAL. 33 
 
 conquer a bad impression." Could there exist a 
 more singular proof of this, than what happened a 
 few years ago in the church of R. R. P. P., respect- 
 ing the body of a lady of first quality ? The corpse 
 had been placed in a leaden coffin, and enclosed in 
 another of wood, and placed within a marble mau- 
 soleum well cemented ; after which, in order to ful- 
 fil the will, it was embalmed, and enveloped in two 
 hundred pounds of aromatics and perfumes; two 
 kegs of aromatic spirits of wine were introduced 
 through an opening, so that the body was com- 
 pletely submerged in it. Nevertheless, at the end 
 of twelve years or thereabout, it produced so dan- 
 gerous and malignant a stench through the cracks 
 which occurred in the coffin, by the expansion of 
 the drugs, that one of the priests, who chanced at 
 the time to be saying mass in his chapel, fell ex- 
 tremely ill from this cause, and the assistants were 
 obliged to withdraw, being unable to support the 
 effluvia. 
 
 The priests were under the necessity of exhum- 
 ing the body, with the consent of the archbishop, 
 and family of the deceased ; they removed it to the 
 garden, placed it in a ditch, and covered it with 
 quick-lime, which not destroying the flesh, com- 
 posed of oily, sulphurous, and resinous parts, it was 
 found necessary to remove the flesh from the body, 
 in order to replace the skeleton in the mausoleum ; 
 to such a degree did the bad qualities of the entrails 
 and viscera, corrupted by disease, surpass the good 
 qualities of the balms. The imperfections of these 
 methods grow out of their very nature. Along side 
 of these embalmings, practised in an empyrical 
 
 5 
 
34 OF EMBALMING IN GENERAL. 
 
 manner, without any reference to the qualities more 
 or less efficacious, of the aromatic and balsamic sub- 
 stances, I can place infants several months old, sub- 
 jects most susceptible of dissolution, and which, after 
 a simple injection, have remained exposed to the air 
 in a moist room. At the end of two years of this 
 exposure, they displayed a great suppleness of the 
 tissues, without the least trace of decomposition. 
 Those which I enclosed in cases, in the midst of an 
 atmosphere of my own discovery,* have preserved 
 exactly the expression and colour of the face, that 
 they had at the moment of death. 
 
 * This atmosphere, we have reason to believe, consists of the vapour 
 of oil of turpentine. We examined some of these specimens, which, 
 after a simple injection with the solution of the acetate of alumine, were 
 exposed to a current of air, and found them as hard as horn and some- 
 what distorted, — TV. 
 
NATURAL MUMMIES. 35 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 NATURAL MUMMIES. 
 
 Whilst man agitates and torments himself in 
 employing all his activity to produce a feeble result, 
 nature, all-powerful, by means of simple causes, pro- 
 duces wonderful effects. Man disputes with the 
 rivers, the ocean's waves, some few acres of land, 
 which he protects with great labour from their over- 
 whelming influences. At the voice of nature, ele- 
 ments, until now foreign to each other, approximate, 
 combine, and unite in the bosom of the earth, and 
 suddenly throw up from the middle of the ocean 
 vast isles and new continents. He has need of all 
 his industry to make the sap circulate in a few etio- 
 lated plants ; she, on the contrary, confers life and 
 motion to all beings, or strikes them with torpor or 
 death, according as she elevates or depresses the sun 
 a few degrees in the horizon. 
 
 In order to preserve the bodies of his own image, 
 man, stimulated by sentiments of religion, respect, 
 or of love, mutilates in vain their inanimate spoils ; 
 in vain he penetrates with aromatics and preserva- 
 tive juices, remains, which putrefaction reclaims 
 and seizes. Nature covers with a little snow the 
 traveller who scales the mountain, then, after cen- 
 turies, returns the body unaltered. She commands 
 the winds to blow : the sands of the desert are agi- 
 tated, and the soldiers of Cambyses, and the sol- 
 
36 NATURAL MUMMIES. 
 
 diers of Alexander, are dried in the dust ; penetrat- 
 ing with some unknown bodies the entrails of the 
 earth, she there preserves the generations which 
 have preceded us. 
 
 Here is the art of embalming in its highest de- 
 gree of perfection ; here are mummies which we 
 ought to desire to imitate. It must be acknowledged, 
 that when the Egyptians and the Guanches trans- 
 mitted to us their bodies in a state of preservation, 
 which has been the admiration and astonishment of 
 ages, they owed as much, at least, to the aid of na- 
 ture, as to the perfection of their art, and the deve- 
 lopment of their industry. If, then, we wish to 
 preserve the bodies of those who excited our admi- 
 ration or our love, in place of despising the mum- 
 mies^ which nature presents us with, let us study 
 them, let us seek with care, the cause of their pre- 
 servation, and, by reasonable analyses, let us endea- 
 vour to penetrate the secret of her ways. 
 
 If this direction had been followed, convenient 
 processes would doubtless have been discovered a 
 long time ago ; and it never would have been sup- 
 posed possible to preserve a corpse with certainty, 
 by stuffing it with sixty or eighty kinds of powdered 
 aromatics. After such considerations, we, who have 
 substituted an experimental for an empyrical me- 
 thod, and progressed from the known to the un- 
 
 1 The reverend Father Kircher in his chapter on mummies, thinks 
 that these bodies do not merit the name ; here is what he says in his 
 chapter iii, §. 2. " But these bodies, dried and preserved in the sands 
 of Lybia, should not receive the name of mu?«/wy, because a mummy is, 
 properly speaking, a body prepared after a special process." Such 
 ideas have caused much empyricism, and have been most powerful ob- 
 stacles to the progress of the art of embalming. 
 
NATURAL MUMMIES. 37 
 
 known, ought, to be consistent, to study natural 
 mummies first. 
 
 Some have been formed by the general qualities 
 of the air and earth, others, by purely local influ- 
 ences ; in the first series, we include the mummy of 
 the sand, and those of avalanches ; in the second, 
 those discovered here and there in certain sepultures ; 
 in the convent of the Capuchins, near Palermo ; in 
 the caves of St. Michel, at Bordeaux ; in the cemetery 
 of the church of Saint Nicholas ; the Museum ; the 
 cloister of the Carmes ; the caves of the Jacobins and 
 the Cordeliers, at Toulouse, S^c. 
 
 These last named mummies, the preservation of 
 which is probably due to the particular properties 
 of the soil in which they were deposited, have been, 
 up to the present day, objects of vulgar curiosity, 
 rather than of attentive examination. 
 
 Drs. Boucherie, Bermont, and Gaubert, have fa- 
 voured me with some notes taken during a visit to 
 the caves of St. Michel, at Bordeaux, {August, 
 1837.) I let them speak for themselves : 
 
 " The bodies exposed to view at Bordeaux, in the 
 cavern situated beneath the tower of Saint Michel, 
 were deposited there in 1793, nearly in the same 
 state in which they appear at present, they came 
 from the sepulchres of the church and the adjoinino- 
 cemetery. A great number of bones, and the wreck 
 of soft parts, dried and preserved like the whole 
 bodies, form a layer of seventeen or eighteen feet, 
 upon which are supported the inferior extremities 
 of seventy subjects, arranged in a circle around the 
 wall, and retained in a vertical position by the cords 
 which bind them. Some of these, they say, had re- 
 
38 NATURAL MUMMIES. 
 
 mained in the earth many centuries, others from 
 sixty to eighty years or more. 
 
 ''During our visit, 25th August, 1837, we deter- 
 mined to examine with care the state of these bo- 
 dies, those of the middle, where they had remained 
 for more than forty years, and above all, we pro- 
 cured strips of skin and muscle, in order to examine 
 them at leisure, and to submit them to some chemi- 
 cal re-agent, which might reveal to us the presence 
 of the preservative element. We could not hope to 
 collect any of the earth that had originally covered 
 them, since they were superposed on remnants 
 thrown into this place at the time they were en- 
 closed here. 
 
 " After having furnished ourselves with a ther- 
 mometer at 24° R., and a hygrometer at 34°, both 
 in the open air, we descended thirty or forty steps, 
 which conducted us to the cave. The coolness did 
 not appear to us very striking, as it commonly is at 
 this depth during the heat of the dog-star. Placing 
 our instruments on the soil, we proceeded to examine 
 the bodies. 
 
 '' It is an extraordinary aspect, by lamp-light, of- 
 fered by this circular space, the walls of which are 
 tapistried by dead bodies all standing erect ; the 
 eye wanders from one to the other involuntarily, and 
 we view the whole before confining ourselves to de- 
 tails. Although the most of them are in the atti- 
 tude of the buried dead, some differences in size, in 
 the position and expression of the physiognomy, 
 produce a strange and confused impression. There 
 is one point, however, where our regards were par- 
 ticularly attracted, where the heart is chilled and 
 
NATURAL MUMMIES. 39 
 
 troubled with deep emotion — here is beheld a mi- 
 serable creature in a position violently contracted — 
 the mouth open and horribly contracted, the infe- 
 rior members strongly drawn to the body — the arms, 
 one twisted by convulsions is thrown over the head, 
 the other folded beneath the trunk, and fixed to the 
 thigh by the nails, wdiich are deeply implanted in 
 the ilesh ; the forced inflexion of the whole body, 
 gives the expression of ineffable pain, all announc- 
 ing a violent death. Unfortunate wretch ! had he 
 died in this state, or rather, had he been buried 
 alive, and assumed this position in the horrible ago- 
 nies of awakening ? 
 
 " The skin of all these mummies, of a more or 
 less deep gray colour, dried and rather soft to the 
 touch, gives the sensation of parchment slightly 
 stretched upon the organs, dried, and of the consist- 
 ence of amadou* or spunk ; the articulations are 
 stiff and inflexible ; the chest, the abdomen, and the 
 cranium, examined carefully, did not show any in- 
 cision, any regular opening indicative of any trace 
 of embalming, even the most imperfect. The dif- 
 ferent features of the face, still distinct among some 
 of them, displayed a variety of physiognomy; two 
 or three of them displayed the hair of the beard very 
 well preserved, the teeth were healthy and covered 
 with, brilliant enamel. The upper and lower ex- 
 tremities entirely dried, and whole in many of the 
 subjects, are provided with all the phalanges ; the 
 last, however, divested of its nail. On the body of 
 the tallest figure is perceived enormous purses, with 
 
 * A sort of tinder made of afjaric. — 7V. 
 
40 NATURAL MUMMIES. 
 
 evident traces of a double scrotal hernia. The skin 
 raised and viewed on its interior surface, is tanned 
 like the exterior; all traces of cellular tissue has 
 disappeared ; the muscles, separated from the skin, 
 have the colour and consistence, and almost the in- 
 ternal structure of amadou. On introducing the 
 hand into the chest, some rudiment of lung was 
 found, a net work very similar to that of leaves de- 
 prived of their fleshy part ; they might be taken for 
 a mass of leaves dissected by the caterpillars, and 
 rendered adherent by the threads and viscous fluid 
 that these insects deposit. The intestines, also dried, 
 are nearly in the same state. 
 
 " Such are the principal details which presented 
 themselves in the course of our examination : at first 
 sight, it appeared astonishing that these bodies, re- 
 moved for more than forty years from the medium 
 in which they were desiccated, should have expe- 
 rienced no sensible alteration in a cavern situated 
 deeply under the earth, and surmounted by a struc- 
 ture like that of the tower of St. Michel. Let us 
 return to our instruments, perhaps they will aid us 
 in the explanation of the fact. After remaining an 
 hour in this atmosphere, the thermometer passed 
 from 24° to 18°, and the hygrometer, from 34° to 32°, 
 which gives a diiference for the first, of 6°, for the 
 second of 8°, a very trifling diflerence, when com- 
 pared to that of caves and other places in the same 
 apparent position. This thermometrical and hy- 
 grometrical state of the air, always invariable, is, 
 without doubt, one of the principal circumstances 
 in maintaining the integrity of these mummies. To 
 what cause, further, can be attributed this double 
 
NATURAL MUMMIES. 41 
 
 state of the air in the cavern .' A slow fermentation, 
 movements of latent decomposition in the enormous 
 mass of animal remains which form the bottom of 
 this recepticle, are they not the probable cause ? 
 We think so, and we leave with confidence this idea, 
 to the meditation of philosophers. Our end w^as at- 
 tained, we had proved facts, and collected some par- 
 cels of the remains to subject them to analysis; after 
 different trials without result, some portions of skin 
 and muscular tissue, placed in weakened hydro- 
 chloric acid, and treated by ebullition, were totally 
 dissolved in this liquid, to which they communi- 
 cated a deep brown colour. This liquor filtered and 
 treated by the yellow cyanate of potash, yielded a 
 very abundant blue precipitate; and the presence of 
 iron was thus indicated, from whence w^e thought 
 that the preservation of these bodies was owing to 
 the presence of a compound of iron in the earth, 
 where they had been deposited. But the human 
 blood yields iron also ; was it a portion of this ele- 
 ment of our tissues that our experiments brought 
 into play ? A suit of comparative experiments upon 
 the tissues of mammies, on the one hand, and of 
 the same tissues dried in the sun of subjects recently 
 dead, on the other hand, have evidently proved the 
 excess of iron in the first. Analogous circumstances 
 doubtless, have determined the preservation of the 
 bodies found at Toulouse, at Palermo, &c. We re- 
 gret not to be able to transmit the suit of experi- 
 ments made by our learned friend, Dr. Bucherie; 
 these will form the subject of ulterior researches." 
 
 The same phenomenon still occurs in different 
 parts of our country, under a moderate temperature : 
 
 G 
 
42 NATURAL MUMMIES. 
 
 thus, about 1660, M. de La Visee and his domestic, 
 having been assassinated at Paris, and interred on 
 the place where the crime was committed, their bo- 
 dies were discovered after the lapse of a year, whole 
 and readily recognisable ; a cloak even, lined with 
 plush, had not suffered the least alteration. 
 
 The mummy of the avalanches, and all those, 
 the preservation of which is due to a constant low 
 temperature, retain the freshness and plumpness of 
 the tissues for years and for centuries, if the condi- 
 tions of the medium remain the same ; but, under 
 these circumstances, the action of cold exerts no 
 other influence than the suspension of decomposi- 
 tion ; for the moment it ceases, the tissues are ra- 
 pidly exposed to the laws of inorganic chemistry. 
 
 In those cases, however, where the bodies ex- 
 posed to cold are subjected to a dry and lively wind, 
 a real mummification may occur, as in the follow- 
 ing example : 
 
 There is upon the summit of the Great Saint Ber- 
 nard, a sort of morgue {dead house) in which have 
 been deposited, from time immemorial, the bodies of 
 those unfortunate persons who have perished upon 
 this mountain by cold, or the fall of avalanches. 
 
 The study of the circumstances of locality, and 
 of temperature, in which this establishment is 
 placed, may, to a certain degree, indicate the most 
 favourable conditions for the long preservation of 
 bodies. Here they show to travellers, bodies, which 
 they assert have been sufficiently well preserved to 
 be recognisable after the lapse of two or three years. 
 A physician, whose quality as ancient prosector of 
 the faculty of Medicine of Paris, rendered him curi- 
 
NATURAL MUM-MIES. 43 
 
 ous to visit this part of the hospital in all its details, 
 has verified with his own eyes all that travellers 
 have written, and has transmitted to us the follow- 
 ing observation : 
 
 The hospital of Saint Bernard, is, as is well known, 
 the most elevated habitation in Europe, being 
 7,200 feet above the level of the sea. The tempera- 
 ture of this part of the globe is always very low, 
 rarely above zero, even during summer. This ex- 
 tensive establishment is built upon the borders of 
 a little lake, at the bottom of a little gorge ; the 
 principal mass of the building represents a long pa- 
 rallelogram placed in the direction of the gorge, 
 so that its tw^o principal faces, pierced with numer- 
 ous windows, are sheltered from the wind by the 
 rocks ; whilst the two extremities, on the contrary, 
 are exposed to all the violence of those which blow 
 from one side of the gorge to the other. About 
 fifty steps beyond this principal building, and a 
 little out of a right line with it, is situated the 
 morgue, a sort of square chamber, the walls of 
 which, three or four feet thick, are constructed of 
 good stone, and the arched roof of w^hich is very solid. 
 Two windows of about four feet square, are pierced 
 in the direction of the breadth of the valley, directly 
 facing each other, so that a perpetual current of 
 cool air traverses the interior of the chamber. 
 There is, further, but a single table in this morgue, 
 upon which they place the bodies w^hen first intro- 
 duced ; after a while they are arranged around the 
 walls in an upright attitude. At the time of my 
 passage of the Great Saint Bernard, (3l5^ August, 
 1837,) there were several of these mummified bo- 
 
44 NATURAL MUMMIES. 
 
 dies along the walls of the chamber, but a greater 
 number were entirely divested of flesh, and lie scat- 
 tered about the earthy floor of the room. They in- 
 formed me, that decomposition only took place when 
 the bodies fell by accident to the ground ; which 
 was owing to the humidity occasioned by the snow, 
 which occasionally entered with the currents of air 
 through the windows of the morgue.* (Note com- 
 municated by Dr. Lenoir.) 
 
 The existence of the mummies of the sands, is at- 
 tested by numerous travellers, and all the authors 
 who have written on embalming mention them. 
 They are every where found, where an arid and 
 burning atmosphere deeply penetrates the masses 
 of fine sand, easily agitated by the winds. In 
 Egypt, for example, Herodotus frequently speaks 
 of these bodies dried by the sun. Cambyses, on the 
 authority of this author, sufi'ered horrible eff'ects 
 from these sands, driven before the wind ; he lost 
 almost his whole army during his expedition to the 
 temple of Jupiter Ammon. 
 
 Pere Kircher gives us an interesting description 
 of these sand storm.s : ''In the countries of Africa 
 situated beyond the Nile, is a vast desert of sand, 
 
 * Early in September, 1833, I had an opportunity of inspecting the 
 contents of the morgue of Saint Bernard. Among the group of bodies 
 of every age and sex, we were particularly struck with two figures, 
 one, that of a man, whose countenance was horridly contorted by the 
 act of desiccation ; each limb, and every muscle of the body, had as- 
 sumed the expression of a wretch in purgatory. The other was that of 
 a mother holding her infant to her bosom, the latter, Avith an imploring 
 expression, looking up to the face of the mother, whom it appeared to 
 have survived some time, as is generally the case when mother and 
 child are frozen together — a greater power of forming animal heat exist- 
 ing in children. — TV. 
 
NATURAL MUMMIES. 45 
 
 the immense waves of which appear in the bound- 
 less horizon Uke those of the sea. Agitated by the 
 winds, these sands produce such frightful tempests, 
 that they sw^allow up under their enormous masses, 
 travellers, beasts of burden, and merchandise. Bo- 
 dies thus engulfed, become desiccated after a series 
 of years, both by the ardour of the sun's rays, and 
 by virtue of the burning sand : this is the reason 
 that some have asserted that mummies might be 
 formed by natural causes only, &c.' Penicher, 
 Clauderus, De Maillet, Rouelle Le Comte de Cay- 
 lus, cite examples of the same nature. A whole 
 
 1 The following is the passage of P. Kircher, of which we gave only 
 a few passages in our citation. 
 
 " Est in Transpilaiia African regoine, desertum iiigens sabuli, arena- 
 rumque curaulis in immensum exporrectum, unde et sabulosi maris non 
 immerito nomen obtinuit; ha; siquidein arenae ventis concitata; tarn 
 saevas subinde tempestales movent, ut arenis in cUvos aggesiis, turbinnni 
 violentia, et jumenta et viatores una cum mercibus suis, nulla evadendi 
 spe relicta, vivos sepiliant. Refert Pomponius Mela de rupe qua dam 
 in hoc deserto existente, austro consecrata, quae simul atque vel manu 
 tacta fuerit, austro mox provocate, Saivissimas procellas moveat, sabulo 
 in tantum ir.tumescente, ut pelagus undarum vorticibus, fluctuumque 
 jEStibus concitatura videraqueat. Hanc rupem dum olira sylli incon- 
 sultius adeunt sive occultiori nature impetu, sive magicis incantationum 
 praestigiis, vento mox exoriente, et sabulosos cogente montes, ad unum 
 omnes extincti ferunter. Est et in hoc deserto, ammonium oraculum et 
 serapium, sphyngesque ingentes quaram aleas usque ad caput, aleae ex 
 dimidio arena obrutae, strabone teste, spectantur. Hoc itaque celeberri- 
 mum oraculum consulturus olim Alexander Magnus, dum pleno aleaj 
 itineri se accingit, ad illud quidem incolumis pervenit, sed quos milites 
 ex suo excrcita non sabulosi pelagi turbines, hos aestus, silisque con- 
 fecisse traditur. Sed ut undedigressus revertar, in hoc sabuloso deserto 
 dicunt non nuUi mumias solius naturae induslria confici ; dum aiunt, 
 viatorum deserti tempestatibus extinctorum corpora turn solis tunc fer- 
 venlissimae hugus arenae pinguioris virtute, longo tempore siccata, tos- 
 taque, in hunc statum degcnerare. Sed tametsi subinde, in hoc Lybiw 
 deserto hugusmodi a sole exsiccata corpora reperianlur, ilia tamen mi- 
 nime mumia; discenda; sunt." 
 
46 NATURAL MUMMIES. 
 
 caravan, or some travellers, disappear under a mass 
 of sand ; years, centuries, pass by, then a new revo- 
 lution in the disposition of these masses restores to 
 the light of day, those bodies which a previous re- 
 volution had engulfed ; blackened, dried, and light- 
 ened by the loss of all their fluids. In Mexico, Mr. 
 Humboldt met with true mummies. Travellers 
 have visited battlefields, situated on a soil deprived 
 of rain, and in a burning atmosphere. They saw 
 with astonishment, that these fields were covered 
 with the dead bodies of Spaniards and Peruvians, 
 dried and preserved for a long time. At the side of 
 these phenomena which nature ofifers us, come the 
 mummies of which Maillet speaks in his letters on 
 Egypt. 
 
 " There has been discovered," says he, " recently, 
 in this plain of mummies, a mode of burying hither- 
 to unknown. At the extremity of this vast open 
 country, and towards the mountains, which bound 
 it on the west, have been discovered beds of carbon, 
 on which are laid bodies clothed only with some 
 linen, and covered with a mat, upon which rests 
 the sands seven or eight feet in thickness. Never- 
 theless, it is to be observed, that these bodies, al- 
 though they were not embalmed, or at least but 
 slightly so, the same as those that they have neg- 
 lected to enclose in cases, were none the less beyond 
 the reach of corruption." 
 
 I promised to demonstrate the simple connection 
 which exists between the products of nature, and 
 those of human industry, to show that the first were 
 the origin of the second. The facts which I have 
 
NATURAL MUMMIES. 47 
 
 just exposed, I think, place this proposition beyond 
 a doubt. 
 
 The preservation of bodies among the Guanches, 
 which is already a step advanced in the art, will 
 form the subject of the following chapter. 
 
48 EMBALMING OF THE GUANCHES. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 EMBALMING OF THE GUANCHES. 
 
 The Guanches, with the Egyptians, are the only 
 nation among whom embalming had become na- 
 tional, and there exists in the process and mode of 
 preservation of both such striking analogy, that the 
 study of the Guanch mummies is, probably, the 
 surest means of arriving at some positive notions of 
 their origin and relationship. To make ourselves un- 
 derstood in the subject which now occupies us, we 
 ought to remark, that the details known of the mode 
 of embalming among the Guanches, will enlighten 
 and complete the descriptions that ancient authors 
 have transmitted to us of the Egyptian processes : 
 it is thus that it appears to us without a doubt, that 
 their silence on desiccation in the act of mummifi- 
 cation, is a simple omission on their part : that this 
 desiccation was continued during the seventy days 
 of preparation ; that it constituted the principal part 
 of the processes adopted; and that, because among 
 the Guanches desiccation was placed in the first 
 rank, if we are to credit the relations of authors. 
 We see in this, one of the finest examples of the 
 utility of the comparative study of the manners and 
 usages of different nations : light is thrown on both 
 by the comparison of facts. 
 
 The pains taken by the Guanches to evaporate 
 the fluid parts of their dead bodies, is the cause 
 
EMBALMING OF THE GUANCHES. 49 
 
 which determines us to place their mummies imme- 
 diately after those of the deserts of Lybia; because 
 their processes approach nearest to that of nature. 
 The details which we are about to give, are ex- 
 tracted from the excellent work of M. Bory de Saint 
 Vincent on the Fortunate Isles. 
 
 " The arts of the Guanches were not numerous, 
 the most singular without doubt is that of embalm- 
 ing. 
 
 The Guanches preserved the remains of their re- 
 lations in a scrupulous manner, and spared no pains 
 to guarantee them from corruption. As a moral 
 duty, each individual prepared for himself the skins 
 of goats, in which his remains could be enveloped, 
 and which might serve him for sepulture. These 
 skins M^ere often divested of their hair, at other 
 times they permitted it to remain, when they placed 
 indifferently the hairy side wdthin or without. The 
 processes to which they resorted to make perfect 
 mummies, which they named xaxos, are nearly lost. 
 Some vrriters have, nevertheless, left details on this 
 subject, but perhaps they are not more exact than 
 those which Herodotus has transmitted to us upon 
 the embalming of the Egyptians. 
 
 With the Guanches, the embalmers were abject 
 beings ; men and women filled this employment re- 
 spectively, for their sexes ; they were well paid, but 
 their touch was considered contamination ; and all 
 who were occupied in preparing the xaxos lived re- 
 tired, solitary, and out of sight. It is, then, out of 
 place, that Sprats has advanced the idea, that em- 
 balming was confined to a tribe of priests, who made 
 a sacred mystery of it, and that the secret died with 
 
 7 
 
50 EMBALMING or THE GUANCHES. 
 
 the priests. There were several kinds of embalm- 
 ing, and several different employments for those 
 who had charge of it. When they had need of the 
 services of the embalmers, they carried the body to 
 them to be preserved, and immediately retired. If 
 the body belonged to persons capable of bearing the 
 expenses, they extended it at first on a stone table ; 
 an operator then made an opening in the lower part 
 of the belly with a sharpened flint, wrought into the 
 form of a knife and called tahona ; the intestines 
 were withdrawn, which other operators afterwards 
 washed and cleaned ; they also washed the rest of 
 the body, and particularly the delicate parts, as the 
 eyes, interior of the mouth, the ears, and the nails, 
 with fresh water saturated with salt. They filled 
 the large cavities with aromatic plants ; they then 
 exposed the body to the hottest sun, or placed it in 
 stoves, if the sun was not hot enough. During the 
 exposition, they frequently endued the body with 
 an ointment, composed of goats' grease, pow^der of 
 odoriferous plants, pine bark, resin, tar, ponce stone, 
 and other absorbing materials. Feuille thinks that 
 these unctions were also made with a composition 
 of butter, and desiccative and balsamic substances, 
 among which are mentioned the resin of larch, and 
 the leaves of pomegranate, which never possessed 
 the property of preserving bodies. 
 
 On the fifteenth day the embalming should be 
 completely terminated; the mummy should be dry 
 and light ; the relatives send for it and establish the 
 most magnificent obsequies in their power. They 
 sew up the body in several folds of the skin, which 
 they had prepared Avhen living, and they bind it 
 
EMBALMING OF THE GUANCIIES. 51 
 
 S 
 
 with straps, retained by running knots. The kingt^ 
 and the grandees were besides, placed in a case or 
 coffin of a single piece, and hollowed out of the 
 trunk of the juniper tree, the wood of which was 
 held as incorruptible. They then finally, carried 
 the xaxos, thus sown and encased, to inaccessible 
 grottoes consecrated to this purpose. 
 
 Another less expensive mode of preserving the 
 dead, consisted in drying them in the sun, after 
 having introduced into the belly a corrosive liquor : 
 this liquor eats into the interior parts, where the sun 
 does not act sufficiently to prevent their corruption. 
 Like the other xaxos, the relatives sowed them in 
 skins and carried them to the grottoes 
 
 These mummies, such as they are found at the 
 present day, are dry and light ; many have perfectly 
 preserved their hair and beard, the nails are often 
 wantino- ; the features of the face are distinct, but 
 shrunken ; the abdomen is contracted. In some, 
 there exists no mark of incision, in others are ob- 
 served the trace of a rather large opening on the 
 flank. The xaxos are of a tanned colour, with ge- 
 nerally an agreeable odour ; exposed to the air, out 
 of the sacks of goat skin, which are admirably pre- 
 served, they fall by degrees into dust; they are 
 punctured in many places ; surrounded by the 
 chrysalides of flies, proceeding probably from mag- 
 gots, deposited upon the body during its prepara- 
 tion : these larvse and chrysalides, which could not 
 be reproduced, are preserved whole and healthy 
 like the mummies. 
 
 The Chevalier Scory says, that these mummies 
 are two thousand vears old : it is difficult to deter- 
 
52 EMBALMING OF THE GUANCHES. 
 
 mine how long they have been preserved ; but we 
 shall see in the sequel that it has been certainly 
 more than two thousand years since the Guanches 
 embalmed. I willingly believe that, in the corro- 
 sive composition which they employed in the second 
 kind of embalming, and probably in all cases, the 
 Guanches made use of the juice of the spurge ; they 
 doubtless employed the species proper to their cli- 
 mate, which is acrid and milky ; I have recognised 
 whole pieces in the chest of a mummy, in which, 
 nevertheless, there existed no traces of an incision. 
 Leaves, also, it is said, have been taken from the 
 body in a good state of preservation, and have been 
 recognised as those of the laurel. During the ex- 
 posure of the body to the sun, they extend the arms 
 of the men along the side of the trunk, and for the 
 most part crossing those of the women before the 
 lower part of the abdomen. From time to time new 
 catacombs are discovered in the Canary islands. In 
 1758, they found one at Palma ; but the mummies 
 were either very old, or badly embalmed, they soon 
 fell into powder. At Fer, there was found on the 
 tables where the xaxos had laid, the furniture which 
 the deceased had used during life. In this island 
 they wall up these caverns, to prevent them being 
 used as retreats for birds of prey and for crows. 
 
 At the Canaries, they do not limit themselves 
 always to placing the mummies in grottoes ; they 
 elevated special tombs to certain distinguished dead. 
 These privileged dead, dressed in their garment, 
 called tamareo, were placed upon elevated planks 
 of pine wood, with the head turned towards the 
 north ; they afterwards constructed above, a monu- 
 
EMBALMING OF THE GUANCHES. 53 
 
 ment of hard stone, pyramidal in form, and often 
 very high. Many catacombs are known to exist in 
 Teneriffe ; the most celebrated is that of Baranco de 
 Herque, between Arico and Guimar, in the Abona 
 country : it was discovered during the time that 
 Clarijo wrote his Noticias. He states that they there 
 met with more than a thousand mummies, whilst 
 in other cases only three or four hundred had been 
 found at a time. From hence they brought the 
 xaxos, which are in the cabinet of the King of Spain, 
 and the two which M. de Chastenet Puysegur sent 
 in 1776, to the Garden of Plants: one of them un- 
 fortunately wants the feet. 
 
 We abstain from all reflection on the recital which 
 precedes. Their analogy to the Egyptian process 
 will occur of itself to the mind of the reader, in the 
 description which follows. Nevertheless, we ought 
 to indicate a fact observed of two Guanch mum- 
 mies ; a fact omitted in the preceding description. 
 
 M. Jouannet, a modest and laborious investigator, 
 has proved, that two Guanch mummies that were 
 in his possession, had the eyes, nose, and mouth, 
 filled with bitumen, like some of the Egyptian mum- 
 mies. The skins which enveloped them were care- 
 fully closed, and nothing indicated that the bitu- 
 men was an addition posterior to embalming. 
 
54 EMBALMING AA'TONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 Since the ignorance we are in, relative to the 
 language of this great nation, places it out of our 
 power to know, of ourselves, the causes and pro- 
 cesses for the preservation of dead bodies, let us fol- 
 low the recital of ancient authors, let us endeavour 
 to detect, not by the imagination, but by positive 
 facts, by the study of invariable exterior conditions, 
 the different data of the question of embalming 
 among the Egyptians. 
 
 In the first place, if we make allowance for all 
 that the successive perfection of the arts, luxury, or 
 the love of distinction could add to simple preser- 
 vation, we shall arrive, with Rouelle, to this conclu- 
 sion, that the work of embalming is reduced to two 
 essential parts : first, the drying of the body, that is 
 to say, removing the fluids and grease which they 
 contain; secondly, to protect the body thus pre- 
 pared, from external humidity and contact of the 
 air. We have already seen all the aid which they 
 derived from their climate to fulfil the first condi- 
 tion : a detailed description will teach us what their 
 industry enabled them to add to it. As to the se- 
 cond, the nature of their caverns powerfully con- 
 tributed . 
 
 These vast cavities, says Pelletan, sheltered from 
 the inundations of the Nile, have, without doubt. 
 
EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 55 
 
 originally furnished the materials for the monu- 
 ments of Thebes, and the architects of the day thus 
 hollowed out the tombs of families in elevating their 
 palaces. Their whole surface, from the entrance, 
 even to the deepest recesses of these dark excava- 
 tions, are covered with sepultures and fresco paint- 
 ings. Each framed subject forms so many little 
 pictures which touch each other, and the figures of 
 which are not more than two or three inches in 
 height, so that the whole extent of these double 
 walls, the development of which is incalculable, has 
 been the object of minute labour. The sculptures 
 are in bas-relief, and covered with equable tints, but 
 lively, and i?i very good preservation. The points 
 of rock unconnected with the work, have been co- 
 vered with a composition perfectly solid, and so du- 
 rable, that, as yet, no other degradation is observable, 
 than that produced by the efforts of some travellers to 
 carry off fragments of it. Perspective is always 
 wanting in these pictures ; the bodies are viewed in 
 full, the faces in profile ; but the design is pure and 
 the proportions just ; we find nothing to indicate 
 ignorance in the artist; which presumes for the 
 Egyptians, if not great perfection in the arts, at 
 least a great popularity in their practice. The sub- 
 ject of these paintings are domestic scenes, and ge- 
 nerally followed by a funeral procession ; from 
 whence it may be inferred, that they refer to the 
 life of the man enclosed in each of the lateral niches. 
 The temperature of the caverns is 20° R. 
 
 It appeared to us convenient thus to give a sum- 
 mary of the conditions of drjdng, and of the ulterior 
 preservation, before presenting descriptions which 
 
56 EIMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 have been more or less accurately transmitted to us, 
 of the part that man has had in this operation. 
 
 Herodotus, Diodorus Sicculus, and Porphyrus, 
 who have written with the greatest detail on the 
 funerals of the Egyptians, will afford us the first in- 
 structions. 
 
 Herodotus. Mourning and funerals are conducted 
 after this manner : when a man of consideration 
 dies, all the women of his house [oiketes) cover the 
 head and even the face with mud ; they leave the 
 deceased in the house, girdle the middle of their bo- 
 dies, bare the bosom, strike the breast, and overrun 
 the city, accompanied by their relations. On the 
 other side, the men also girdle themselves and strike 
 their breasts; after this ceremony, they carry the 
 body to the place where it is to be embalmed. 
 
 The following, after Diodorus Sicculus, (book 1st, 
 vol. i. p. 102, § xcii.) is the ceremony of sepul- 
 ture among the Egyptians : " The relatives fix the 
 day for the obsequies, in order that the judges, the 
 relations, and friends of the dead may be present, 
 and they characterize it by saying, he is going to 
 pass the lake ; afterwards the judges, to the number 
 of more than forty arriving, they place themselves 
 in the form of a semi-circle beyond the lake. A bat- 
 teau approaches the shore, carrying those who have 
 charge of this ceremony, and in which is a sailor, 
 whom the Egyptians name in their language Cha- 
 ron. They say, further, that Orpheus having re- 
 marked this custom in his voyage in Egypt, took 
 occasion from it to imagine the fable of hell, imitat- 
 ing a portion of these ceremonies, and adding to 
 them others of his own invention. Before placing 
 
EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 57 
 
 in the batteau the coffin containing the body of the 
 deceased, it is lawful for each one present to accuse 
 him. If they prove that he has led a sinful life, the 
 judges condemn him, and he is excluded from the 
 place of his sepulture. If it appear that he has 
 been unjustly accused, they punish the accuser with 
 severity. If no accuser presents himself, or if the 
 one who does so is known as a calumniator, the re- 
 latives, putting aside the signs of their grief, deliver 
 an eulogium on the deceased without mentioningc 
 his birth, as is practised among the Grecians, be- 
 cause they considered all Egyptians equally noble. 
 They enlarge on the manner in which he has been 
 schooled and instructed from his childhood ; upon 
 his piety, justice, temperance, and his other virtues 
 since he attained manhood, and they pray the Gods 
 of hell to admit him into the dwelling of the pious. 
 The people applauded and glorified the dead who 
 were to pass all eternity in the abodes of the happy. 
 If any one has a monument destined for his sepul- 
 ture, his body is there deposited ; if he has none, 
 they construct a room in his house, and place the 
 bier upright against the most solid part of the wall. 
 They place in their houses those to whom sepulture 
 has not been awarded, either on account of crimes, 
 of which they are accused, or on account of the 
 debts which they may have contracted ; and it hap- 
 pens sometimes in the end that they obtain honour- 
 able sepulture, their children or descendants becom- 
 ing rich, pay their debts or absolve them. Orpheus 
 communicated to the Greeks these usages of the 
 Egyptians, applied to hell. Homer, following in his 
 steps, adorned his poetry with them: "Mercury," 
 
 "8 
 
58 EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 says he, " his wand in his hand, convoked the souls 
 of the candidates." And farther on : " They tra- 
 versed the ocean, passed near Leucadia, entered by 
 the gate of the sun, {Heliopolis,) the country of 
 dreams, and soon attained the fields of Asphodelia, 
 vv^here inhabit the souls w\\o are the images of 
 death." 
 
 But to return to the recital of Herodotus. There 
 are in Egypt, certain persons w^hom the law charges 
 with embalming, and who make a profession of it. 
 When a body is brought to them, they show the 
 bearers models of the dead in wood. The most re- 
 nowned represents, they say, him whose name I am 
 scrupulous to mention ; they show a second, which 
 is inferior to the first, and which is not so costly ; 
 they again show a third of a lower price. They 
 afterwards demand after which of the three models 
 they wish the deceased to be embalmed. After 
 agreeing about the price, the relatives retire ; the 
 embalmers work alone, and proceed as follows, in 
 the most costly embalming. They first withdraw 
 the brain through the nostrils, in part with a curved 
 iron instrument, and in part .by means of drugs, 
 which they introduce into the head; they after- 
 wards make an incision in the flank with a sharp 
 Ethiopian stone. 
 
 The body being extended upon the earth, the 
 scribe traces on the left flank the portion to be cut 
 out. He who is charged with making the incision, 
 cuts with an Ethiopian stone, as much as the law 
 allows ; which having done, he runs off with all his 
 might, the assistants follow, throwing stones after 
 him, loading him with imprecations, as if they 
 
EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 59 
 
 wished to put upon him this crime. They regard, 
 indeed, with horror, whoever does Aiolence to a body 
 of the same nature as their own. Whoever wounds 
 it, or in one word, whoever offers it any harm.'' 
 {Diodcrus, book 1, t. i. p. 102.) 
 
 They withdraw the intestines through this open- 
 ing, clean them, and pass them through palm wine, 
 place them in a trunk ; and among other things they 
 do for the deceased, they take this trunk, and call- 
 ing the sun to witness, one of the embalmers on the 
 part of the dead, addresses that luminary in the fol- 
 lowing words, which Euphantus has translated from 
 his vernacular tongue. " Sun, and ye too, Gods, 
 who have given life to men, receive me, and grant 
 that I may live with the eternal Gods ; I have per- 
 sisted all my life in the worship of those Gods, 
 whom I hold from my fathers, I have ever honoured 
 the Author of my being, I have killed no one, I have 
 committed no breach of trust, I have done no other 
 evil : if I have been guilty of any other fault dur- 
 ing life, it was not on my own account, but for these 
 things." The embalmer, in finishing these words, 
 shows the trunk containing the intestines, and after- 
 wards casts it into the river. As to the rest of the 
 body, when it was pure, they embalmed it." {Por- 
 phijr., De abstinentia ah esu animalium, book 17, 
 § 10, p. 329.) 
 
 Afterwards they fill the body with pure bruised 
 myrrh, with canella and other perfumes, excepting 
 incense ; it is then sown up. When that is done 
 they salt the body in covering it with natrum for 
 seventy days. (Natrum, with the intention of car- 
 rying off, and drying the oily, Ivmphatic. and greasy 
 
()0 EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 parts ; but this ought to have been the first opera- 
 tion, for if they had commenced with filUng the 
 body with myrrh and aromatics, previous to salting 
 it, the natrum, acting on the balsamic matters, and 
 forming with their oils a soapy matter, very soluble 
 and readily carried off by the lotions, would have 
 destroyed the greater part of the aromatics. Besides, 
 Diodorus does not mention natrum.) It is not per- 
 mitted to let them remain longer in the salt. The 
 seventy days elapsed, they wash the body and en- 
 tirely envelope it in linen and cotton bandages, 
 soaked with gum Arabic, commi, which the Egyp- 
 tians used generally in place of glue.* The rela- 
 tives now reclaim the body; they have made a 
 wooden case of the human form, in which they en- 
 close the corpse, and put it in a chamber destined 
 for this purpose, standing erect against the wall. 
 Such is the most magnificent method of embalming 
 the dead. Those who wish to avoid the expense 
 choose this other method ; they fill syringes with an 
 unctuous liquor which they obtain from the cedar ; 
 with this they inject the belly of the corpse without 
 making any incision, and without withdrawing the 
 intestines ; when this liquor has been introduced into 
 the fundament they cork it, in order to prevent its 
 ejectment ; the body is then salted for the prescribed 
 time. The last day, they draw off from the body 
 the injected liquor ; it has such strength that it dis- 
 solves the ventricles and intestines, which come 
 
 ♦ It is not improbable that the use of these gummy bandages gave 
 origin to the new and improved method of bandaging fractured limbs — 
 the bandages being first soaked in a solution of gum Arabic, or in a pre- 
 paration of starch, called dextrine. — Tr. 
 
EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 61 
 
 away with the hquid. The natrum destroys the 
 flesh, and there remains of the body, only the skin 
 and bones. This operation finished, they return the 
 body without doing anything further to it. 
 
 The third kind of embalming is only for the 
 poorer classes of society. They inject the body with 
 a fluid named surmata ; they put the body into na- 
 trum for seventy days, and they afterwards return 
 it to tliose who brought it. 
 
 As to ladies of quality, when they are dead, they 
 are not immediately sent to the embalmers, any 
 more than such as are beautiful or highly distin- 
 guished ; these are reserved for three or four days 
 after death. They take this precaution lest the em- 
 balmers might pollute the bodies confided to their 
 care. 
 
 It is reported that one was surprised in the act, 
 with a woman recently dead, and that on the accu- 
 sation of one of his comrades. The preceding re- 
 citals have been the subject of numerous commen- 
 tations, discussions, and researches. It is astonish- 
 ing that Herodotus has omitted desiccation ; but it 
 naturally took place during the time consecrated to 
 preparation. Some assert that the body was in the 
 first place salted, and subsequently penetrated with 
 resinous and balsamic substances, which, incorpo- 
 rating with the flesh, prevented putrefaction : others 
 pretend that the body, after having been salted, was 
 dried, and that it was not until after this desicca- 
 tion that the resinous and balsamic substances were 
 applied. A simple inspection of the mummies is 
 sufficient to reject the first opinion. What union, 
 indeed, could these last named matters have con- 
 
62 EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 tracted with the fluids of the tissues ? and how can 
 we conceive from thence, that bodies often filled 
 with corrupted serosity, could have resisted the in- 
 testine effects of such active causes in producing 
 decomposition ? 
 
 M. Rouelle thought that the natrum was a fixed 
 alkali, which acted after the manner of quick-lime, 
 despoiling the bodies of their lymphatic and greasy 
 fluids, leaving only the fibrous and solid parts. Thus 
 viewing in this manner the Egyptian process, it re- 
 moves an error into which Herodotus has fallen on 
 the subject of the first class of embalming. It is 
 there stated, that they filled the belly of the corpse 
 with myrrh, canella, and other perfumes, except in- 
 cense, and that afterwards they put it into the na- 
 trwn and then washed it. But of what use would 
 have been these resinous matters, with which the 
 alkali of the natrum would soon form a soapy mass, 
 which the lotions would have carried off, at least, 
 in great part ? It is much more reasonable to sup- 
 pose that these balsamic and resinous substances 
 were not applied to the bodies until after they were 
 withdrawn from the natrum. 
 
 The same author points out another inaccuracy, 
 in what Herodotus has taught us on the bandages 
 of the mummies. Very few mummies, says he, are 
 enveloped agreeably to the description of Herodotus, 
 that is to say, the linen bandages are not glued to- 
 gether with gum alone, applied directly to the body 
 when simply dried without any resinous substances. 
 Such kind of embalming is the least costly, although 
 Herodotus describes it as the richest and dearest. 
 The mummy preserved in the cabinet of St. Gene- 
 
EMBALMING A^IONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 63 
 
 vieve, and the two which are in that of the Celes- 
 tins, may throw some new light on this passage of 
 Herodotus, and confirm my conjectures. These 
 mummies have two kinds of bandages ; the body 
 and the limbs are each separately invested with 
 linen bandages, endued with resin or bitumen, and 
 they are so intimately united together that they form 
 but one mass. This is doubtless the reason that 
 some authors have believed that this thickness was 
 only embalmed flesh. There are other linen band- 
 ages without any bituminous substance, which en- 
 velope the whole body; both the arms are crossed 
 upon the stomach, and the legs are glued together ; 
 these mummies are swaddled in new bandages, or, 
 if you please, by this last bandage, just as infants 
 are swaddled ; these bandages are yellow, particu- 
 larly those of the mummy of the cabinet of Saint 
 Gene\aeve, and are absolutely destitute of resinous 
 substance. We may, then, readily conclude, that 
 these bandages have been only simply invested with 
 gum. It appears that Herodotus had forgotton to 
 describe the use of the first bandage, employed to 
 retain the resinous matter on the surface of the body, 
 and having probably seen among the embalmers, or 
 elsewhere, some bodies swaddled like infants, he 
 onlv described the second bandage. 
 
 If we examine with attention, the mummy of 
 Saint Genevieve, and those of the cabinet of the Ce- 
 lestins, it will be perceived that the second bandage 
 is equally a suit of ordinary embalming ; for the 
 mummy of the Celestins, of which the first bandage 
 has been removed, no doubt in order to see the pro- 
 cess of embalming, has the bands of the first band- 
 
64 EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 age of a very clear and coarse linen : the bands of 
 that of Saint Genevieve, on the contrary, are much 
 finer, whilst the substances of the embalming of the 
 two mummies are the same. 
 
 I am persuaded that mummies seldom come to us 
 with the second bandage, and that the preservation 
 of those of the mummies of the cabinet of Saint Ge- 
 nevieve, and of the Celestins, is only due to the state 
 of the cases which hold them, or to the peculiar care 
 of those who sent them. 
 
 In fine, E.oaelle has analysed the substance of 
 embalmings, and the result of the analysis made on 
 six mummies gave him for two, amber, for the four 
 others, Jew's pitch or pisasphaltum, a mixture, into 
 the composition of which, Jew's pitch enters. 
 Rouelle met with no traces of myrrh in any mummy. 
 From these facts he arrives at the following conclu- 
 sion : " Our experiments, then, furnish us with 
 three materially different embalmings. The first, 
 with Jew's pitch ; the second, with a mixture of bi- 
 tumen, and the liquor of cedar, or cedria ; and the 
 third, with that mixture, to which they have added 
 resinous and very aromatic matters." 
 
 We confine ourselves to these reflections upon 
 the processes described by the ancients, and given 
 by them as those alone practised in Egypt. 
 
 We are going to cite some passages from the very 
 remarkable memoir of M. Rouyer, from which it 
 will be readily perceived that they were ignorant of 
 several methods in use among these people. Never- 
 theless, it is just to give here some explanations 
 which throw new light upon the sources which we 
 
EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 65 
 
 have reproduced; they are principally extracted 
 from the memoir of the Count de Caylus. 
 
 The exhibition of models on the part of the em- 
 balmers, had reference to the richness of the work 
 demanded, and to the expense of the chosen form. 
 The first model, which Herodotus had scruples in 
 naming, was probably the figure of some divinity, 
 {Isis.) Herodotus does not mention the price, audit 
 is probable, that Diodorus has made his valuations 
 without being any too well acquainted with them. 
 According to his estimation, the first cost one talent, 
 (about nine hundred dollars of our money;) the se- 
 cond, twenty mina, (three hundred dollars ;) the 
 third, a trifle, (vague.) Diodorus continues in these 
 terms : "■ The office of burying is a particular profes- 
 sion, which, like all others, has been learned from 
 infancy. Those who exercise it, go to the relatives 
 of the deceased with a scale or rate of charges, and 
 request them to make a selection. Having agreed, 
 they take the body and give it to the officers whose 
 duty it is to prepare it." 
 
 In the head, which was sent by M. de Caylus, 
 the skull had been actually pierced through the nos- 
 trils, and the bottom of the right orbit opened. As 
 to perfume, the exception in favour of the incense 
 is probably made out of respect to the divinity. He 
 observed no trace of incision, nor were they at all 
 necessary. The extreme dryness of the skin, and 
 the solidity it acquires by the bitumen, renders such 
 operation useless. 
 
 The Egyptians employed their natrum as we em- 
 ploy lime, to prepare and tan leather. Also kommi, or 
 gum Arabic of Senegal. As respects bandages, they 
 
 9 
 
66 EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 had many kinds ; whether as regards the qnahty of 
 the Hnen, or the manner of arranging them, more sim- 
 ple or more complex. As many as a thousand ells 
 of these narrow bands have been found on a single 
 mummy. 
 
 Diodorus, after speaking of those who make the 
 incision, adds : those who salt come afterwards : 
 these officers are highly respected in Egypt ; they 
 hold commerce with the priests, and the entrance 
 to sacred places is open to them, the same as to per- 
 sons who are themselves sacred. They assemble 
 around a corpse which has just been opened, and 
 one of them introduces his hand through the inci- 
 sion into the body, and withdraws all the viscera, 
 excepting the heart and kidneys, another, continues 
 he, washes them in palm wine and odoriferous li- 
 quors; they afterwards anoint the body for thirty 
 days with cedar, gum, myrrh, cinnamon, and other 
 perfumes, which not only contributes to preserve the 
 body in its integrity a very long time, but which 
 also causes it to shed a very sweet odour. They 
 then return to the relatives, the body restored to its 
 original form, in such a manner that even the hair 
 of the eyelids and eyebrows remain unruffled, and 
 the corpse preserves its natural expression of coun- 
 tenance and personal bearing. Many Egyptian 
 families, having, by this means, preserved a whole 
 race of ancestors, experience an inexpressible conso- 
 lation in thus beholding them in the same figure, 
 and with the same physiognomy, as if they were 
 still living. 
 
 As regards those who have been killed by a cro- 
 codile, or who have been drowned in the river, the 
 
EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 67 
 
 inhabitants of the city nearest to which the body- 
 has been cast ashore, are obUged to embalm it ; to 
 adjust it in the most magnificent manner, and de- 
 posit it in the sacred tombs. Neither the relatives 
 or friends are permitted to touch these bodies ; they 
 are embalmed alone by the priests of the Nile, con- 
 sidering them as something above humanity. — (He- 
 rodotus.) Are these sacred tombs those of the God 
 Apis? Were there places of sepulchre different 
 from the caves and pyramids ? 
 
 The expense and care required for the embalm- 
 ing of princes must have been immense, as may be 
 conjectured by the following fact. A portion of 
 mummy preserved in the cabinet of Saint Gene- 
 vieve, merits all the eulogiums that could be given 
 to an object of this kind. It consists of the foot, leg, 
 and thigh of an infant two or three years old ; the 
 care wdth which this embalming was made, was 
 known to those who presented it to the cabinet, for 
 they had written upon the box which contained this 
 precious relic of the art, mummy of the little prince 
 of Memphis. This denomination has no other foun- 
 dation, perhaps, than the nature of the work, and 
 the sensible difference observed between this and 
 other mummies. The surface of the flesh is black, 
 and so smooth that it may be compared to a fine 
 Chinese varnish ; the flesh has not altogether pre- 
 served its softness, but all the thickness and plump- 
 ness peculiar to little children can be distinguished, 
 as well as the articulations and all the little wrinkles 
 of the fingers. Tiie nails are perfectly preserved 
 and well set on ; they have neither colour nor gild- 
 ing, although they appear to have been gilded. The 
 
68 EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 bandages do not appear to have been imbued with 
 the same bitumens used for other mummies ; the 
 colour which they have acquired by the dried bal- 
 samic materials, as might be anticipated, resembles 
 that of canella, although the odour, which is agree- 
 able, has no analogy to that aromatic. 
 
 The bandages are fine, detached, and proportioned 
 to the body which they cover ; they are arranged 
 with the greatest care and repeated a great number 
 of times. Besides, the thigh bone, of which there is 
 about four fingers breadth uncovered, has suffered 
 very little alteration in its colour, nothing more than 
 what the air alone might produce. Rouelle, with 
 whom M. de Caylus visited this mummy, remarked, 
 on piercing with a pin the sole of this foot, that the 
 skin resembled stretched parchment, and was empty 
 beneath — all of which proves a richer and more ex- 
 tensive preparation destined for princes. We may 
 add to this conjecture, that the cases of touchstone, 
 or of basalt, always expensive on account of their 
 hardness, cases so rare that only three or four have 
 been found, may be supposed to have been made 
 only for princes, and even the more eminent of 
 those. 
 
 We have not hesitated to include in this work the 
 preceding observations, because they appeared to us 
 necessary to rectify or complete the facts advanced 
 by Herodotus, Diodorus Sicculus, Plutarch, Por- 
 phyrus, and many others. But the whole of these 
 m.aterials have need of new lights, drawn from re- 
 searches made upon the spot. The scientific com- 
 mission of Egypt felt the necessity of this, and se- 
 veral of its members applied themselves to personal 
 
EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 69 
 
 examinations of the pyramids and caverns ; and one 
 of them, M. Rouyer, in his memoir on Egyptian 
 embalming-, traces us a history nearly complete. 
 The following;' are the most interestine: details : 
 
 The art of embalming is totally unknown at the 
 present day in those places which gave it birth, and 
 it has remained buried in profound forgetfulness, 
 since Egypt, which, long the home of the sciences 
 and the arts, has been overrun and successively ra- 
 vaged by barbarian nations, who have destroyed all 
 its institutions, political and religious. 
 
 The historians, to whom we are indebted for all 
 we know at the present time of the ancient wonders 
 of Egypt, and who have written during the period 
 when the Egyptians still possessed some of their 
 customs, could alone transmit to us the ingenious 
 secret of embalming ; but their recitals prove, that 
 they themselves possessed but an imperfect know- 
 ledge of it. 
 
 All the ancient authors agree, in saying that the 
 Egyptians made use of various aromatics to embalm 
 the dead ; that they employed for the rich, myrrh, 
 (the resin of a species of Mimosa,) aloes, (the ex- 
 tracto-resinous juice of i\\& Aloe perfoliata,) canella, 
 (bark of the Laurus cinamomum,) and the cassia 
 lignea, (bark of the Laurus cassia;) and for the 
 poor, the cedria, (the fluid resin of the Pinus ce- 
 drus,) bitumen, {Bitumen jiidaicum, derived from the 
 Dead sea,) and natrum, (a mixture of the carbonate, 
 sulphate, and muriate of soda.) 
 
 Although the recitals of Herodotus, and of Diodo- 
 rus Sicculus, on embalming, are not very complete, 
 and that some details appear inexact and improba- 
 
70 EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 ble, as several of the French investigators have ob- 
 served, however, on placing in convenient order 
 what Herodotus relates on this subject, we shall soon 
 perceive that he has described in a few lines almost 
 the whole theory of embalming. The Egyptian em- 
 balmers knew how to distinguish from the other 
 viscera, the liver, the spleen, and the kidneys, which 
 they did not disturb ; they had discovered the means 
 of withdrawing the brain from the interior of the 
 cranium without destroying the bones of the latter; 
 they knew the action of the alkalies upon animal 
 matter, since the time was strictly limited that the 
 body could remain in contact with these substances ; 
 they were not ignorant of the property of balsams, and 
 resins to protect the bodies from the larvge of insects 
 and mites ; they were likewise aware of the neces- 
 sity of enveloping the dried and embalmed bodies, 
 in order to protect them from humidity, which would 
 interfere with their preservation. These people had 
 established invariable rules and a certain method 
 for the process of embalming. We remark, in effect, 
 that the labour of those who were charged with em- 
 balming the dead, consisted in two principal opera- 
 tions, very distinct : the first, to subtract from the 
 interior of the corpse all that might become a cause 
 of corruption during the time allotted to dry it; the 
 second, to secure the body from any cause that 
 might subsequently occasion its destruction. 
 
 The odoriferous resins and bitumen not only 
 preserved from destruction, but also kept at a dis- 
 tance, the worms and beetles which devour dead 
 bodies. The embalmers, after having washed the 
 bodies with that vineous liquor which Herodotus 
 
EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 71 
 
 and Diodorus call palm wine, and having filled 
 them with odoriferous resins or bitumen, they 
 placed them in stoves, where, by means of a conve- 
 nient heat, these resinous substances united inti- 
 mately with the bodies, and these arrive in very 
 little time, to that state of perfect desiccation in 
 which we find them at the present day. This ope- 
 ration, of which no historian has spoken, was, with- 
 out doubt, the principal and most important of em- 
 balmingf. 
 
 The most noted grottoes and pyramids have been 
 sacked by the Arabs. Also, in search of treasure, 
 they have penetrated into the bosom of mountains, 
 and descended into those vast and deep excavations, 
 where they arrive only by long canals, with which 
 some are encumbered. Here, in chambers, or spe- 
 cies of pits, worked into the rock, are found millions 
 of mummies, piled upon each other, which appear 
 to have been arranged with a certain symmetry, al- 
 though many are now found displaced and broken. 
 
 Near these deep pits, which served for a common 
 sepulture for several families, we meet also with 
 other smaller chambers, and some narrow cavities 
 in form of niches, which were destined to hold one 
 mummy only, or at most two. The grottoes of 
 Thebes enclose a great number of mummies, better 
 preserved than those in the caverns and pits of Sag- 
 garah. It is particularly, near the ruins of Thebes, 
 in the interior of the mountains which extend from 
 ■the entrance of the valley of the Tomb of Kings, to 
 Medynet Abou, that I have seen many entire and 
 well preserved mummies. 
 
 It would be impossible for mc to estimate the pro- 
 
72 EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 digious number of those which I have found scat- 
 tered and heaped in the sepulchral chambers, and 
 in the multitude of caA^erns which exist in the in- 
 terior of this mountain. I have developed and ex- 
 amined a great number of them, as much with the 
 view of inquiring into their state, and examining the 
 preparation, as with the hope of finding idols, pa- 
 pyrus, and other curious objects, that the most part 
 of these mummies enclose beneath their envelopes. 
 I have not remarked, what Maillet asserts, caverns 
 specially destined to the sepulture of men, of wo- 
 men, and of infants ; but I was surprised to find so 
 few infant mummies in the tombs which I visited. 
 These embalmed bodies, among which we meet 
 with nearly an equal number of men and women, 
 and which at first view appear to resemble each 
 other, and to have been prepared in the same man- 
 ner, differ, nevertheless, in the various substances 
 which have been employed to embalm them, or in 
 the arrangement and in the quality of the linen em- 
 ployed to envelope them. 
 
 The Count de Caylus, and the celebrated che- 
 mist, Rouelle, have supposed that all the cloths that 
 enveloped the mummies were of cotton ; I have found 
 a great number of them which were enveloped in 
 linen bandages, of a much finer tissue than those of 
 cotton, which are commonly found around mum- 
 mies prepared with less care. The mummies of 
 birds, particularly those of the Ibis, are also enve- 
 loped with linen bandages. On examining with at- 
 tention and in detail some of the mummies foimd in 
 the tombs, I have distinguished two principal 
 classes : those in which they have made, on the left 
 
EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 73 
 
 side above the groin, an incision about two and a 
 half inches long, penetrating into the lower cavity 
 of the belly ; and those which have no incision 
 whatever in any part of the body. In both classes, 
 we find many mummies with the partition of the 
 nose torn, and the ethmoidal bone entirely destroyed ; 
 but some of the last class have the spongy bones 
 untouched, and the ethmoidal bone entire, which 
 might make it appear that, sometimes the em- 
 balmers did not disturb the brain. The openino- 
 found in the side of most mummies, was doubtless 
 made in all cases of select embalming, not only for 
 the purpose of withdrawing the intestines, which 
 are not found in any of these desiccated bodies, but 
 also the better to clean the cavity of the belly, and 
 to fill it with a greater quantity of aromatic and re- 
 sinous substances, the volume of which contributed 
 to preserve the body, at the same time that the 
 strong odour of the resins kept off the insects and 
 worms. This opening does not appear to me to 
 have been sewn up, as Herodotus asserts ; the bor- 
 ders have only been brought together, and are re 
 tained so by desiccation. 
 
 1. Among the mummies with an incision in the 
 left side, I distinguish those which have been de- 
 siccated by means of tanno-balsamic substances, and 
 those that have been salted. The mummies that 
 have been dried by means of astringent and bal- 
 samic substances, are filled as with a mixture of 
 aromatic resins, and the others with asphaltum or 
 pure bitumen. 
 
 Mummies filled with aromatic resins are of an 
 olive colour ; the skin is dry and flexible, like tanned 
 
 10 
 
74 EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 leather ; it is rather contracted upon itself, and ap- 
 pears to form but one body with the fibres and the 
 bones, the features of the face are recognizable, and 
 appear to be the same as in the living state ; the 
 belly and chest are filled Avith a mixture of friable 
 resins, soluble in part in spirits of wine : these resins 
 possess no particular odour rendering them recog- 
 nizable ; but, thrown upon living coals, they shed a 
 thick smoke and a strongly aromatic odour. These 
 mummies are very dry, and easily unrolled and 
 broken; they still preserve all their teeth, the hair 
 of the head and eyebrows. Some of them have been 
 gilded over the whole surface of the body ; others 
 are gilded only on the face, the natural parts, on the 
 hands and on the feet; these gildings are common 
 to a considerable number of mummies, which pre- 
 vents me from partaking in the opinion of some tra- 
 vellers, who suppose that this kind of decoration 
 was restricted to princes, and persons of a very dis- 
 ting^uished rank. 
 
 These mummies which have been prepared with 
 great care, are unalterable so long as they are re- 
 tained in a dry place ; but, unbound, and exposed 
 to the air, they promptly attract moisture, and after 
 a few days shed a disagreeable odour. Mummies 
 filled with pure bitumen, are of a black colour ; the 
 skin is hard and shining, as if it had been covered 
 with a varnish, the features of the face are not al- 
 tered ; the belly, breast, and head, are filled with a 
 resinous substance, black, hard, and with but little 
 odour. This matter, which I have taken from the 
 interior of many mummies, has presented the same 
 physical characters, and has given, by chemical ana- 
 
EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 75 
 
 lysis, the same results as the Jew's pitch of com- 
 merce. These sort of mummies, which are met with 
 commonly enough in all caverns, are dry, heavy, 
 without odour, difficult to unfold and to break. Al- 
 most all have the face, the natural parts, the hands, 
 and the feet gilded ; they appear to have been pre- 
 pared with much care ; they are very little suscep- 
 tible of alteration, and do not attract the moisture 
 of the air. The mummies with an incision in the 
 left side, and w^hich have been salted, are equally 
 filled, the one with resinous substances, and the 
 other with asphaltum. These two sorts differ but 
 little from the preceding : the skin has also a black- 
 ish colour, but it is hard, smooth, and stretched like 
 parchment ; there is a space existing beneath it, and 
 it is not glued against the bones ; the resins and bi- 
 tumen which have been injected into the belly and 
 chest are less friable, and do not reserve any odour; 
 the features of the face are somewhat altered, very 
 httle hair remains, which falls when touched. These 
 two sorts of mummies exist in great numbers in all 
 the caverns : when unwrapped and exposed to the 
 air, they absorb moisture, and become covered with 
 a light saline efflorescence, which I have ascertained 
 to be sulphate of soda. 
 
 2. Amongst those mummies without an incision 
 in the left side, nor in any other part of the body, 
 and from which the intestines have been withdrawn 
 from the fundament, I also distinguish two sorts; 
 those which have been salted, and then filled with a 
 bituminous matter less pure than that which histo- 
 rians and naturalists call pisasphaltwn ; and those 
 which have been only salted. 
 
76 EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 The injections with cedria, or the surmaia for dis- 
 solving the intestines, according to Herodotus, could 
 not produce this effect ; it is much more reasonable 
 to suppose that these injections were composed of 
 natrum rendered caustic, which dissolved the vis- 
 cera ; and that after having emptied the intestines, 
 the embalmers filled the belly with cedria, or with 
 some other fluid resin which dried with the body. 
 
 The salted mummies, which are filled with pisas- 
 phaltum, no longer retain any recognizable feature : 
 not only have all the cavities of the body been filled 
 with this bitumen, but the surface is also covered 
 with it. This matter has so penetrated the skin, 
 the muscles, and the bones, that it forms with them 
 but one and the same mass. 
 
 On examining these mummies, we are led to be- 
 lieve that the bituminous matter has been injected 
 very hot, and that the bodies have been plunged 
 into a kettle containing bitumen in liquifaction. 
 These mummies, the most common and numerous 
 of all those we meet with in the caverns, are black, 
 hard, heavy, of a penetrating and disagreeable odour ; 
 they are very difficult to break ; they have no longer 
 either hair or eyebrows, none have been found 
 gilded. Some of them only have the palm of the 
 hands, the soles of the feet, the nails of the fingers 
 and toes tinged with red, with this same colour used 
 by the natives of Egypt of the present day, to stain 
 the palms of the hand and soles of the feet, (the 
 henna, or Lawsonia inermis.) The bituminous mat- 
 ter which I have taken from them, is greasy to the 
 touch, less black, and less friable than asphaltum ; 
 it communicates to every thing that touches it, a 
 
EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 77 
 
 strong and penetrating odour ; it is only imperfectly 
 soluble in alcohol ; thrown upon living coals it sheds 
 a thick smoke, and disagreeable odour ; distilled, it 
 yields an abundant oil, thick, of a brown colour, and 
 fetid odour. These are the species of mummies 
 which the Arabs, and inhabitants of the vicinity of 
 the plain of Saggarah, formerly sold to Europeans, 
 and which became an article of commerce for the 
 use of medicine and painting, or as objects of anti- 
 quity ; those filled with Jew's pitch were preferred, 
 since it is to this matter, which had for a long time 
 remained in the body, they attributed formerly such 
 marvellous medicinal properties ; this substance, 
 which was named balm ofmummij, w^as subsequently 
 in great request among the oil painters ; it is on 
 this account, that at first the mummy filled with bi- 
 tumen was the only kind known in France. They 
 are A^ery little exposed to alteration ; exposed to hu- 
 midity, they become covered with a slight saline 
 efflorescence with a base of soda. Mummies which 
 have been only salted and dried, are generally more 
 badly preserved than those in which are found re- 
 sins and bitumen. 
 
 Many varieties are met with in these last sort of 
 mummies ; but it appears that this is due to the 
 want of care and negligence of the embalmers in 
 their preparation. Some, still entire, have the skin 
 dry, white, smooth, and stretched like parchment; 
 they are light, inodorous, and easily broken ; others 
 have the skin equally white, but a little supple ; 
 having been less dried, they have assumed a fatty 
 state. We find also in these mummies, masses of 
 that fatty, yellowish matter, which naturalists call 
 
78 EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 adipocere. The features of the face are entirely de- 
 stroyed, the eyebrows and hair have fallen ; the 
 bones become detached from their ligaments with- 
 out any effort, they are as white and clean as those 
 of a skeleton prepared for the study of osteology ; 
 the cloth which envelopes them, tears, and falls to 
 pieces at the slightest touch. These sort of mum- 
 mies, commonly found in particular caves, contain 
 a considerable quantity of saline substance, which 
 I have ascertained to consist almost entirely of sul- 
 phate of soda. The various species of mummies of 
 which I have just spoken, are swarthed with an art 
 which it would be difficult to imitate. Numerous 
 linen bandages, several metres in length compose 
 their envelope ; they are applied one over the other, 
 to the number of fifteen or twenty thicknesses, and 
 thus make several revolutions, first around each 
 member, then around the whole body ; they are so 
 compact, and interlaced with so much address and 
 skill, that they appear to have endeavoured by this 
 means, to render to these bodies, considerably re- 
 duced by desiccation, their original form and natu- 
 ral thickness. 
 
 All the mummies are enveloped nearly in the 
 same manner ; there is no other difference than the 
 number of the bandages which surround them, and 
 the quality of the linen, the tissue of which is more 
 or less fine, according as the embalming was more 
 or less precious. The body embalmed, is at first 
 covered with a narrow chemise, we find only one 
 large bandage enveloping the whole body. The 
 head is covered with a piece of square linen cloth, 
 of a very fine texture, the centre of which forms a 
 
EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 79 
 
 species of mask ; five or six are thus found some- 
 times applied one upon the other ; the last being ge- 
 nerally painted or gilded, and represents the figure 
 of the person embalmed. Each part of the body is 
 separately enveloped by several bandages impreg- 
 nated with resin. The legs brought together, and 
 the arms crossed upon the chest, are fixed in this 
 position by other bandages which envelope the whole 
 body. These latter, generally loaded with hierogly- 
 phical figures, and fixed by long fillets which tra- 
 verse each other with much art and symmetry, finish 
 the envelope. 
 
 Immediately after these first bands, are found va- 
 rious idols in gold, bronze, varnished terra cotta, 
 wood, gilded or painted, rolls of papyri manuscripts, 
 and many other objects which have no relation to 
 the religion of these people, but which appear to be 
 only souvenirs of objects cherished during life. It 
 was in one of these mummies, placed in the bottom 
 of a cave of the interior of the mountain, (behind 
 the Memnonium temple of the plain of Thebes,) 
 that I found a voluminous papyrus, which w^ill be 
 found engraved in the work. (Vide the plates 61, 
 62, 63, Q4 and 65, of the second vol. of the plates of 
 antiquities, and the description of the Hypogees of 
 the city of Thebes. ) This papyrus was rolled upon 
 itself, and had been placed between the thighs of 
 the patient, immediately after the first bandages of 
 linen ; this male mummy, the trunk of which was 
 broken, did not appear to me to have been em- 
 balmed in a first rate manner ; it had been enveloped 
 in an ordinary linen cloth, and had been filled with 
 
80 EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 asphaltum : the nails of the toes had alone been 
 gilded. 
 
 Almost all the mummies which are found in the 
 subterranean caverns, which can yet be penetrated, 
 are thus enveloped with linen bandages, with a 
 painted masque on the face. It is rare to fmd any 
 enclosed in cases, of which some wrecks only re- 
 main at the present day. These cases, which served 
 doubtless, only for the rich, or for persons of distinc- 
 tion, were double ; those in which the mummies 
 were deposited, were made of a kind of carton or 
 pasteboard, composed of many pieces glued to- 
 gether; this case was subsequently enclosed in a 
 second, constructed of the wood of sycamore or 
 cedar." 
 
 It results, if we are not mistaken, from the ana- 
 logy of so many carefully made observations, a con- 
 sequence to which we might not have arrived by 
 long continued reasoning : simple embalming might 
 have been practised among the Egyptians from the 
 earliest period of their civilization, without a very 
 exact knowledge of the laws of preservation of ani- 
 mal matter, and before the other arts w^ere far ad- 
 vanced. A description of the Plain of Mummies 
 by M. de Maillet, will give to this opinion, already 
 so firmly established, the value of a demonstrated 
 truth. 
 
 " Opposite the borough of Manof, looking towards 
 the west, is situated the Plain of Mummies — ap- 
 proximated to the north by the southern pyramids, 
 which are a continuation of the cemetery which the 
 inhabitants of Memphis had on this side — a plaiii 
 •famous, from the number of mummies which have 
 
EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 81 
 
 been taken of late from the subterranean caverns 
 which exist beneath these sands, and by the still 
 greater numbers of the embalmed bodies which it 
 encloses. This plain is circular and level, and may 
 be about four leagues in breadth or diameter, so that 
 it is certain that it is more than twelve leaofues in 
 circumference. Its base is a very flat rock, which 
 was formerly covered by the waters of the sea, and 
 which is covered at present with five or six feet ot 
 sand. It is in this rock that those who did not pos- 
 sess the means of building pyramids to enclose their 
 bodies after death, secured a repose which we know 
 that the Egyptians held of great consequence, and 
 found aless difficult art of making; asylums, which they 
 were persuaded would be sheltered from the fury 
 and impiety of men, and would secure to them the 
 return of their souls to the same bodies, in case that 
 their tombs should not be violated. With this view, 
 they chose at first a place in this plain, where it was 
 necessary to commence by taking away seven or 
 eight feet of moveable sand. After having emptied 
 a circumscribed space, and perfectly cleaned it, they 
 commenced penetrating the rock by a hole of a foot 
 and a half or two feet in diameter ; and after having 
 attained the depth of about five or six feet, they la- 
 boured to enlarge the hole and form a chamber in 
 the rock. It was by this hole that the body de- 
 scended to be deposited in these tombs ; after which, 
 they so accurately covered the opening with a stone, 
 as not to admit either light or sand. 
 
 " In these chambers, formed in the rock, and to a 
 considerable extent, they had hollowed out many 
 niches in which were placed the bodies of the heads 
 
 11 
 
82 EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 of families for whom these sepulchres were destined. 
 These niches were made vertically. The bodies 
 were thus placed upright in the cases which en- 
 closed them, and from whence, in latter times, they 
 have taken such great numbers. These cases are 
 made of sycamore, which never rots, and consist of 
 only two pieces. The first, in which the body is 
 enclosed, is very deep, and excavated with great la- 
 bour ; the second serves as a cover, and fits the coffin 
 perfectly. Some of these cases have been found 
 with glass eyes, through which, without uncovering 
 them, may be seen the body of the mummy en- 
 closed. Others have been met with double, that is 
 to say, one case enclosed within another, Avhich 
 leads to the belief that the first doubtless, contained 
 the body of some person of distinction. It is, how- 
 ever, very rare to find a body enclosed in a costly 
 case, because the Arabs who discover them, never 
 fail to break to pieces these kind of bodies in search 
 of golden idols, in which, indeed, they are often suc- 
 cessful. They afterwards replace the body in a 
 common case, where idols of any value are seldom 
 found. Some time ago, the master of Saccara, a 
 village in the vicinity of the Plain of Mummies, in- 
 vestigated the openings of some of these subterra- 
 nean sepulchres, and as he is a firm friend of mine, 
 he presented me with various curiosities, a great 
 number of mummies, images in wood, and inscrip- 
 tions of a hieroglyphical and unknown character, 
 which had been found there. 
 
 "In one of these chambers they found, for ex- 
 ample, the case and the mummy of a woman, be- 
 fore which was a wooden figure of a young boy on 
 
EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 83 
 
 his knees, with, one finger on his hps, and in the 
 other hand holding a chaffing dish, resting on his 
 head, and in which there had doubtless been per- 
 fume. This young man was marked on the sto- 
 mach with some hieroglyphic characters ; they 
 broke it to pieces to see if it contained gold. They 
 found in the mummy, which they opened for the 
 same reason, a little vase a foot long, containing the 
 same balm which they use for preserving the body 
 from corruption. I took to pieces another female 
 mummy, of which the Sieur Bagarry made me a 
 present. The opening was made in the house of the 
 Capuchin fathers of this city ; and they had the im- 
 prudence to cut the fillets with scissors ; these bands, 
 of considerable length and breadth, were not only 
 charged from one end to the other with hierogly- 
 phic figures, but they also discovered beneath cer- 
 tain unknown characters, traced from right to left 
 and forming a species of verse. Indeed, they re- 
 marked the same termination in several little con- 
 secutive lines. It consisted most probably, of the 
 eulogium of this person, written in the language 
 which was in use, in his time, in Egypt, However 
 this may be, these bandages taken to pieces, were 
 immediately pillaged by some pedlars, who were 
 present with me at the opening of this mummy ; 
 there was only left for me a small portion, which I 
 have since sent to France : none of the Savans have 
 been able to decipher them. This mummy held the 
 right hand applied to his stomach, and under this 
 hand were held instrumental cords perfectly pre- 
 served ; whence I concluded that it was the body of 
 a person who played upon some instrument, or who. 
 
84 EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 at least, had been addicted to music. I am per- 
 suaded that, if each mummy was examined with 
 the same care, some sign of this nature would be 
 occasionally met with. 
 
 " I have made another observation, which appears 
 to me neither less curious nor less useful ; it is, that 
 in these mummies all the faces differ, some are re- 
 markable for youth, others for beauty. Those who 
 have seen whole mummies know that they have all 
 a gilded mask, composed of several folds of silk 
 cloth, which form a kind of very solid carton. I 
 judged from this diversity, that the masks or car- 
 tons, crowded with hieroglyphic characters, which 
 indicate, without doubt, the age, the actions, the 
 manners, and the condition of the person , were also a 
 natural representation of them, either that care had 
 been taken to form this model during life, or that it 
 had only been taken after death by applying these 
 cloths to the face, after the same manner that we 
 take the likeness of a corpse in the present day with 
 plaster or wax. By this means, they not only pre- 
 served the bodies of a family entire, but, on enter- 
 ing these subterranean places where they were de- 
 posited, they could in an instant see represented all 
 their ancestors for a thousand years, such nearly, as 
 they were when living ; nothing was more likely 
 vividly to recall the recollection of their virtues, to 
 perpetuate their memory and love in the hearts of 
 their posterity. 
 
 " Not satisfied to preserve, by these means, the 
 recollection of their princes and of their relatives, 
 the Egyptians still further deposited their marble 
 images near to their mummy. I have certain proofs 
 
EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 85 
 
 of what I advance, in one of the most curious anti- 
 quities which I have acquired in this country. It 
 is a figure in three pieces, representing a woman. 
 The head and the feet are of black touchstone ; the 
 body is sheathed, and made of verd antique marble, 
 rayed with white. These three pieces united, form 
 a figure five feet five inches in height. It is very 
 perfect, and of exquisite beauty. The priest who 
 sold it to me with great scruples, and at a high 
 price, swore by the Evangelist, that the figure was 
 found in a pyramid seven or eight hundred years 
 ago. 
 
 " In these chambers of which I speak, are found 
 many niches, some large, others small, the cham- 
 bers also often communicate, from a second to a 
 third, and sometimes even to a fourth; but it is not 
 to be understood, that all the bodies deposited in 
 these sombre apartments, were all enclosed in cases 
 and placed in these niches ; the most of them were 
 simply embalmed and swathed, as every one knows ; 
 after which they contented themselves in arranging 
 them thus carelessly near each other ; some of them 
 were even placed in these tombs without being em- 
 balmed, or w^ere so lightly so, that at the present 
 time there remain only the bones among the linen 
 which enveloped them, and M-hich are half rotten. 
 It is thus also are seen in some of these chambers 
 heaps of bones mixed with these sort of linens, which 
 have been left after they carried off the bodies which 
 were preserved entire, to be exported beyond the 
 seas. It is probable, that every family of any con- 
 sideration, had for themselves one of these sepul- 
 chres ; that the niches were destined to receive the 
 
86 EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 heads of families, and that those of domestics and 
 slaves were simply placed on the ground, after hav- 
 ing been embalmed, or even without that ceremony ; 
 it is the same, without doubt, as regards the chiefs 
 even of a family of less distinguished houses. They 
 have even discovered, lately, in this plain of mum- 
 mies, a mode, unknown until now, of burying the 
 dead. At the extremity of this extensive plain and 
 towards the mountains which bound it on the west, 
 beds of carbon have been discovered, upon which 
 bodies lie simply swathed with linen, and covered 
 by a mat, seven or eight feet beneath the sands. 
 Nevertheless, it ought to be observed, that these bo- 
 dies, although they were not embalmed, or only 
 slightly so, similar to those which they had neg- 
 lected to enclose in cases, they were none the less 
 protected from corruption." 
 
 When I consider with what facility the Egyp- 
 tians were able to preserve their dead, I can scarcely 
 comprehend this passage of an author otherwise so 
 ingenious : " An industry so complicated, could not 
 have presented itself all at once to the genius of the 
 people. Like all other nations of the earth, these 
 could only have devoted themselves to the arts, pro- 
 perly so called, after securing their subsistence by 
 agriculture. Review all these arts, arrang-e them in 
 the order in which it might be supposed that they 
 originated, and endeavour to determine the precise 
 period of each, you will not be able to find this. His- 
 tory is mute on this point; and however rash it may 
 be to interpret her silence, it is, nevertheless, evi- 
 dent, that the art of embalming, very ancient for us, 
 was very new to the Egyptians, and, perhaps, ulte- 
 
EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 87 
 
 rior to all others." I do not deny that this mode of 
 rebutting history with a priori views and conjec- 
 tures, is any less positive than the method of histo- 
 rians, who do it often by acknowledged falsehood ; 
 but neither one of them are assuredly worth much. 
 
 The numerous facts which we have brought to- 
 gether in this chapter, appears to us most calculated 
 to fix all the questions relative to embalming which 
 long discussions and reasonings have lost sight of 
 They prove that bodies, placed in the bosom of the 
 earth, covered only with a few feet of sand have 
 been preserved for ages; that others scarcely em- 
 balmed, have been discovered untouched : after this, 
 what becomes of the necessity of advanced arts, and 
 perfection of ingenuity, when on the other hand, we 
 see nations that have attained a high degree of civili- 
 zation, with an immense mass of knowledge of all 
 kinds, but in other conditions, geological and' atmos- 
 pherical, have not transmitted to us, although nearer 
 our own epoch, any thing more than a little dust 
 from the most gorgeous sepulchres ? 
 
 The brief view which we cast upon the assem- 
 blage of facts which have been submitted to us, leads 
 to totally different conclusions from those which 
 precede, and which convinces us — 1st. Of all the 
 arts, that of, embalming ought the most readily to 
 have presented itself to the mind of the Guanches, of 
 the Egyptians, and of all those nations placed un- 
 der analogous atmospherical and geological con- 
 ditions : 2d. For no others does nature offer more 
 positive lessons or more efficient aid : 3d. The 
 Egyptians have embalmed from the earliest period 
 of their civilization, before any art was very much 
 
88 EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 advanced ; four or five species of their mummies of- 
 fer sufficient proof of this : 4th. The arts of per- 
 fecting and weaving tissues ; of melting, fashioning, 
 and colouring glass and metals ; the delicate art of 
 engraving on fine stones; the art of w^orking wood, 
 of painting it, of ornamenting it, and of giving it the 
 eclat of gold, of varnish, and of enamel ; the art of 
 preparing perfumes, and of causing to enter even 
 the very flesh, odoriferous powders, essences, and 
 resins ; all these arts have contributed, according to 
 their degree of development, to complicate and per- 
 fect the art of making mummies, so simple at its 
 commencement: 5th. Transported into countries 
 where the exterior conditions are different, this art 
 has been found inefficacious, and has scarcely ever 
 attained its end. We shall have proofs of this in the 
 following chapter. 
 
EMBALMING, FROM THE EGYPTIANS, ETC. 89 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 EMBALMING, FROM THE EGYPTIANS DOWN TO OUR DAY. 
 
 Here facts are almost entirely wanting, and the 
 history of the art we are studying, can only be fol- 
 lowed in the recitals of historians, to control whose 
 veracity we have no longer those monuments which 
 Egypt offers us in such great numbers. Among the 
 Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, and all modern na- 
 tions, we see the honours of embalming accorded to 
 kings, princes, and men of distinction ; but no tomb 
 that has been opened, has rendered a single mummy 
 so perfect, as those which we admire among the 
 Egyptians; and if some rare and distant examples 
 inform us of a durable preservation, the marvellous 
 and extraordinary details accompanying it causes us 
 to doubt the fact itself 
 
 Thus, on the assertion of Gabriel Clauder, they 
 saw in the time of St. Augustin, the bodies of Alex- 
 ander, and of Ptolemy ; their tomb has been visited 
 for many ages, and they were enabled to distinguish 
 the skin preserved with the members. But, con- 
 tinued they, all bodies do not resemble that of Alex- 
 ander the Great, which was during his life, accord- 
 ing to the report of Plutarch, and of Quintus Cur- 
 tius, of a composition so rare and wonderful, that 
 his skin, mouth, and all his person, rendered a very 
 agreeable odour, and perfumed his clothes. It is 
 said that his corpse, by the negligence of his friends 
 
 12 
 
90 EMBALMING, FROM THE EGYPTIANS 
 
 and of his captains, remained several days without 
 being embalmed, and tliat, nevertheless, when they 
 went to visit it, it was found sound, without blemish, 
 having even the complexion as fresh and florid as if 
 he had been living, although he died of a continued 
 fever : his appearance was so natural that the Egyp- 
 tians and Chaldeans, who were charged to embalm 
 him after their own manner, were at first afraid to 
 approach him, thinking he might not be dead. 
 
 Such marvellous accounts are not sufficiently in 
 harmony with the rigorous course which we have 
 thus far followed, to induce us seriously to discuss 
 them ; we confine ourselves to the statement of each 
 down to our own day, where well established facts 
 will offer ample matter for reflection. 
 
 The Jewish people, who, like others, testified 
 their respect for the dead, never admit the care of 
 embalming the body as a common usage. Thus, 
 Abraham purchased the field where Sarah was bu- 
 ried ; Joseph had the body of his father magnifi- 
 cently embalmed; Moses only carried away the 
 bones of Joseph ; David praised the people of Gi- 
 lead, for having buried with pomp Saul and his 
 sons, &c. In most of these examples, no mention 
 is made of embalming ; nevertheless, the body of 
 Jesus Christ was embalmed. The following is nearly 
 the method : each sex took care of its dead ; they, 
 first of all, close the mouth and eyes of the expired 
 person, afterwards they shaved, washed, and rubbed 
 it with perfumes ; they tied it with bands, and bu- 
 ried it in several cloths of very fine linen or woollen, 
 and finally, they put it into the sepulchre. Corne- 
 hus Jansenius thinks that the myrrh and aloes 
 
DOWN TO OUR DAY. 91 
 
 which they employed, had the virtue powerfully to 
 resist putrefaction. It is useless to say that this opi- 
 nion is without foundation ; that the great quanti- 
 ties of aromatics which they consumed, was rather 
 for pomp, than for the long preservation of the sub- 
 ject. They took no pains to dry the body ; they did 
 not disembarrass it of the intestines, and, in spite of 
 all these odoriferous drugs, as Penicher justly re- 
 marks, decomposition must soon have revealed it- 
 self, as was testified by the body of Lazarus when 
 resuscitated. 
 
 Neither did the Persians, probably, propose by 
 embalming, any thing beyond a very limited pre- 
 servation ; the passage which we cited in the first 
 chapter is in proof of this. Besides, this custom with 
 them does not possess a general character. Cyrus, 
 Kino- of Persia ,said to his children : " when I have 
 ceased to live, place my body neither in silver, nor 
 in gold, nor in any other coffin, but return it imme- 
 diately to the earth, for how can it be more happily 
 and more desirably disposed, than to be returned to 
 that which produces and which nourishes most ex- 
 cellent things?" It will be perceived, that Cyrus, 
 in forbidding that any care should be taken with 
 his body, does not allude to embalming, which, of 
 all other means, would have been the most efficient 
 in preventing its elements from returning to the 
 common mother. The Greeks and the Romans, 
 among whom we have particularized some exam- 
 ples of embalming, practised it in a coarse and im- 
 perfect manner. The examination of their method 
 would be here without interest. In order to recover 
 some traces of this art, we must refer to De Bils, 
 
92 EMBALMING, FROM THE EGYPTIANS 
 
 Ruysch, Swammerdam, Clauderus, &c. They only 
 boast of their astonishing success, without giving us 
 the means of studying their methods. What we do 
 know of them suffices only to make us doubt, as we 
 have seen, the perfection of their processes. De Bils, 
 of whom we have not yet spoken, had a cabinet 
 which excited the admiration of visiters ; he never 
 revealed his secret, and he even shed an odour of 
 aromatics through his anatomical rooms, in order to 
 deceive observers. Clauderus, who suspected the 
 deception, applied his moistened finger to one of the 
 bodies, and carrying it to his lips recognised the 
 taste of salts. He started from this fact to attempt 
 numerous researches, and succeeded in forming dif- 
 ferent compounds, of which the preservative powers 
 are, without doubt, exaggerated ; we shall give the 
 analysis of them hereafter. 
 
 De Rasiere, ecuyer, sieur Desenclosses, published 
 in 1727, a description of a cabinet, in which he pre- 
 served a hundred specimens ; the following extract 
 from his pamphlet presents several descriptions of 
 subjects skilfully prepared ; it is preceded by an 
 engraving, representing the cabinet, of which he 
 gives the description. 
 
 Extract from the description of the cabinet of anatomy , of M. 
 De Basiere, ecuyer, sieur Desenclosses, 1727. 
 
 This cabinet is eighty feet long, by sixteen wide, 
 the glass windows are double, and exposed to the 
 south, with a good ceiling and boarded, which ren- 
 ders it very proper for the preservation of the cu- 
 rious pieces which it encloses, and which are more 
 than one hundred in number, differently worked. 
 
DOWN TO OUR DAY. 93. 
 
 and arranged so that entire men are placed in the 
 inferior departments, and the infants in the supe- 
 rior ; all the fleshy pieces are enclosed in glass cases, 
 and the skeletons in niches covered by a curtain. 
 The whole so disposed, that the skeletons and mus- 
 cular pieces are arranged alternatively. We see, also, 
 entire carcases of men, so arranged, that the head, 
 which is placed on the large bones, is crowned by 
 the vertebrse, and the ribs are suspended above. 
 This order, added to the quantity of paintings and 
 gildings which embellish the cases and cornices, 
 produces a very fine effect. The side which looks to 
 the south, includes a great number of bottles of all 
 sizes, and contains objects taken from the animal, 
 vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. 
 
 The middle of the cabinet is occupied by numer- 
 ous interesting objects. We first perceive a large 
 glass case, which includes all the internal parts of 
 man, and fetuses of all ages, and a microscope to 
 view the circulation of the blood. Then appears a 
 horse's skeleton, mounted by a skeleton cavalier, 
 holding a sword in his hand ; an air pump ; an 
 anatomical table, upon which is a corpse, and an 
 anatomist in wax, standing before it, dissecting. 
 
 Among the pieces of the cabinet mentioned by M. 
 De Rasiere, the most remarkable are : In the first 
 glass case, the preparation of Gotard's skeleton, in 
 which are distinctly displayed the four hundred and 
 fifty-six muscles. Second case : partial preparation 
 of the eyes and the tongue, of the head, of the body, 
 of the arms and legs. Third case : preparation of 
 the muscles, arteries, veins, and nerves of the right 
 side, and the skeleton of the left side. The fifth 
 
94 EMBALMING, FROM THE EGYPTIANS 
 
 case is a complete preparation, in which the skin 
 and fat has only been removed, and all the parts be- 
 neath separated. We here observe, first, the as- 
 cending aorta, which carries the blood to all the su- 
 perior parts; second, the carotid arteries, which sup- 
 ply the head ; third, the temporal arteries ; fourth, 
 the radial arteries (pulse ;) tifth, the crural arteries, 
 and an infinity of others even to the most delicate 
 branches. The veins are filled with a black fluid. 
 Sixth, preparation of the veins of the arm. Seventh, 
 jugular veins ; eighth, veins of the foot ; ninth, vena 
 cava ascendens. Eighth case : a subject resembling 
 accurately a mummy or embalmed body, such as 
 are brought from Egypt. All the flesh is covered 
 by the skin, through which may be seen the veins 
 and arteries filled with congealed and coloured wax. 
 The hair of the head, the beard, and all the hair of 
 the body, as well as the nails, are still attached to it. 
 The eleventh glass case encloses the body of Nicho- 
 las Lefort, aged eighty-three years, a native of Douai, 
 in Flanders : this subject is peculiarly tasteful, every 
 thing being naturally arranged ; the external mus- 
 cles are divested of their fat, and all the arteries, 
 veins, and nerves, which ramify upon the muscles, 
 skin, &c., have been preserved, which renders this 
 preparation as curious as it was difficult of execu- 
 tion. Twelfth case : preparation of the nerves. 
 
 But the author is silent regarding the manner of 
 making these preparations. Let us endeavour to 
 find in the writings of the time, a description of pro- 
 cesses capable of producing such results. 
 
 Penicher, in his chapter fifth, (of embalming ac- 
 cording to the moderns,) gives us the composition 
 
DOWN TO OUR DAY. 95 
 
 and properties of balm. " It is composed," says he, 
 " of different mixtures, both fluid and solid, calcu- 
 lated to arrest putrefaction, either by the aromatic 
 virtues of sulphur and volatile salts, medicaments 
 which enter into its composition, or by a strong 
 bitter principle which consists in very penetrating 
 particles, the property of which is to consume and 
 attenuate the crude matters, which disposes and 
 hastens the body to corruption ; or by remedies, in- 
 heriting a quantity of particles which dissipate and 
 absorb all putrescent moisture, or by their viscosity 
 agglutinating the parts which ferment and rarify 
 too readily ; or, finally, by their astringency, which, 
 fixing these same parts, prevents the resolution of 
 all." 
 
 It is easy to perceive, by the explanations which 
 precede, that the embalmers themselves possess no 
 very clear ideas of the success which they ob- 
 tained. The nomenclature which we give below, 
 will justify the doubt we have expressed. 
 
 The powders, which constitute the base of the 
 balm, are made of all parts of the plants which ful- 
 fil the indications so confusedly announced. Such 
 were the roots of angelica, imperatoria, galanga, 
 acorus, Carolina, caryophillata, gentian, enula cam- 
 pana, valerian, Florentine iris, Jlambe, calamus aro- 
 maticus, ginger, 'pyrethrum, cyperus, dictamus, rose 
 rvood, sassafi-as, giiiacum, juniper, box wood, citron 
 hark, oranges, canella, cassia lignea, tan, yiutmeg, 
 mace, cloves, cuhehs, spichiard, colocynth, hay-berries, 
 juniper-herries, and myrtle-berries, gall-nuts, cypress, 
 anis-seed, cumin-seed, fennel-seed, coriander-seed, car 
 damon-seed, long, 7vhite, and black pepper, rue-leaves, 
 
96 EMBALMING, FROM THE EGYPTIANS 
 
 thyme, absynth, savin, horehound, mugwort, laurel, 
 mint, myrtle, calomint, halm, halmgentle, marjorum, 
 rosemary, sage, summer savory, rvild-tkyme, penny- 
 royal, mountain-mint, hyssop, nepeta, basilic, scordium, 
 fiowers of saffron, roses, pale and red, stcechas, cen- 
 taury, melilot, chamomile, germander, chamcepitys, hy- 
 pericum, caraway-seed, dill-seed, lavender. 
 
 Many gums and resins entered into the composi- 
 tion of balm, such as resin, Burguiidy pitch, ship- 
 pitch, gum elemi, assafcLtida, aloes, myrrh, galbanum, 
 acacia, tucamahaca, benzoin, styrax calamite, fluid 
 styrax, turpentine, camphor, cedria, all the species of 
 balm ; rvood of aloes, tartar, potash, from the lees of 
 wine, civet, castor, musk, ambergris, labdanum, Jew^s 
 pitch, asphaltum, pisasphaltum, slacked-lime, plaster, 
 sulphur, common salt, rock-salt, saltpetre, alum, am- 
 ber, 6fC. 
 
 The article of compound drugs, is not less exten- 
 sive, such as the tincture of musk, ambergris, civet, 
 benzoin, styrax, aloes, myrrh. The distilled oils and 
 essences of the plants which we have named, — spi- 
 rits of wine, distilled myrrh, aloes, and amber, — is 
 excellent for the preservation of the fetus. 
 
 The salt of Clauderus has also enjoyed a great re- 
 putation ; the following is its composition : Dissolve 
 one pound of common salt with a pound of oil of 
 vitriol in a crucible, apply a cover closely luted, and 
 distil it gradually in a sand bath ; you may pour off 
 a spirit very excellent for a lotion ; in the bottom of 
 the crucible w^ill remain a caput mortuum, which 
 should be dissolved according to art, and after eva- 
 poration, you will have the salt so much esteemed by 
 the author. We may add here the brine, which is 
 
DOWN TO OUR DAY, 97 
 
 described in the collections of Charles de Maetz, 
 (chap. 100, et 194 ; and chap. 23 of the book en- 
 titled Chemia Ratignalis, and also in the work of 
 Blanchard,) they advise that after a corpse has been 
 emptied and cleaned of its excretions, it be placed in 
 a leaden coffin, and there macerated in a sufficient 
 quantity of pure oil of turpentine, and after some 
 days of maceration, to wash it with spirits of wine 
 to remove the odour, then sprinkle it with a strong 
 tincture of myrrh and aloes, which they call bal- 
 samum mortuorum, and that it be finally dried in the 
 sun. 
 
 I shall not now enter into the endless discussions 
 upon the different species of salts, which some boast 
 of for embalming, whilst others consider them inju- 
 rious to the preservation of bodies. I abstain also, 
 from speaking of lime, to which, however, wonders 
 have been attributed : thus it was lime which pre- 
 served the body of Afra : and in the year 1523, 
 under the pontificat of Adrian VI., the body of Saint 
 Thomas, the Apostle, was likewise found towards 
 the Gulf of Coromandel, endued, and covered with 
 a cement made of lime and urine ; the bones were 
 very white, and along side of him the spear of his 
 lance, a part of the cane which had served him dur- 
 ing his journey, and an earthen vase which had been 
 sprinkled with his blood. Notwithstanding these re- 
 markable examples, if they are true, the authors who 
 relate them give no importance to the processes to 
 which we owe them, they even complain of the sor- 
 did views of those, who, in order to augment the 
 mass of matters, do not hesitate to mix thereto plas- 
 
 13 
 
89 EMBALMING, FROM THE EGYPTIANS 
 
 ter, ashes, &c. We give the description of some of 
 these mixtures composed of the substances which 
 we have enumerated. 
 
 1. — Balsamic Wine. 
 p. Good red wine, 8 pints. 
 
 Cloves, roses, citron bark, colocynth, a.a.* 2 g. 
 Sty rax, benzoin, a.a. 1 §. 
 
 Reduce these drugs to a coarse powder, macerate 
 for a few hours in wine, and boil slightly. 
 
 Usages. — Lotion for the interior parts of the body ; 
 and to disinfect the chamber during the operation. 
 
 2. — Compound Brandy. 
 
 p. Absynth leaves, great centaury, rhue, sage, mar- 
 jory, mugwort, thyme, a.a. 4 handsfuU. 
 
 Colocynth, 2 §. 
 
 Styrax, calamite, benzoin, a.a. 3 §. 
 
 Pepper, ginger, a.a. 2 3. 
 
 Macerate in a sea-bath for twenty-four hours, in fif- 
 teen pints of best brandy, with as much distilled 
 vinegar. 
 
 3. — Vinegar f 07- waslmig the head, the breast, 
 the helly, and for injections. 
 
 jt. "White and black pepper, ginger, a.a. h lb. 
 
 Colocynth, 3 §. 
 
 Absynth, centaury, hypericum, a.a. 4 g. 
 
 Reduce to a coarse powder, and macerate in forty 
 pints of rose-vinegar ; then strain for use. 
 
 ♦ a,a. of each. 
 
DOWN TO OUR DAY. 99 
 
 4. — Another. 
 
 3,'. Absynth, five or six handsfuU. 
 
 Colocynth apples, 30. 
 
 Alum, common salt, a.a. 1 lb- 
 
 Concentrated vinegar, 14^/5. 
 
 Let it boil a little, and add two pints of brandy ; 
 better than the preceding. 
 
 The embalmer ought to have several large sponges; 
 about four pounds of tow to dry the blood and ab- 
 sorb the powders ; cotton for the mouth, nose, and 
 ears ; coarse brush for rubbing the exterior of the 
 body with the liniment. The artist should have, 
 besides, two ells of cere-cloth, which he can prepare 
 for himself after one of the following formulse : 
 
 1. — Cere-cloth. 
 
 ^. New wax, 12 ft. 
 
 Fluid styrax, oil of turpentine, a.a. 1 ft. 
 Melt and mix them over a slow fire, then draw the 
 linen through it frequently so as to impregnate both 
 sides. 
 
 2. — Another. 
 
 p. Yellow wax, 25 ft. 
 
 Turpentine, colophane,* resin, a.a. 3 ft. 
 
 Ship-pitch, 2| ft. 
 
 Verdegris, 1 lb. 
 
 Incense, fluid styrax, a.a. 2 ft. 
 
 Oil of spike, U lb- 
 
 Melt, and mix the whole with two pounds of mut- 
 ton suet, and plunge the linen in it as before. 
 
 * Colophane, a species of resin, used by violinists to rub their cat-gnt 
 strings. — Tr. 
 
4 
 
 ft. 
 
 8 
 
 ft. 
 
 5 
 
 n- 
 
 3 
 
 ft. 
 
 15 
 
 ft. 
 
 100 EMBALMING, FROM THE EGYPTIANS 
 
 3. — Another. 
 J8). New wax, 
 
 Resin of pine, turpentine, a. a. 
 Gum Arabic, 
 Melt, and soak as before. 
 
 4. — Another. 
 1^. Turpentine, 
 Wax, 
 
 Mix it with a sufficient quantity of oil to make a 
 cerate. 
 
 1 . — Mixture for soaking the linens, the chemise, 
 
 the coiffure, and the bandages. 
 jt. New wax, 20 ft. 
 
 Venice turpentine, gum elemi, a.a. 2 ib. 
 Powdered florence iris, 4 ft. 
 
 Styrax, calamite, benzoin, a.a. 6 §. 
 
 Myrrh, aloes, a.a. 3 §, 
 
 Balsam of Peru, oil of absynth, g. s. 
 
 Melt the wax and the gum, add the balsam, and 
 then the powdered aromatics for use. 
 
 2. — Another. 
 
 it New wax, 12 it. 
 
 Common resin, 2 ft. 
 
 Venice turpentine, 1 ft. 
 
 Gum elemi, 4 g. 
 
 3. — Another. 
 Jfc. White wax, 6 ft. 
 
 Oil of nutmegs, distilled oil of lavender, 
 citron bark, oranges, a.a. 2 g. 
 
 The following are some formulae of liniment, or 
 fluid balsam, proper to rub the corpse both inter- 
 nally and externally. 
 
DOWN TO OUR DAY. 101 
 
 1. — Liniment. 
 
 Dissolve two ounces of true balsam into two pints 
 of spirit of wine. 
 
 2. — Another Liniment. 
 
 it. Turpentine, oil of spike, a.a. 
 Gum elemi, fluid styrax, a.a. 
 Oil of laurel, 
 
 3. — Another. 
 Jl. Fluid styrax, 
 Balsam of Peru, 
 Oil of mace, 
 Rosewood, 
 
 4. — Another Liniment. 
 Jfe. Oil of rosemary, rosewood, a.a. 
 Cloves, 
 Absynth, origan, a.a. 
 
 5. — Another. 
 
 9;. Venice turpentine, 3 j^. 
 
 Gum elemi, 4 -g. 
 
 Oil of hypericum, § ib. 
 
 Balsam of Peru, (f S. A.) 2 5. 
 
 6. — Afiother. 
 
 Jt. Venice turpentine, 6 3. 
 
 Gum elemi, 3 g. 
 
 Fluid styrax, 2 5. 
 
 Calamite, benzoin, a.a. 1 §. 
 
 Oil of spike, Muscat roses, nutmeg, 
 
 distilled cloves, a.a. § 3. 
 
 Musk, i 5. 
 
 Civet, 1 3. 
 
 2 
 
 ib. 
 
 4 
 
 3- 
 
 3 
 
 tb. 
 
 6 
 
 5- 
 
 2 
 
 s- 
 
 1 
 ■2 
 
 5- 
 
 1 
 
 5- 
 
 3 
 
 5- 
 
 U 
 
 5- 
 
 1 
 
 §• 
 
102 EMBALMING, FROM THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 The embalmer ought to furnish himself with silk 
 ribands, of a black, violet, or white colour, accord- 
 ing to the subject which he has to embalm, in order 
 to tie the sheet by the two extremities, as well as a 
 quarter of taffeta of one of the said colours to en- 
 velope the box containing the heart ; further, five 
 fathoms of cord to tie the corpse enveloped in cere- 
 cloth. A coffin of lead in a coffin of wood. A barrel 
 for the intestines. Bandages soaked in the liniment 
 to bandage the body. 
 
 The following powder, as well as those which 
 come after, are models which will serve according 
 to the prudence of the embalmer for the cavities, 
 for the parts sacrificed, and to form a crust around 
 the body, or to be mixed with the adhesive plaster. 
 
 1. — Balsamic Pofvder. 
 Jt, Angelica root, calamus, Florentine iris, 
 flag, imperatoria, Carolina, cypress, gin- 
 ger, enula-campana, aristolochia, genti- 
 ana, Valeriana, rosewood, spicknard, colo- 
 cynth, a.a. i ft. 
 
 Anis-seed, fennel, cumin, coriander, pep- 
 per, (white, black, and long,) cardomine, 
 cypress, gall-nuts, citron-bark, oranges, 
 juniper-wood, laurel, chamomile flowers, 
 melilot, centaury, lavender, roses, a.a. 1 ft. 
 
 Rhue leaves, absynth, mint, calamint, 
 savin, thyme, marjory,balm,balmgentle, 
 rosemary, sage, horehound, pennyroyal, 
 origan, hyssop, laurel, myrtle, a.a. 2 ft. 
 
 Tan passed through a seive, 4 ft. 
 
 Canella, styrax, nutmeg, aloes, myrrh, 
 benzoin, cloves, dittany, a.a. 4 g. 
 
DOWN TO OUR DAY. 103 
 
 Reduce to a powder those which ought to be pow- 
 dered, and then strain them through a seive ; but 
 for the canella, and others of that class, they must 
 be beaten and employed separately. 
 
 Baltazar Timaeus added salt and incense to his 
 powder. 
 
 2. — Another Powder. 
 
 p. Select myrrh, 4 tb 
 Bastard saffron, styrax, calamite, cloves, a.a. 2 ib 
 
 Cabalin aloes, 5 ib 
 
 Dried rosemary leaves, 2 ft, 
 
 Incense, 1 lb 
 
 Laurel leaves, red roses, a.a. 5 ib 
 
 3. — Another. 
 
 {t. Common absynth, southern wood, lavender, 
 
 rosemary, laurel, a.a. 6 handsful. 
 
 Sage, marjory, basalic, origan, thyme, great 
 
 savory, hyssop, chamomile, a.a. 3 handsful. 
 Flor. iris-root, 
 Santal citron, aloes-wood, 
 Canella, cloves, juniperberry sassafras, a.a. 
 Flower of roses, aloes, myrrh, incense, sty- 
 rax, benzoin, a.a. 
 Rosewood, 
 Salt, 
 
 Make a powder, and reserve the oil of spike for the 
 unction. 
 
 4. — Another Powder. 
 
 Two measures of best spirits of wine to anoint 
 and bathe all the cavities ; after which, rub all the 
 
 4ib. 
 
 ^ ib. 
 
 1 ib. 
 
 2 ib. 
 
 3 th. 
 
 4tb. 
 
104 EMBALMING, FROM THE EGYPTIANS 
 
 parts with turpentine, then stuff them with the fol- 
 lowing powder : 
 
 p. Rosemary, laurel, hyssop, absynth, mint, 
 rhue, sage, wild thyme, pennyroyal, ori- 
 gan, scordium, flowers of rosemary, roses, 
 lavender, chamomile, stoechas, spicknard, 
 a.a. 2 handsful. 
 
 Carraway and fennel seed, a.a. \ lb- 
 
 Gentain root, angelica, cloves, valerian, a.6*. 1 tb. 
 Reduce to powder and add : 
 
 Aloes, mastic, incense, a.a. 2 j^. 
 
 Myrrh, h tb. 
 
 Benzoin, styrax, labdanum, canella, cloves, 
 
 nutmeg, mace, saffron, a.a. 1 §. 
 
 Mummy, 2^ §. 
 
 Reduce to powder in a mortar. 
 
 5. — Another Powder. 
 P'. Absynth, lavender, marjory, rosemary, 
 thyme, balmgentle, cypress, mint, sage, 
 balm, dill, origan, pennyroyal, red roses, 
 a.a. 8 I. 
 
 Calamus, cyperus, gentian, Flor. iris, 
 rosewood, a.a. 5 |. 
 
 Benzoin, styrax, aloes, myrrh, a.a. 6 g. 
 
 Nutmeg, cloves, a.a. 4 g. 
 
 Reduce to a fine powder. 
 
 Powder and Mixture. 
 
 Take a sufficient quantity of salt, and as much 
 alum, to be mixed with myrrh, aloes, absynth, ca- 
 nella, cumin, cloves, mountain mint, pepper, and 
 other aromatics; reduce to powder, sprinkling it 
 
DOWN TO OUR DAY. 105 
 
 with a little vinegar ; then fill the body with it, rub- 
 bing with melted wax ; then place the corpse in a 
 leaden coffin. [Formula of P. Bellon.) 
 
 Penicher, who has furnished these different for- 
 mulae, will trace in the following pages the means 
 of applying them. 
 
 There are many methods of embalming. The 
 first, which is derived from the sacred scriptures, 
 did not prevent the body from soon undergoing a 
 change, since they neglected to remove the viscera, 
 which cause corruption. 
 
 The second is that in which they confined their 
 operations to emptying and cleaning the cavities 
 which contain the intestines, the brain, and other 
 noble parts, filling them after w^ards with powdered 
 aromatics, with tow^ and cotton. 
 
 The most common, and the most perfect which 
 was practised, is the third ; which consists in mak- 
 ing incisions in all parts of the body, as we shall 
 treat of further in the sequel. 
 
 We may add here a fourth mode, which regards 
 only thin and fleshless bodies ; it requires that the 
 fat and flesh be removed, so that the skin and bones 
 only remain. This method was not unknown to 
 the Egyptians ; and I have several times practised 
 it, but the operation is laborious, and requires a skil- 
 ful surgeon. 
 
 And finally, there is a last method of embalming 
 the body, which is performed by making small open- 
 ings in several parts of the body, under the armpits, 
 the groins, and the anus, according to the ancient 
 usage of the Egyptians. In order to commence this 
 important operation, it is necessary, in the first place, 
 
 14 
 
106 EMBALMING, FROM THE EGYPTIANS 
 
 that the surgeon who has the honour to be employed 
 to embalm a king or some sovereign prince, under 
 the orders of his first physician, in the presence of 
 the crown officers, makes with a bistoury several 
 gashes in the soles of the feet, in order to prove, by 
 this operation, that the subject whose body he is 
 about to open is really dead ; which is a much more 
 certain method than the unctions formerly used in 
 similar cases, to recall the animal spirits, which they 
 suspected of being only stupified. He will after- 
 wards make a long incision, from the superior part 
 of the sternum, to facilitate the examination of the 
 contents of the chest, and to investigate the cause of 
 disease and death, in order that a faithful written 
 report may be made in concert with the physicians 
 and surgeons of the king. All the parts contained 
 in this cavity must be removed ; he will afterwards 
 descend to the lower belly and examine all their 
 contents, which he will remove for that purpose, 
 taking away every thing disposed to corruption. 
 The parts which ought to be removed, are, among 
 others, the throat, comprehending the trachea and 
 oesophagus, the tongue, the eyes, the lungs, the 
 heart, which wiU be divested of its pericardium, to be 
 embalmed separately, as in ordinary cases ; the sto- 
 mach, the liver, the spleen, the kidneys, the intes- 
 tines, the brain, the membranes, the fat, the blood, 
 the serum, the sponges, and other matters which 
 have served during the operation; put all these 
 things in a barrel, to be carried to the place of desti- 
 nation. I know that some authors recommend the 
 extirpation of the sexual organs of both sexes ; but, 
 besides that this would be to disfigure the body of 
 
DOWN TO OUR DAY. 701 
 
 a man, these parts may be preserved as well as 
 others, and we owe respect to the instruments which 
 have given us being. The surgeon having emptied 
 these cavities, ought to work at the head, of which 
 he will saw the cranium in the same manner as for 
 anatomical demonstrations ; and after he shall have 
 examined and taken out the brain, the apothecary- 
 must carefully wash the cavity with aromatic wine 
 and alcohol, and then fill it with the powder he will 
 have prepared, and with cotton and tow soaked in 
 some fluid balsam, in such a manner that there will 
 be several layers of these stoupes and powder ap- 
 plied one above the other ; after which replace the 
 bones of the cranium and sew up the skin. He will 
 then rub the head all over with one of the liquid 
 balms, and bathe the face frequently with the same ; 
 envelope the head in a deep cap, which must be 
 waxed ; and after having insinuated into the nose, 
 the mouth, the orbits of the eyes, and into the ears, 
 cotton, soaked in liquid balm, the oils of nutmeg 
 and cloves, he will labour at the abdomen, which 
 must be washed in the same aromatic wine and al- 
 cohol, and rubbed with some of the aforesaid balms, 
 and, finally, stuffed abundantly with powder and 
 tow, until all these matters, distributed one above the 
 other, will form the natural size and appearance of 
 the abdomen, which must be sown up. The sur- 
 geon will take care that sections be made in the 
 veins and arteries, in order to divest them of blood 
 and humidity, which will be observed regarding the 
 arms, thighs, legs, feet, heels, and other parts, as 
 the back, shoulders, and buttocks, turning the corpse 
 for this purpose, face towards the table; in these 
 
108 EiMBALMING, FROM THE EGYPTIANS 
 
 thick and fleshy places, the incisions must he long, 
 deep, and numerous, penetrating even to the bone; 
 and when the large vessels have been opened and 
 purged of their blood, the pharmacien will fill all 
 these spaces with the powder, and then sew them 
 up with a needle and thread, after having sprinkled 
 and bathed them in aromatic wine and alcohol ; for 
 it is necessary to take care and foment incessantly 
 these parts ; absorb from them, if possible, all hu- 
 midity, and dry them with a sponge, previous to 
 rubbing them with liquid balm, or one of the lini- 
 ments, and fill them with the stoupes and said pow- 
 ders. Finally, the whole must be sowed up very 
 neatly, so that the body may not be disfigured ; for 
 the same reason the face ought not to be incised, 
 and we ought to endeavour so to preserve the fea- 
 tures that they may be easily recognised, as I have 
 recently witnessed on the opening of the cofiin of a 
 bishop, who was embalmed more than fifty years 
 ago, and whose countenance was not in the least dis- 
 figured. For this reason, the artist will make use 
 of fine powders, of aloes, myrrh, and others; as re- 
 gards the body, he will rub and anoint it with the 
 liniment which he will have prepared, adding there- 
 to the powder, which he will make into a paste. 
 And it is necessary to remark, that in proportion as 
 he finishes the embalming of each part, the surgeon 
 ouirht to bandagre it with bandages of linen soaked 
 in the liniment, so that they will resemble a species 
 of corset, and in form of the letter x ; let them make 
 several convolutions one upon the other, to keep the 
 parts of the body compact, and prevent the aro- 
 matics escaping from the cavities filled with them ; 
 
DOAVN TO OUR DAY. 109 
 
 these bandages should commence with the neck and 
 finish with the feet and hands ; they must be long 
 and broad for the body, thighs, legs, and arms, but 
 narrow and short for the fingers. This done, put on 
 the chemise, washed as already recommended ; or- 
 nament the subject with the exterior marks of dig- 
 nity which were possessed during life time, and 
 wrap it in a linen cloth soaked in liniment, which 
 will serve as an adhesive plaster, which must be 
 tied by the two extremities with a riband ; above 
 which, envelope it with the cere-cloth, which should 
 be very closely bound with a cord. Finally, de- 
 posit the body in the coffin, the intervals of which 
 must be filled with what remains of the powder, if 
 there be any, or with parcels of dried aromatic herbs; 
 close it and solder it with the utmost exactitude. 
 Place on the outside a plate of copper, or some other 
 durable metal, upon which has been engraved some 
 appropriate inscription, to serve as a memento to 
 posterity. The coffin must be placed in another of 
 wood, which may be covered, if desirable, with a 
 mortuary cloth. 
 
 This work being accomplished, we next come to 
 the heart, which, as I have already stated, is sepa- 
 rately embalmed. Supposing, then, that it has been 
 removed from its place, divested of its pericardium, 
 and both its ventricles opened, frequently washed 
 with spirits of wine, and well cleaned of clotted 
 blood, and of all other impurities that may be at- 
 tached to it, and having allowed it to soak during 
 the preceding operations in spirits of wine, or in dis- 
 tilled oil of turpentine, the apothecary now takes 
 this viscera thus prepared ; he fills the ventricles 
 
no EMBALMING, FROM THE EGYPTIANS 
 
 with powdered aloes, myrrh, benzoin, and styrax ; 
 he may even rub it with oil, or essence of nutmeg, 
 cloves, and canella, as also with the tinctures of am- 
 bergris, musk, and civet ; he will then arrange it in 
 perfumed cotton, so as to make it contain the pow- 
 ders, which, with the oils, will form a paste, and he 
 will place it in a little sack of cere-cloth, perfumed 
 with some of the above named essences, with which 
 also he will rub the box in which it is to be enclosed, 
 both internally and externally, solder it carefully 
 and envelope it in taffeta of a certain colour, which 
 must be equally soaked and rubbed with essences 
 or tinctures, and tied with ribands of the same co- 
 lour ; the violet colour is the most appropriate for 
 ecclesiastics. 
 
 I remember having embalmed the heart of an 
 Abbe of quality who had led an exemplary life : the 
 odour which it exhaled was so sweet and agreeable, 
 that it perfumed for several months the choir of the 
 convent des Dames Religieuses, where it was deposited. 
 
 The body and the heart being thus embalmed, it 
 only remains to speak of the viscera, the lungs, and 
 the brain, &c. 
 
 Blancardus teaches us the method of embalming 
 separately all these parts ; but, for myself, I do not 
 attempt it ; when they are embalmed, and it is de- 
 sired to place them in a barrel in this state, it is still 
 requisite to have recourse to spirits of wine, of the 
 best quality ; our brandy and aromatic wines are 
 not strong enough. In order the more easily to clean 
 these viscera, they must be opened lengthwise, in- 
 cisions must be made in the lungs, the spleen, the 
 uterus, and the other contents of the cavities; cleaned 
 
DOWN TO OUR DAY. Ill 
 
 of blood, serosity, and other foreign matter, which 
 would cause them to putrefy in a little time ; then 
 washed with strong spirits of wine, having been 
 previously washed in other liquors, and then ar- 
 ranged in a barrel, so that the powder first covers 
 the bottom, placing a portion of the viscera on this 
 first layer, and afterwards a second bed of pow- 
 der ; and continue thus to place the viscera and the 
 powders alternatively, and by layers, until the 
 barrel be nearly full, taking care that the last layer 
 consists of this prepared powder, which must not be 
 spared on this occasion. This barrel, which ought 
 to be made of lead, should be placed in a second of 
 wood, which must be accurately headed and pitched. 
 (One wooden barrel only, was used for Henry III., 
 King of France.) 
 
 Nevertheless, with all the precautions that could 
 be taken to preserve these parts, in employing quan- 
 tities of spirits of wine, aromatic powders, and other 
 proper drugs, I have strong doubts that they would 
 soon corrupt, and even before they could arrive at 
 the place destined for their sepulture. Finally, 
 when the body is to be publicly expose^ on the bed 
 where it died, the face should be washed with spi- 
 rits of wine, and with true balm, refreshing it fre- 
 quently ; but when it is necessary to expose it on a 
 bed of parade to remain several days, it is commonly 
 sufficient to mould it in wax, and to show only its 
 external figure, during the time that the body is 
 upon the bed embalmed in a coffin. But, when 
 the body itself of the deceased is exposed, it is ne- 
 cessary, in the first place, to paint and powder the 
 hair or wig with a fine powder of pleasant odour ; 
 
112 EMBALMING, FROM THE EGYPTIANS 
 
 shave the beard, if there be any, fill the mouth with 
 powder and cotton, to elevate and protrude the 
 cheeks, to which may be applied a little rouge, as 
 well as to the lips ; if the natural eyes have been 
 removed, replace them with artificial eyes ; force per- 
 fumed cotton up the nostrils; the ^ose may be re- 
 freshed with a linen cloth liberally endued with true 
 balm, during the time that the subject is withdrawn 
 from public view ; thus, the mouth, and generally 
 all the parts that ought to be seen, will be in their 
 natural state, to the end that they may be the more 
 readily recognised. For this reason, there ought not 
 to be made any scarifications, as it is expressly re- 
 marked in the library of Herodotus. " Each part," 
 says he, " is so perfectly preserved, that the hair of 
 the eyebrows and eyelids, and even all the form of 
 the body so well retain their appearance, that, the 
 figure and natural disposition is known with fa- 
 cility." 
 
 But, for all other subjects, those which are to be 
 transported, you will deviate as little as possible 
 from the following prescriptions. After having 
 emptied th^j cranium by means of a large trepan 
 opening made in the back part of the head ; having 
 removed the viscera, the throat, the membranes ; 
 scarified the fleshy parts, and having purged them 
 of blood and other serosities, the corpse should be 
 placed in one of the lotions, or in one of the brines 
 described in chapter fifth, the materials of which are 
 to be chosen according to the place and season of 
 the year ; and, after some days of maceration, the 
 subject being well drained, insinuate into the cavity 
 
DOWN TO OUR D\Y. 113 
 
 of the cranium new melted wax; after which, re- 
 place the piece of cranium removed by the trephine ; 
 sew up the skin, and fill like-wise the chest and ab- 
 domen with melted wax, and sew them up ; after- 
 wards fill the scarifications with such powders, aro- 
 matics, or herb^ as the country affords ; bandage 
 the body accurately with linen bandages, endued 
 with one of the above mentioned liniments, or, in 
 the absence of these, with turpentine, or with the tinc- 
 ture of myrrh and aloes, rubbing them on the body 
 vrith coarse brushes ; afterwards place the body (as 
 was done with the bodies of Alexander and Agesi- 
 laus,) in a coflan filled with good honey, so that it 
 may be surrounded on all sides, and penetrated 
 within and without ; and after having placed this 
 well soldered coffin in another of wood, which must 
 be well pitched, transport it to its place of destina- 
 tion. There it must be washed with spirits of wine 
 before being exposed to the public. 
 
 A fairer specimen of embalming could not be 
 chosen, than that which was made of Madame la 
 Dauphine, by M. Riqueur, apothecary to the king 
 and to this princess, assisted by his oldest son, apo- 
 thecary to the king in survivorship. This embalming 
 was executed with all the disinterestedness, ability, 
 and prudence that could be desired, in the presence 
 of M. D'Aquin, then first physician to the king; of 
 M. Fagon, first physician to the late queen, and 
 now first physician to the king; of M. Petit, first 
 physician to Mon seigneur le Dauphine; and M. 
 Moreau, first physician to the late Madame la Dau- 
 phine; of M. Felix, first surgeon to the king ; of M. 
 
 15 
 
114 EMBALMING, FROM THE EGYPTIANS 
 
 Clemint, master surgeon of Paris, and accoucheur 
 of the said princess. M. Dionis, his first surgeon, 
 operated, assisted by Bailiet, ordinary surgeon, and 
 by another ordinary surgeon : Madam, theDutchesse 
 d'Arpajon, lady of honour ; Madame la Marechall 
 de Rochefort, lady of the bed-ch^ber ; and many 
 other ladies. M. Riqueur had the kindness, know- 
 ing that I was interested in such operations, to com- 
 municate his method to me. 
 
 Description of the halm which was made for 
 Madame la Dauphine. 
 
 Jfe. Florence iris root, 3 ib . 
 
 Rush, U ft. 
 Bohemian angelica root, ginger, aromatic 
 
 calamus, aristolochia, a. a. 1 ft. 
 
 Imperatoria, gentian, valerian, a. a. h ft- 
 
 Balmgentle leaves, basilic, a.a. H ft. 
 
 Savory, sage, thyme, a.a. 1 ft. 
 
 Hyssop, laurel, myrrh, marjory, origan, 
 
 rhue, a.a. ^ ft. 
 Southern wood, absynth, mint, calamint, 
 
 wild thyme, odoriferous rush, scordium,^. a 4 §. 
 
 Orange flowers, 1^ ft. 
 
 Lavender, 4 §. 
 
 Rosemary, 1 ft. 
 
 Coriander seed, 25 ft. 
 
 Cardamum seed, 1 ft. 
 
 Cumin, carraway, a.a. 4 g. 
 
 Fruit, and seeds of the juniper, 1 ft. 
 
 Cloves, Is ft. 
 
 Nutmeg, 1 ft- 
 
DOWN TO OUR DAY. 115 
 
 White pepper, "* ^■ 
 
 Dried oranges, ^ ib 
 
 Cedar wood, ^ ^ 
 
 Santal citron, roses, a.a. 2 ft. • 
 
 Citron and orange peal, canella, a.a. ^ ib- 
 
 Sty rax, calaiUlte, benzoin, olibanum, a.a. 1^ ft. 
 Myrrh, 2i ft. 
 
 Sandarac, 5 ft- 
 
 Aloes, ' 4 Ifc- 
 
 Spirits of wine, ^ ft- 
 
 Salt, ^ I- 
 
 Venice turpentine, 3 ft. 
 
 Fluid styrax, ~ lb- 
 
 Balsam of copaiba, k ib. 
 
 Balsam of Peru, ^ S- 
 
 Cere-cloth. 
 
 The heart, after having been emptied, washed 
 with spirits of wine and dried, was placed in a glass 
 vessel with this liquor ; and this same organ, having 
 been filled with a balm made of canella, cloves, 
 myrrh, styrax, and benzoin, was put into a sack of 
 cere-cloth of its own shape, which was again en- 
 closed in a box of lead, cordiform, which was im- 
 mediately soldered, to be presented to Madame la 
 Duchesse d'Arpajon, who placed it in the hands of 
 Monseigneur, the Bishop of Meaux, first almoner of 
 the late Madame la Duchesse, who deposited it subse- 
 quently in the Val-de-Grace. The opening of the 
 body was made most accurately by M. Dionis, her 
 first surgeon. M. Riqueur filled all the cavities with 
 stoupes and powdered balm. Incisions were made 
 alono- the arms as far do\\ni as the hands; these 
 
116 EMBALMING, FROM THE EGYPTIANS 
 
 were supplied with aromatic powder, after express- 
 ing all the blood and washing with spirits of wine ; 
 the same operation was repeated on the thighs, 
 which were incised in different places down to the 
 feet, and all was neatly sewed up. A coarse brush 
 was used to rub the body with a'%ot liquid balm, 
 made of turpentine, styrax, and the balsams of co- 
 paiba and Peru, as already prescribed. Each part 
 was enveloped in bandages soaked in spirits of wine, 
 placing as much as possible of the said aromatic 
 powder between the body and the bandages. The 
 body was dressed in a chemise and a religious tu- 
 nic, and surrounded with other marks of a particu- 
 lar devotion, such as a little chain of iron, at the 
 end of which was a cross, which the princess kept 
 in a trunk which she had brought with her from 
 Bavaria. The body was then enveloped in cere- 
 cloth and compactly tied, in order to be placed in a 
 leaden coffin ; at the bottom and throughout which, 
 there was four fingers depth of the said balm in pow- 
 der. This coffin, being well soldered, w^as enclosed 
 in another of wood, all the vacant spaces having 
 been filled with dried aromatic herbs. The entrails, 
 after being well prepared, were placed in a leaden 
 coffin, with a great quantity of the same aromatic 
 powders, which, being well soldered, was enclosed 
 in a barrel of wood." 
 
 We shall have occasion again to recur to this 
 
 o 
 
 mode of preparation ; observing only, that a subject 
 thus mutilated, slashed, and stuffed, has more the 
 resemblance of prepared meat than an embalmed 
 body ; that the sentiment which led to a recourse to 
 
DOWN TO OUR DAY. 117 
 
 embalming, ought to create a deep horror for the 
 mutilation of a body which it was desirable to pos- 
 sess in all its integrity ; that, in fine, the operation 
 of embalming thus practised is more cruel for the 
 feelings, than the natural destruction and dissolution 
 of the parts. ♦ 
 
118 ART OF EMBALMING IN OUR OWN DAYS, 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 •r 
 ART OF EMBALMING IN OUR OWN DAYS, PREVIOUS 
 
 TO MY DISCOVERIES. 
 
 Organic chemistry has made great progress since 
 the commencement of the present century, and the 
 facts upon which it is constituted have been suffi- 
 ciently known and accurately studied, to elevate it 
 to the rank of an exact science. Numerous appli- 
 cations have been made, with immense advantage 
 to the arts and sciences ; but the great light it has 
 shed in such numerous directions, has but feebly 
 enlightened the art of embalming, and we will say, 
 with M. Pelletan, that we cannot but be astonished 
 to observe, that the same processes are continued in 
 our day which were only predicated on the descrip- 
 tion of Herodotus upon points evidently defective, 
 and that without any kind of discernment or analy- 
 sis, in a manner entirely routine. No regard has 
 been taken to the enormous difference which the 
 dissimilitude of exterior conditions must establish 
 between our practices and those of the Egyptians. 
 It is, nevertheless, an art thus constituted, which 
 will invoke the aid of three learned professions. It 
 was, indeed, a grave subject of discussion to determine, 
 whether the physician, the surgeon, or the apothe- 
 cary, ought to take precedence in the honours of this 
 operation. A conciliatory spirit once arose in one of 
 these disputes : after long consideration and mature 
 
PREVIOUS TO MY DISCOVERIES. 119 
 
 examination, it was concluded, that the three pro- 
 fessions rendered such services in these circum- 
 stances, that they should march in a line, and that 
 they ought, in consequence, to render each other 
 aid and support in a common cause. Nevertheless, 
 judging from the great incisions, perforations, the 
 flesh hacked and stuffed with perfumes, the arbiter 
 would have been justified in deciding that the hog- 
 butcher possessed superior claims to any of his com- 
 petitors for practising embalming. We shall be con- 
 "\T.nced, in reading the following notice, that the pre- 
 tensions which we claim in favour of an honest 
 artist, are neither ridiculous nor extravagant. 
 
 M. Boudet, charged with the embalming of the 
 senators, gives us a faithful account of the method 
 which he followed to preserve the magnates of the 
 empire. 
 
 There was prepared for this operation : — 
 
 1. A powder composed of tan, decrepitated salt, 
 quinquina, canella, and other astringent and aro- 
 matic substances, Jew's pitch, benzoin, &c. ; the 
 whole mixed and reduced to a fine powder, and 
 sprinkled with essential oils : the tan forms one-half 
 the weight, the salt one-fourth. 
 
 2. Alcohol saturated with camphor. 
 
 3. Camphorated vinegar, with spirits of camphor. 
 
 4. A varnish, composed of the balsam of Peru, 
 and balsam of copaiba, fluid styrax, oil of nutmeg, 
 lavender, and thyme, &c. 
 
 5. Alcohol saturated with hyper-oxygenated mu- 
 riate of mercury. 
 
 The whole being prepared, the cavities are opened 
 with large incisions, and the viscera extracted ; a 
 
120 ART OF EMBALMING IN OUR OWN DAYS, 
 
 crucial incision is made in the integuments of the 
 cranium, the skull sawn circularly, and the brain 
 removed ; the intestinal tube is to be opened its 
 whole length, and numerous deep incisions made in 
 it; the whole to be washed repeatedly; after ex- 
 pressing them, wash them again in camphorated 
 vinegar, and again with camphorated alcohol. All 
 the internal parts thus prepared and rolled in the 
 compound powder, are ready to be replaced. Nu- 
 merous incisions are then to be made on the inter- 
 nal surfaces of the great cavities, following the di- 
 rection of the muscles ; wash all the parts and ex- 
 press them well ; to which must succeed lotions of 
 vinegar and camphorated alcohol ; afterwards apply 
 with a small brush, the alcoholic solution of corro- 
 sive sublimate to all the incisions ; it produces much 
 heat, the muscles become bleached, and the surface 
 is promptly dried. This done, a layer of varnish 
 must be applied to all the internal incisions, filling 
 them with the powder ; the varnish is also applied 
 to all the internal surfaces of the cavities, also a 
 layer of the powder which will adhere to the var- 
 nish ; each viscera is then to be replaced in its pro- 
 per position, adding as much of the powder as is ne- 
 cessary to fill the vacant spaces, and sew up the in- 
 teguments, taking care to varnish and powder the 
 internal surface of those which are contiguous to the 
 bones. All the cavities being closed, varnish the 
 external incisions and fill them with powder ; var- 
 nish also the whole surface of the skin, and apply a 
 layer of powder which will adhere generally. To 
 the corpse thus embalmed, apply to every part, in- 
 cluding the face, methodical bandages, which will 
 
PREVIOUS TO MY DISCOVERIES. 121 
 
 produce a general pressure and cover all the sur- 
 face ; varnish the first bandage, and apply a layer 
 of powder; and finally, a second bandage, which 
 must also be varnished ; when the body is deposited 
 in a leaden coffin, and all the spaces filled with com- 
 pound powder, solder on the lid, and the operation 
 is finished.' 
 
 It will be perceived that, in this method, the ac- 
 cess of air is, as much as possible, opposed ; but this 
 precaution is illusory, since in place of drying the 
 body, it has been filled with powders which are real 
 hygrometers, and which only absorb humidity to 
 become themselves loaded with it : that indispen- 
 sable condition to all perfect preservation was here 
 wanting, completely to desiccate the body, still pre- 
 serving it afterwards from all humidity and access 
 of air ; adding further, that many of these substances 
 neutralize each other. 
 
 M. Pelletan, who furnishes us with the preceding 
 criticism, proposes to rectify the method after the 
 data which we derive from those of the Egyptians, 
 of Clauderus, and the researches of Rouelle. Conse- 
 quently, we must proceed in the following manner : 
 remove all the viscera, sew up carefully the integu- 
 ments, plunge the body for several weeks, in a weak 
 solution of sub-carbonate of soda, after having filled 
 
 1 It is astonishing that M. Boudet, charged with the embalming of 
 the senators of the empire, did not think of profiling by the discoveries 
 of the illustrious Chaussier, in order to simplify a method so ridiculously 
 empirical ; for, between his processes and ihe thousand forraulse of Pe- 
 nicher, the difference is not very great; it is the same accumulation of 
 powders, resins, balms, essences, &c. He had, notwithstanding, a good 
 example to follow in anticipation of a better, which was the embalming 
 of Colonel Morland. 
 
 16 
 
122 ART OF EMBALMING IN OUR OWN DAYS, 
 
 all the cavities with it ; wash the corpse freely, and 
 soak it for some days in an aluminous bath, to re- 
 move all the alkaline particles ; expose it afterwards 
 to the air, or in a stove, to produce desiccation, tak- 
 ing care to fill all the cavities with tow^ and with 
 resinous and aromatic matters, so as to preserve the 
 form ; desiccation once completed, varnish wdth care 
 the whole surface of the body, and envelope it in a 
 double bandage, impregnated, and covered with the 
 same varnish. This method, which approaches 
 nearly that of the Egyptians, would secure, without 
 doubt, a perfect preservation, provided the body be 
 placed in a situation exempt from all humidity, and 
 the temperature of which is not variable. 
 
 We should acknowledge the justice of these ob- 
 servations, and thank M. Pelletan for having sub- 
 stituted an accurate and rational proceeding for 
 blind and thoughtless practices. The operation, 
 nevertheless, as proposed by the professor, still ex- 
 acts numerous mutilations. The inconvenience and 
 inutility of so many efforts to preserve the body of 
 our own kind, was, besides, long experienced by 
 many spirited writers ; which is proved by the eager- 
 ness with which they took advantage of the disco- 
 veries of Chaussier, respecting the properties of cor- 
 rosive sublimate applied to embalming. By his re- 
 searches it was proved, that this salt preserved ani- 
 mal matters soaked in its aqueous solution ; that it 
 produced this effect by an intimate combination 
 with animal matter ; in fine, that this matter satu- 
 rated with corrosive sublimate, passed so quickly 
 into a state of desiccation, that it was necessary to 
 moderate it, to prevent the horny hardening of the 
 
PREVIOUS TO MY DISCOVERIES. 123 
 
 soft parts. Parts thus prepared, are rigid, hard, 
 grayish, and preserved at the same time from putre- 
 faction and insects. No time was lost to profit by 
 this property of the deuto-chloridc of mercury, to 
 apply it to the preservation of whole bodies. It was, 
 in fine, the last method of embalming practised pre- 
 viously to my own, and held as very superior to that 
 of the ancients. We shall collect here, some obser- 
 vations cited as remarkable examples, and as proofs 
 of the excellence of the process. It will remain for 
 us afterwards to appreciate its merits. Let us first 
 see the facts. 
 
 First fact, (A.) Preparation made by Bedard. 
 
 M. Beclard, chief of the anatomical works at the 
 School of Medicine, was charged with the preser- 
 vation of the body of a young man thirty years of 
 age, who died of a hectic fever. The relatives- de- 
 sired to place the body in a glass case, and requested, 
 above all, that it should 7iot be opened. In spite of 
 the disadvantage of this last restriction, M. Beclard 
 succeeded in this operation by the following pro- 
 cess: the intestines were withdrawn, opened, and 
 cleaned in a portion of their length, by a little hole 
 made in the abdomen. He penetrated the chest by 
 means of two incisions, under the armpits ; through 
 which water was injected ; a small hole was also 
 made in the cranium ; the blood of the abdominal 
 and cutaneous veins was, as much as possible, ex- 
 pressed out, a mercurial solution was injected into 
 the trachea, and the salt in substance introduced 
 into all the cavities ; the corpse was then soaked in 
 a bath saturated with corrosive sublimate. Durin >• 
 
124 ART OF EMBALMING IN OUR OWN DAYS, 
 
 the first month it appeared to offer some signs of 
 putrefaction ; it was then thought necessary to in- 
 troduce an instrument into the abdomen by the aid 
 of which the peritoneum was incised at different 
 points, M. Beclard having already remarked, that 
 those parts situated beneath the serous membranes, 
 escaped the action of the sublimate : the body was 
 returned to the bath ; some scarifications were made 
 beneath tliose points of the skin which appeared 
 greenish ; the epidermis of the soles of the feet also 
 protected the subjacent parts ; this was removed ; 
 finally, after two months sojourn in the sublimated 
 bath, the body being withdrawn during a hot and 
 dry season, became desiccated in a few days. It was 
 preserved for a year enclosed in a box, without ex- 
 haling any odour, or without any sign of alteration. 
 The skin is of a leaden gray colour, and the fea- 
 tures of the face are deformed by the emaciation of 
 the lips and cheeks. 
 
 Second fact, (B.) Preservatioyi of the body of 
 Colonel Morland. 
 
 In one of the German campaigns, M. le Baron 
 Larrey was charged with the direction of the pre- 
 servation of the body of the brave Colonel Morland, 
 who received a mortal wound in one of the most 
 brilliant charges. M. Ribes aided him in this pre- 
 paration.^ They at first removed all the viscera 
 through an incision made in a line with the crest of 
 the right ilium, and in cutting the attachments of 
 
 1 We ought to render homage to the zeal and noble devotion which 
 enabled the celebrated Larrey to surmount all the difficulties of his posi- 
 tion to preserve the body of a companion in arms. 
 
PREVIOUS TO MY DISCOVERIES. 125 
 
 the diaphragm, and the canals which pass through 
 the superior opening of the chest, the crown of the 
 trephine applied to the posterior part of the cranium 
 permitted the brain to be cleaned out by repeated 
 injections. The eye was opened by bursting its 
 globe. Having introduced the powdered sublimate 
 into all the cavities, those of the face were plugged 
 in order to prevent emaciation ; the features were 
 protected by graduated compresses and methodical 
 bandages ; the whole body was itself enveloped in 
 several cloths, and placed in a barrel of super-satu- 
 rated solution of corrosive sublirnate ; in this state 
 the whole was forwarded to Paris. At the end of 
 some months the barrel was opened ; the body was 
 found well preserved ; on exposure to the air it 
 dried quickly ; care was taken to fill all the cavi- 
 ties with stoupes ; the membranes of the eye, which 
 had retired to the bottom of the orbit, were replaced 
 by eyes of enamel ; the hair, the eyelids, and the 
 mustaches were preserved ; the features were recog- 
 nisable, and the body varnished carefully, and 
 dressed in the usual clothes, produced a soft and me- 
 lancholy illusion in those who had known this ex- 
 cellent officer. Now that several years have passed, 
 the body of Colonel Morland, placed in a glass case 
 in the library of M. Larrey, offers no sign of altera- 
 tion, exhales no odour, and remains 'perfectly recog- 
 nisable, although the skin looks h'own, and as if 
 tanned, and all the cellular membrane appears to have 
 disappeared, so that the form of the muscles may be 
 perceived through the dried integuments. 
 
 Remarks on observing Colo7iel Morland' s body. — 
 We have seen the body of Colonel Morland, and we 
 
126 ART OF EMBALMING IN OUR OWN DAYS. 
 
 can comprehend that persons who have known him, 
 and who have seen him dressed, may carry the illu- 
 sion so far as to recognise some of his features. But, 
 as for ourselves, it appeared to us impossible that a 
 corpse, the white skin of which had become brown 
 and tanned, of which all the cellular tissue had 
 disappeared, and the general aspect of which is that 
 of a rigid membrane glued to the bones, and some 
 few dried fleshy fasciculi, should preserve a great 
 likeness to the subject of which it affords only some 
 wrecks. We confine ourselves here to the indica- 
 tion of the exaggeration of this fact in particular ; 
 we shall touch upon this subject again in our gene- 
 ral remarks. 
 
 Third fact, (C) Preservatmi of a young girl of 
 ten years. 
 
 M. Boudet, apothecary, was requested by a mo- 
 ther to prepare the body of a daughter who had died 
 at the age of ten years, in such a manner that she 
 could continually enjoy the sight of her. 
 
 A bust had been made of the infant, and they had 
 taken care to choose, at the moment of death, eyes 
 of enamel perfectly resembling her own. M. Boudet, 
 untrammelled in his operation, which was performed 
 at his own house, commenced by removing the vis- 
 cera, by the aid of incisions skilfully managed. He 
 extracted the brain through the occiput. The eyes 
 were taken out and replaced by a plug ; all the ca- 
 vities were immediately filled with a dry stoupe, 
 and the openings closed with accurate sutures. Dur- 
 ing these various preparations, the body had been 
 plunged in a bath of pure alcohol, then into an al- 
 
PREVIOUS TO MY DISCOVERIES. 127 
 
 cohol bath contaimng a little sublimate. All being 
 thus disposed of, the body was placed in a bath of 
 distilled water, saturated with the sublimate, and in 
 which still soaked some parcels filled with this salt. 
 The body remained three months in this solution ; 
 forty pounds of the sublimate were consumed ; much 
 of the mild muriate was precipitated ; even a por- 
 tion of the mercury was revivified ; but it is neces- 
 sary to observe that the vase in which he operated 
 rvas of had, which should occasion the decomposi- 
 tion, and augment the consummation of the subli- 
 mate. At the end of three months the body was 
 withdrawn from the bath, in order to proceed to the 
 desiccation ; it was suspended by bands in order to 
 avoid deforming it, and to let it drain : care was 
 taken to elevate the walls of the cavities with new 
 stoupes, when they appeared to be deformed ; the 
 eyelids and the lips were kept closed with English 
 taffeta. When the desiccation was completed, arti- 
 ficial eyes were put in, some features of the face 
 were changed, and particularly the upper lip. A 
 skilful artist modelled them in wax imitating the 
 bust, which served him as a model ; the skin being 
 observed of a gray colour, it was coloured with 
 paint ; the hair, perfectly preserved, was very natu- 
 ral; finally, this infant, clothed in its ordinary dress, 
 and enclosed in a glass case, presents a perfect re- 
 semblance, and causes an extraordinary illusion. 
 
 Remarks on these three observations. — Let us first 
 remark that the substitution of this process for all 
 those that had previously been employed, is a great 
 progress. Indeed, in place of a multitude of drugs, 
 endowed with properties either opposite or unknown^ 
 
128 ART OF EMBALMING IN OUR OWN DAYS, 
 
 a single substance, studied with care, and of deter- 
 mined properties, is placed in contact with the tis- 
 sues, which become modified according to the wishes 
 of the embalmer. A charlatanism thus becomes a 
 scientific operation, since a method which preserves 
 bodies, better or worse, takes the place of others, 
 which, far from preserving from corruption, often 
 accelerates it. Nevertheless, we must say, that em- 
 balming with sublimate is still far from perfection, 
 and, not to speak here of the inconvenience resulting 
 from the three cited observations, it will be observed 
 that the incisions and mutilations exist still in this 
 process ; that they are necessary to it, since, in spite 
 of the wishes of the family, Professor Beclard was 
 obliged to multiply them, in order to arrest the pro- 
 gress of decomposition. Many months are requisite 
 for the perfect completion of the work, which ren- 
 ders it impossible to recur to it under many circum- 
 stances. The action of the sublimate, which com- 
 bines with the gelatine, and gives rise to an impu- 
 tresible compound, protected from the ravages of in- 
 sects, deforms the organs to such a degree, however, 
 that the colour and general aspect of the body are 
 changed. This deformation is so great in the third 
 observation, that it was necessary to reform several 
 organs : the upper lip was so damaged, that a shilful 
 artist was obliged to reform it in wax, as well as seve- 
 ral other features of the face, in imitating the bust, 
 which served as a model ; the skin being of a gray 
 colour, it was coloured with paint, &c. 
 
 These imperfections would of course be of less 
 importance in the preparation of anatomical parts ; 
 but, to preserve the body of a person who was dear 
 
PREVIOUS TO MY DISCOVERIES. 129 
 
 to US, they are serious, and leave a painful impres- 
 sion. 
 
 But to return to our exposition. 
 
 Fourth fact, (D.) Proces-verbal of the embalming 
 of the body of Louis XVIII. , King of France. 
 
 Extract from the proces-verbaux of the opening and embalming of the 
 late King Louis XVIII. — f General Repertory of Anatomy , Physiology, 
 and Pathology, Vol. 8, p. 36, in Ato., 1829. J 
 
 Proces-verbal of the embalming, p. 40. 
 
 This day, 17th September, 1824, immediately 
 after the opening of the body of the late King Louis 
 XVIII., and conformably to the instructions given 
 us by M., the Marquis de Breze, grand master of 
 the ceremonies of France, we, the undersigned, pro- 
 ceeded to the embalming, after the following man- 
 ner : 
 
 1st. The heart of the late king, after having been 
 washed and macerated for four or five hours in an 
 alcoholic solution of the deuto-chloride of mercury 
 or corrosive sublimate, and having been filled and 
 surrounded with choice aromatics, was enclosed in 
 a leaden box, bearing an inscription indicative of the 
 precious object which it contained. 
 
 2d. The viscera of the three great cavities of the 
 body, after having been incised, washed, and mace- 
 rated six hours in the above-named solution, were 
 penetrated, filled, and surrounded with aromatics, 
 and enclosed in a leaden barrel, bearing an inscrip- 
 tion indicative of the parts it contained. 
 
 3d. The totality of the surface of the body, and the 
 surfaces of the great cavities, were successively wash- 
 ed with a solution of the chloride of the oxide of 
 
 17 
 
130 ART OF EMBALMING IN OUR OWN DAYS, 
 
 sodium, and with the alcoholic solution of the deuto- 
 chloride of mercury. 
 
 4th. The fleshy parts, as well of the trunk as of 
 the limbs, were extensively and deeply incised, and 
 afterwards washed with the above named solu- 
 tions. 
 
 5th. The surfaces of the body, of the cavities, and 
 of the incisions, were supplied with several applica- 
 tions of spirit varnish. 
 
 6th. All the cavities were filled wdth powders, 
 formed of various species of aromatics and resins. 
 
 7th. These cavities were closed by bringing 
 their borders together, sustained by numerous su- 
 tures. 
 
 8th. The limbs, the pelvis, the abdomen, the 
 chest, the neck, and the head, were successively 
 surrounded with bandages, methodically applied. 
 
 9th. The whole surface of the body thus enve- 
 loped, was covered with many layers of varnish. 
 
 10th. Upon this varnish were applied bandages of 
 gum diachilon. 
 
 11th. Over the bandages of diachilon, other ban- 
 dages of varnished taffeta were applied. 
 
 12th. Finally, a last layer of bandages was ap- 
 plied over the varnished taffeta. 
 
 13th. The embalming terminated, the head of 
 the late king was covered with a cap, his body with 
 a chemise, his arms and breast with a vest, with 
 sleeves made of white silk ; the whole with a sheet 
 of batiste. 
 
 It was in this state that the body of the king was 
 returned to M. Breze, to be deposited in the coffin 
 
PREVIOUS TO MY DISCOVERIES. 131 
 
 Avhicli was to enclose his mortal remains at Saint 
 
 Dennis. 
 
 Signed, Portal, Alibert, Dupnytren, Fabre, Dis- 
 tel, Thevenot, Portal, (for Ribes,) Auvity, Bres- 
 chet, Mura, Moreau, Bardenat, Vesque, Dal- 
 mas, Delagenerraye. 
 
 Here the process followed, although analogous in 
 many respects to the preceding, differs from them, 
 however, in the addition of numerous drugs, and in 
 the rapidity of the preparation ; the following nearly, 
 in all respects, the same, will furnish matter for re- 
 flection. 
 
 Fifth and last fact, {E.) Notice of the process of 
 embahning, adopted for the body of L. D. C. D. 
 
 Before exposing the details of this embalming, 
 we ought to remark, that various reasons compelled 
 us to modify, in ditferent points, the plan which we 
 had traced out for ourselves, after reading those au- 
 thors who have written on this subject ; thus, the 
 family had earnestly desired that no part of the body 
 should be abstracted, wishing that the coffin should 
 contain the entire remains of L. D. C. D., their re- 
 lation. On the other hand, it was necessary to pre- 
 serve his features and physiognomy, in order that 
 his body might be recognised on its arrival to his 
 family, who inhabit England. Finally, that which, 
 above all, prevented us pursuing a surer and more 
 rational mode of operation, was the particular cir- 
 cumstances of the case, allowing us only one sitting 
 to accomplish the embalming. 
 
 However this be, we shall now describe the pro- 
 
132 ART OF EMBALMING IN OUR OWN DAVS, 
 
 cess which was followed, leaving for another article, 
 which will appear immediately, the modifications 
 that may be introduced to diminish the difficulty 
 and expense, and, if possible, render the result more 
 certain. 
 
 1. Necroscopy. — The process to be followed even 
 in this early stage of the operation, is not a matter 
 of indifference ; all the external parts having to re- 
 tain their natural form, great care was necessary in 
 abstracting the viscera. 
 
 In order to secure this end, without, at the same 
 time neglecting the examination of the organs, the 
 following plan was adopted : 
 
 a. An incision, commencing at the symphysis of 
 the chin, following the mesial line divided all the 
 integuments and muscles down to the symphysis 
 pubis. 
 
 h. The sternum sawn through the middle per- 
 mitted the hand to be introduced into the cavity 
 without destroying any part of the thoracic walls. 
 
 c. All the organs, from the tongue to the bladder 
 and rectum, carefully detached, were withdrawn 
 through this opening. (The result of the necroscopy 
 was published in the third part of the Bulletin Cli- 
 nique, p. 79.) 
 
 d. The eyes were extracted with precaution. 
 
 e. The integuments of the head were divided 
 transversely, from one mastoid apophysis to the 
 other, and turned down before and behind to the ex- 
 tent of three inches ; it was in this space, where, by 
 the aid of two sections by the saw, one vertical, the 
 other horizontal from behind forwards, we were 
 enabled to raise a sesrraent of the cranium which al- 
 
PREVIOUS TO MY DISCOVERIES. 133 
 
 lowed of the extraction of the brain, the medulla ob- 
 longata being cut off as low down as possible. 
 
 2. Desiccation of the corpse. — This first operation 
 over, the corpse was, as much as possible, disem- 
 barrassed of the fluids which it contained, whether 
 in the great cavities, or in the cephalo-rachidien ca- 
 nal. Then, by the aid of precious aromatics, and 
 absorbing powders, frequently renewed, the tissues 
 were divested of their humidity. 
 
 3. Maceration of the viscera. — After the examina- 
 tion of these, they were freely washed in a saline 
 solution, and then macerated for two hours in a con- 
 centrated solution of alum, hydrochlorate of soda, 
 and chloride of sodium, (Gannal's liquor,) and finally, 
 they were submitted for several hours more to the 
 action of a concentrated solution of the deuto-chlo- 
 ride of mercury. 
 
 4. Maceration of the corpse. — Ail the parts having 
 been conveniently detached, alcoholic injections 
 were made into the vessels of the limbs, and into 
 the rachidien canal ; and immediately after each of 
 these partial injections, others were made, consist- 
 ing of the deuto-chloride of mercury, which were re- 
 tained in the arteries by ligature, and in the canal 
 by a cork. Similar injections were also used for 
 various regions which are abundantly supplied with 
 cellular tissue. 
 
 The members and the trunk, both internally and 
 externally, were sprinkled with a concentrated al- 
 coholic solution of the deuto-chloride of mercury, 
 and enveloped for several hours with stoupes and 
 compresses steeped in this liquid. Finally, in order 
 that no part should be deprived of the conservative 
 
134 ART OF EMBALMING IN OUR OWN DAYS, 
 
 action of the corrosive sublimate, the mouth, the 
 nasal fossse, the orbits, and the auditory passages, 
 were filled with little bags of this substance in pow- 
 der ; and by means of profound and numerous in- 
 cisions, the same was introduced in the muscles of 
 the limbs and back, &c. (These incisions, narrow 
 at the surface, extended deeply, and in various di- 
 rections in the subjacent tissues.) 
 
 5. All the viscera were replaced in the great cavi- 
 ties formed by the union of the thorax and abdomen. 
 
 This part of the operation was made with extreme 
 minuteness ; the organs cut into pieces about the 
 size of the fist, were separately dried in balsamic 
 powders, then supplied abundantly with chloride of 
 lime, and surrounded with stoupes steeped in the 
 alcoholic solution of the sublimate ; each package, 
 thus constituted, was invested in two plates of lead, 
 and placed in the cavity of the thorax ; aromatic 
 powders, chloride of lime, and stoupes, steeped in 
 the sublimate, separated the different layers. 
 
 The heart, (for the satisfaction of the relatives,) 
 was left entire, and replaced in its natural position, 
 after having been subjected to the same prepara- 
 tions. The cranium was filled with the same sub- 
 stances employed for the preservation of each or- 
 gan„ 
 
 6. The segment raised on a level with the lambdoi- 
 dal suture, the integuments are to be united by me- 
 thodical suture, and the same is to be done for the 
 abdomen and thorax. 
 
 The seam on the scalp was not visible, because 
 it was covered by the hair, with which the head 
 
PREVIOUS TO MY DISCOVERIES. 135 
 
 was yet abundantly covered. The trunk was not 
 deformed. 
 
 7. Application of the bandages. — Previously to ap- 
 plying the bandages, a coat of varnish is given to 
 the whole body, with the exception of the face, and 
 immediately upon this varnish are placed layers of 
 lead ; it is then only, that methodical bandages are 
 made to cover all the parts, from the fingers and 
 toes to the head ; each turn of bandage was fixed 
 by a point of suture, then covered again with an- 
 other layer of varnish, with new plates of lead, and 
 finally, with a new bandage applied with the same 
 care as the first. 
 
 The face, until now remaining free, was submitted 
 to the same applications, but so arranged that it could 
 be uncovered at any time, without disturbing the 
 rest of the bandages. 
 
 The body was then covered with a cloth, sur- 
 rounded with a mantel of satin, and deposited in a 
 leaden coffin : it was left exposed to the air for more 
 than twenty-four hours, without exhaling any other 
 odour than that of the aromatics employed. 
 
 The operation which had commenced at ten 
 o'clock in the morning, was not terminated until 
 after two in the morning. 
 
 The operation was very painful on account of 
 the gas, particularly the chlorine, which was freely 
 exhaled towards the latter part of the process, fa- 
 tio-uino- the assistants, who were all tormented with 
 a very violent irritating cough. 
 
 Such are the details of this embalming, which 
 had been announced as constituting the perfection 
 
136 ART OF EMBALMING IN OUR OWN DAYS, 
 
 of the interesting necropsy described in one of the 
 late numbers of the Bulletin Clinique. 
 
 A. LOREAU, 
 
 E. Chanut. 
 
 What strange naivete on the part of the em- 
 balmer ! he had just stated that the operation was 
 very painful on account of the gas, particularly of 
 the chlorine, which was freely exhaled during the 
 latter part of the process, very much fatiguing the 
 assistants. Ought you not to have anticipated this, 
 you who were charged with such preparations? 
 Ought you not to have known even the inutility of 
 such an incoherent mixture of substances ? 
 
 It is not excusable, indeed, to be ignorant that the 
 chloride of lime, {chloride of the oxide of calcium,) 
 mixed with the deuto-chloride of mercury, produces, 
 with the disengagement of chlorine, two new pro- 
 ducts, first, the chloride of calcium, [muriate of 
 lime,) and the deutoxide of mercury, [red precipi- 
 tate,) an insoluble substance, to which no one has 
 ever attributed conservative properties. Upon what 
 principle, further, upon what positive knowledge 
 are we authorized to make so frequent use of the 
 chloride of lime in embalming ? No scientific data 
 justifies this practice. Is it because it possesses dis- 
 infecting properties ? But this is the very reason why 
 it should be rejected, for in what manner does it act 
 upon putrid miasmata ? Is it not by decomposing 
 them ? No one doubts this, excepting always the em- 
 balmers ; who are probably also ignorant that it 
 possesses in the highest degree the property of de- 
 composing animal and vegetable matter. I have 
 
PREVIOUS TO UY DISCOVERIES. 137 
 
 proved in the course of my researches, that a fresh 
 corpse^ injected with one of the chlorides of the oxide 
 of sodium, calcium, potassium, is in a complete state 
 of dissolution, at the end of fortij-eight hours. 
 
 These researches, which I have pushed in various 
 directions, have weighed hardest upon the substance 
 which has been extolled as excellent, and as very- 
 superior to any thing used by the ancients in em- 
 balming : I applied myself to establish, as far as 
 practicable, the precise degree of confidence that the 
 deuto-chloride of mercury merited under these cir- 
 cumstances. It is very true that it preserves ani- 
 mal matter plunged into a solution of it ; but to what 
 degree, and under what rules ? The following is a 
 brief exposition : 
 
 1. Coarse anatomical pieces, (a preparation of the 
 muscles of the arm, for example,) plunged into and 
 maintained in a saturated solution of the deuto- 
 chloride of mercury, and then dried, are protected 
 from corruption, but they become brown, stiff, and 
 so deformed as scarcely to be recognized. 
 
 2. The injection of this liquid is not sufficient to 
 arrest the progress of decomposition — this salt not 
 being sufficiently soluble. 
 
 3. The simple immersion of a corpse in it har- 
 dens the skin, but the muscles and all the viscera 
 are decomposed. 
 
 4. The injection of it, followed by immersion, 
 preserves the object well enough for the space of 
 two or three months, but putrid decomposition at- 
 tacks the thoracic and abdominal viscera, as well as 
 the brain and thick muscles, at the end of this time. 
 
 5. A subject injected with alcoholic sublimate, 
 
 18 
 
138 ART OF EMBALMING IN OUR OWN DAYS, 
 
 then opened, emptied, and macerated, afterwards 
 exposed to the air, dries easily ;' but it assumes a 
 deep gray colour, and the tissues become hardened 
 to such a degree, that it hardly preserves a human 
 form. These are the rigorous results of experience. 
 In the preservation by the aid of deuto-chloride, one 
 portion of the subject is sacrificed to preserve a few 
 remains ; the most noble of all the organs, the brain, 
 the throne of thought, cedes its importance to a few 
 bones clothed with dried muscles, and a skin trans- 
 formed, and not easily known again. 
 
 These are but feeble advantages, and paid for 
 much too dearly ; for the inconveniences and dan- 
 gers of this mode of preparation, appears to us suffi- 
 cient to cause them to be abandoned. 
 
 It is very expensive, dangerous for the operators; 
 it alters the instruments, and the bodies which re- 
 ceive the influence of its emanations. Recently, 
 during the embalming of some great personage, all 
 the gildings of a vast saloon, where the operation 
 was performed, were destroyed by the action of the 
 deuto-chloride. 
 
 Nevertheless, the embalmings made with this 
 substance, and of which the three first observations 
 cited in this chapter are the most remarkable exam- 
 ples in our knowledge, afford the most decided ex- 
 pressions of the advanced state of the art. 
 
 What are the ameliorations resulting from our dis- 
 coveries? They are as follows : 1. A substance easy 
 
 ' The deuto-cliloridc of mercury, like the salts of copper, arsenic, iron, 
 &c., are decomposed by gelatine, forming a new imputrescible com- 
 pound. The preservation is much more sure if a lanre quantity of alco- 
 hol \h used in drying the corpse. 
 
PREVIOUS TO MV DISCOVERIES. 139 
 
 to manage without danger to the operator, without 
 any inconvenience to the instruments and other me- 
 tals, is substituted for the sublimate ; 2. The opera- 
 tion can be entirely finished in half an hour ; 3. 
 The numerous incisions, the mutilations, the sub- 
 traction of the viscera, &c., the prolonged macera- 
 tion, are replaced by an injection through an open- 
 ing of some lines in extent ; 4. In place of a sub- 
 stance discoloured, leathery, and dried, reservincr 
 more or less the human form, my process preserves 
 the subject, such as it is, at the moment of death, 
 with the colour and suppleness proper to each tis- 
 sue ;* 5. Finally, the expense which, by the pre- 
 ceding method, amounts to from four hundred to 
 two thousand dollars, need not now exceed sixty 
 dollars. Thus a body may be indefinitely pre- 
 served for a sum less than the price of a leaden cof- 
 fin furnished by the undertakers, a coffin which ac- 
 celerates the putrid decovipositioji. in place of prevent- 
 ing it. 
 
 I confine myself here to the announcing of some 
 results obtained by my predecessors ; for pre^^ous 
 to entering into details of the experiments which I 
 have tried, it remains for me to trace the picture of 
 the means employed down to our period for the pre- 
 paration and preservation of pieces of normal anato- 
 my, pathological anatomy and natural history. This 
 will form the subject of chapter VII. 
 
 When I shall have made known the whole of the 
 
 * Wlien we visited and ^ve an accurate examination of the numerous 
 embalmed objects in .M. Gannal's museum, we did not observe any spe- 
 cimens that had been finished long enough to dry. displaying such per- 
 fection as that here stated. — Tr. 
 
140 ART OF EMBALMING IN OUR OWN DAYS, 
 
 resources of this other branch for the preservation of 
 animal matters, each one can form an accurate 
 opinion, after a complete knowledge of the facts, of 
 the part which belongs to my labours, and of the 
 place which they ought to occupy in the scale of 
 natural sciences. 
 
METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS, &C. 141 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 METHODS OF PREPARING AND PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 OF ANATOMY, PATHOLOGY, AND NATURAL HISTORY, 
 PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 
 
 Among the investigations belonging to the do- 
 main of medicine, normal anatomy and pathological 
 anatomy occupy the first rank ; they constitute the 
 necessary basis of exact study : all men of genuis 
 have experienced this. 
 
 This conviction has been the source of the perse- 
 vering efforts of numerous distinguished savans, 
 who reasonably supposed that they would merit the 
 esteem and gratitude of their species, if they could 
 succeed in composing collections of engravings, or 
 artificial models, representing the form, colour, &c., 
 of each of the organs, or if they could discover me- 
 thods of preparation capable of preserving the or- 
 gans themselves with all the physical properties 
 which they possessed at the moment of death. 
 
 It is not necsssary to enter into discussions upon 
 the high importance of these different kinds of in- 
 vestigations ; for every one comprehends it, and the 
 gravest authorities have pronounced upon this mat- 
 ter. Who does not know the vast importance which 
 our illustrious Cuvier attributed in the progress of 
 the natural sciences, to him who first concieved the 
 idea of preserving objects in alcohol I It is percepti- 
 ble, indeed, at the first glance, that the most beauti- 
 
142 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 ful and valuable of libraries for the physician and 
 naturalist would be a collection of artificial subjects; 
 or still better, of all the organs of the bodies of ani- 
 mals, and of man, skilfully prepared and preserved, 
 without any alteration of the properties which it is 
 important to know. 
 
 It must be admitted that a collection in which all 
 the organs would be disposed in series, where they 
 would be seen passing by their successive degrees 
 of increment and decrement, offering their differ- 
 ences, individual and sexual, their points of contact 
 and separation in the various classes of the animal 
 kingdom, their anomalies, their pathological affec- 
 tions, their intimate structure, &lc., it must be ad- 
 mitted I say, that such a collection would be an 
 inexhaustible source of knowledge ; it would acquire 
 additional value by the addition of a series of pieces 
 representing the detailed anatomy of each of the 
 parts involved in surgical operations. 
 
 But this library, so eloquent and instructive, does 
 it exist at the present time ? Do we possess the 
 means of forming such? The examination of the 
 various processes, ought to furnish us with an an- 
 swer to this question; it will besides enable our 
 readers to estimate for themselves the part that our 
 method may enjoy in the accomplishment of this 
 object. 
 
 And first, in admitting the utility of engravings 
 of models in wax, and in artificial carton,^ in white 
 wood, or in other compositions kept secret by their 
 authors, we feel that whatever may be the accuracy 
 
 * A composition of papier mache, with which Dr. .\zoux has so beauti- 
 fully represented anatomical subjects. — TV. 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 143 
 
 of these diiferent representations, they never can 
 afford but an incomplete idea of tlie thing represent- 
 ed. 1st. Plates and engravings, so advantageous for 
 reference, to recal the study made upon the corpse, 
 have lost their importance in proportion as the 
 means of obtaining dead bodies have become more 
 easy : they are calculated to render great service 
 and contribute to the progress of science in the fine 
 anatomical works of Meckel, Lauth, Haller, Zinn, 
 Hunter, Cruikshank, Cowper, Vic-d, Azyr, and of 
 numerous other learned authors ; at the present day, 
 even, they are justly esteemed in the great works of 
 MM. Cloquet, Bourgerie, &c. (The plates of the 
 work of M. Bourgerie, are executed with remarka- 
 ble care, and will form an epoch in the history of 
 anatomical works.) But they occupy a secondary 
 place, only to aid the memory ; for of whatever 
 good they may be, they must always have many in- 
 conveniences : 1. They fatigue attention, because 
 it is necessary so often to multiply the figures, 
 when it is requisite to examine an object under all 
 its aspects where it is of importance to perceive it ; 
 2. The organs are rarely seen of their natural dimen- 
 sions ; 3. Whatever may be the exactitude of the 
 drawing, it is difficult to form a just idea of the re- 
 lief and dimension of the organs ; 4. The relations 
 which they indicate are always incomplete ; it is 
 impossible thus to represent all the organs in their 
 position, and in their natural relations. 
 
 2d. Models in wax, nearer to nature than plates, 
 reproduces objects with admirable truth for the eye, 
 but for the eye only. They were recently esti- 
 mated of such importance, that courses on modelling 
 
144 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 were introduced into the schools in many cities of 
 France ; nevertheless, it cannot be concealed that 
 pieces thus prepared leave much to be desired : 1. 
 The relations of the organs which they indicate are 
 very limited : 2. It is necessary then to multiply 
 them to infinity, if it be desirable to represent under 
 various points of view, the different points of the 
 human body, which is indispensable, in order to 
 comprehend their relations and connections : 3. 
 And still the mind comprehends with difficulty the 
 totality of objects viewed in a great number of 
 pieces : 4. They cannot be handled and displaced 
 as is requisite for study, without injury to them. 
 
 3d. Artificial pieces, which possess many of the 
 inconveniences of wax models, are more proper to 
 give a knowledge of the parts, which enter into the 
 structure of man ; nevertheless, if they be white 
 wood, like the subjects of Fontana, or in Carton, 
 like those of Ameline, or of M. Azoux,i they leave 
 much to be learned of the properties which are re- 
 quisite to an accurate and complete knowledge of 
 the parts. Finally, these three means of communi- 
 cating linowledge possess their degree of utility, 
 but they can never support a comparison with the 
 proper matter of the organs; they may serve to 
 complete a museum, but never to form one ; so we 
 content ourselves to mention them here, in order to 
 assign them a rank. Anatomical pieces which place 
 before the eyes the organs, themselves, are then the 
 
 iTIie subjects prepared by M. Azoux, are however, more proper to 
 facilitate and extend the study of'anatomy; they are far superior to dried 
 objects. It is desirable that every amphitheatre should possess one of 
 these subjects. 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 145 
 
 elements, " par excellence," for the formation of 
 collections, which are to serve as studies of normal 
 anatomy, of pathological anatomy, and of natural 
 history, but, the preparation and preservation of these 
 pieces is a new science ; we ought not to be asto- 
 nished at it, notwithstanding the advanced state of 
 our anatomical knowledge, if we reflect on the diffi- 
 culties of all kinds, which prejudice excited in our 
 predecessors. It is stated, it is true, that Ruysch, 
 had discovered the means of preserving the dead 
 body, with all the appearance of life, without drying, 
 with florid complexion, and supple limbs. But, is this 
 really the fact ? and have we not good reasons to 
 doubt such assertions, since no collection of ana- 
 tomical pieces, prepared by this process, has de- 
 cended to \is, and no explanation has confirmed our 
 knowledge of them ? 
 
 We may then conclude, that the means of pre- 
 paring and preserving, does not date much earlier 
 than the commencement of the present century. 
 None of them, however, has had for object the pre- 
 servation of the entire subject : that which offers us 
 the most numerous parts united in the same prepa- 
 ration has only a reference to anatomy, properly so 
 called ; it is the process of M. Swan, of England, 
 given by him as a new method of making dried 
 anatomical preparations, preserving to them the ap- 
 pearance and the advantages of fresh preparations, 
 without possessing the inconveniences of them ; this 
 process is, as we shall see, only an application of the 
 discovery of Chaussier, on the preservative proper- 
 ties of the deuto-chloride of mercury. We give it 
 
 19 
 
146 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 here, before passing in review the methods of pre-, 
 paration practised for each organ or each tissue. 
 
 " In order to describe the manner of making these 
 preparations, I shall only take the arm by v^^ay of 
 example. 
 
 " The member should be selected as clear form fat 
 as possible. A solution of two ounces of oxymu- 
 riate of mercury, in half a pint of rectified spirits of 
 wine, must be injected into the arteries, and the 
 day after make another injection with the same 
 quantity of white spirit varnish, to which must be 
 added one-fifth part of turpentine varnish, and a 
 small quantity of vermillion. The limb should next 
 be placed in hot water, and remain there until it is 
 sufficiently heated for a coarse injection into the 
 arteries, and even the veins if necessary. If the 
 veins are to be injected they had better be emptied 
 of blood, with water, before forcing into the arteries 
 the solution of oxymuriate of mercury, because there 
 returns always by the veins some portion of this in- 
 jection which coagulate the contained blood, and 
 hinders the coarse injection from passing into the 
 smaller branches. 
 
 " After the limb has been injected it may be dis- 
 sected. Every time the work is left, it is better 
 that the parts uncovered, should be enveloped in a 
 linen cloth wet with water ; and when the dissection 
 is recommenced a great advantage will be remarked, 
 which is that the parts injected with the solution 
 of the sublimate will suffer very little alteration in 
 several days, and are found in the same state in 
 which they were left, whilst, by the common me- 
 thod, in one or two days, all is so changed that 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 147 
 
 there is little profit in seeing what has been done, 
 and if the dissection is long, tliey will scarcely be re- 
 cognised when finished. 
 
 " Another advantage is that it may be dissected 
 any where, since the preparation is without odour. 
 
 " When all the parts are uncovered, and all the 
 fat and cellular tissue has been removed, the member 
 thus prepared must be put into a solution of two 
 ounces of oxy muriate of mercury, to one pint of 
 rectified spirits of wine, and let remain entirely 
 covered with this for at least fifteen days, for it 
 cannot remain too long. A box of oak, painted white 
 and varnished is the best recipient for the limb, 
 whilst in solution ; the cover must fit closely, in order 
 to prevent the evaporation of the spirits of wdne. 
 
 The member must be withdrawn every two or 
 three days, and any remaining cellular tissue is to 
 be removed, and when retured to the tub the part 
 which previously touched the bottom must be placed 
 uppermost. The best thing upon which to place 
 the preparation, when withdrawn from the solution, 
 is a butcher's tray, after having been well oiled ; with- 
 out this precaution the tray imbibes moisture, from 
 which results a great loss of the solution. When 
 the limb has remained lonor enoug^h in the solution, 
 it is to be taken out, to be painted and varnished. 
 
 "Before proceeding to these operations, the member 
 kept in a state of extension, is suspended and dried, 
 then endued with white varnish. On the same day the 
 nerves, the tendons, and tendinous expansions, ought 
 also to be varnished ; which must be repeated once 
 a day, for three consecutive days. The fifth day, 
 the tendons, ought to be covered with a layer of 
 
148 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 yellow varnish, and white paint mixed in . equal 
 parts ; this operation is to be repeated the seventh, 
 eight, and ninth day. The nerves, must also be 
 endued, as often as necessary, with a mixture of 
 equal parts of white paint, and white varnish. 
 
 " As soon as the muscles have become stiff, they 
 may be painted, taking care that the nerves and 
 tendons, are not touched by the paint. Nearly a 
 month after the limb has been withdrawn from the 
 solution, those of the nerves and tendons that are 
 not sufficiently coloured should be repainted and 
 varnished, as often as may be judged necessary. 
 But always allowing a day's interval between each 
 application of paint and varnish. 
 
 " These operations being finished, wash lightly the 
 tendons and nerves with boiled flax seed oil ; this 
 layer being dry, give a second over the whole limb ; 
 finally, several layers of copal varnish will termi- 
 nate the operation. The first layer of copal varnish 
 to be applied to the arteries with a slight addition 
 of Vermillion, and of Prussian blue, for the veins. 
 
 " In order to preserve the liver, it is necessary 
 first to inject the vena porta and excretory ducts 
 with white varnish, to which has been joined one- 
 fifth of turpentine varnish, and some coloring matter, 
 such as red lead. Then make the coarse injection, 
 after which the liver is to be put into the solution 
 for a least fifteen days ; it is not necessary to heat 
 it before injecting. The ligaments are to be pre- 
 pared in the same manner as the tendons. 
 
 We give below the paints, and varnishes, em- 
 ployed in the preceding preparations : 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 149 
 
 1 . — White Var?iish. 
 
 p! Canada balsam, spirits of turpentine, «. a. 3 3. 
 Mastic Varnish. 2 g. 
 
 Put the whole in a bottle, and agitate until it is 
 perfectly mixed. 
 
 2. — Mastic Varnish. 
 
 Jfe Powdered mastic. 4 ^. 
 
 Dissolve in a pint of spirits of turpentine. 
 Agitate daily, until the mastic is dissolved. 
 
 3. — Yellow Varnish. 
 
 Infuse one ounce of gum-gutta in powder in eight 
 ounces of spirits of trupentine for fifteen days ; then, 
 with equal parts of this clear drawn liquor, Canada 
 balsam, and mastic varnish, form the yellow varnish. 
 
 4. — White Paitit. 
 
 Three ounces of white lead, and an ounce of spi- 
 rits of turpentine serves to form it. 
 
 5. — Paint for the muscles. 
 
 It is made of Lac, Prussian blue, and white var- 
 nish, to which is added one quart of turpentine var- 
 nish. 
 
 6. — Red Injection. 
 
 tt. Wax, 4 I. 
 
 Copal varnish, ^ §. 
 
 Red lead, \ §. 
 
 Vermillion. 1 3. 
 Melt togrether. 
 
150 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 7. — Green injection. 
 
 ^. Wax, 4 I. 
 
 Blue dross, 2 §. 
 
 Copal varnish, h I. 
 
 8. — Blue i7ijection. 
 
 f To form this it is only necessary to add to the 
 green injection, half a drachm of powdered Prus- 
 sian blue. The advantages of such preparations do 
 not answer, in any degree, to the promises of the 
 title; the artificial preparations of M. Azoux are 
 much more preferable, since his cartons represent 
 the form which the anatomical pieces of Swan have 
 lost by desiccation. 
 
 Section 1.^ — Generalities of the operations which 
 precede preservation. 
 
 Desiccation and immersion in liquids are the only 
 means of preservation. 
 
 The choice of subjects which are to serve for these 
 preparations, says M. le Docteur Patissier, is not a 
 matter of indifference. Young subjects, and lean 
 women, are preferable for the nerves and bloodves- 
 sels ; adults, and thin and dry old men, for the pre- 
 paration of bones which it is intended to articulate, 
 and which it is desirable to obtain in their greatest 
 deo-ree of development; individuals of an athletic 
 constitution for muscular preparations. 
 
 The most favourable time for the preparation 
 and preservation of anatomical subjects, is generally 
 during a cold and dry winter, or the ardent heat of 
 summer ; the more rapid is the evaporation of the 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 151 
 
 humidity of animal matters, the more sure is their 
 preservation. 
 
 The method of preservation ought to be preceded 
 by some other operations, such as dissection, mace- 
 ration, injection, ablution, corrosions, ligature of ves- 
 sels, separation and distention of -parts. 
 
 a. Dissection. — It consists in stripping the part 
 which it is intended to preserve, of the tissues and 
 organs which are foreign to it : if the object be the 
 preparation of muscles, for example, these organs 
 are left alone with their insertions in the bones, or 
 rather, the vessels, previously injected, preserve their 
 relations with the muscles and the bones. Never- 
 theless, in the dissection of the hard parts, whether 
 it is proposed to follow the branches of the vessels 
 and nerves which penetrate, or are distributed in 
 their substance, or whether it is desired to develope 
 and render their organization more apparent ; it is 
 less convenient to have recourse to instruments than 
 to chemical re-agents, which bring into view the 
 parts which it is desirable to study. When the ob- 
 ject is the preparation of a bone only, the operation 
 consists of two parts, excarnation, and etiolation, the 
 details of which will be presented in the article upon 
 bony tissues. 
 
 b. Macerations and corrosions. — These operations 
 are frequently brought into use by the naturalist : 
 water, acids, alkalies, volatile oils, &c., serve to pro- 
 duce varied effects in the preparation of the different 
 tissues. The maceration of different portions of the 
 skeleton is produced by water. The employment 
 of other liquids has for object, in attacking several 
 
152 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS. 
 
 parts which they dissolve, to expose others which it 
 is desirable should be left bare. 
 
 Thus, in order to absorb the grease which exudes 
 from the skeletons of certain fish, or of bones, the 
 maceration of which has not been perfected, it is 
 useful to steep the piece in a marly alluminous 
 paste, which must be alternatively put to dry and 
 soften in the sun, in order that the clay may absorb 
 the fetid oils with which the bones are impreg- 
 nated. 
 
 In order to dissolve the grease with which certain 
 parts are covered some time after their preparation, 
 as happens to some natural skeletons, it is often ne- 
 cessary to steep the piece in an alkaline liquor, or 
 rather, to allow it to macerate for some weeks in a 
 very penetrating volatile oil. It is only by the aid 
 of such processes that we are able to follow ence- 
 phalic nerves in many of the cetacea, although these 
 parts present in these animals extremely singular 
 dispositions. 
 
 It is with the same view that should be macerated 
 either in water elevated to a certain degree of tem- 
 perature, or in acid liquors, the hard tissues, in the 
 interior of which it is proposed to denude certain 
 parts. Thus the nerves and vessels of the roots of 
 the nails, the horns, the skin, cannot be well ex- 
 posed but by this process. The canals, which tra- 
 verse certain bones, cannot, as we have already 
 shown, be easily followed, unless the peice has re- 
 mained for a longer or shorter time in an acid li- 
 quor. 
 
 Macerations in alkaline and etherial liquors are 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. ] 53 
 
 still of great assistance, as the researches so happily 
 conceived and executed by Bichat have proved. 
 
 Finally, corrosions are indispensable to the re- 
 moval of the parenchyma from injected prepara- 
 tions, when it is intended only to preserve the inte- 
 rior network of vessels. 
 
 The following are the attentions which this ope- 
 ration exacts : The injected part is consigned to a 
 vessel of pure water for two or three days, which is 
 occasionally to be renewed, in order the better to 
 disgorge the vessels of any blood they may contain. 
 It is afterwards to be solidly fixed on a piece of wax 
 at the bottom of a porcelain vase, pierced with holes 
 near the base, through which the liquor used to 
 wash them may flow off without deranging the ves- 
 sels. This corrosive liquor is the muriatic acid, or 
 spirit of salt ; the aquafortis of engravers, or nitric 
 acid, may be used for the same purpose. 
 
 The first time, the preparation is to remain two or 
 three hours in this acid, which is then drawn off 
 and replaced by the same quantity of water, which 
 is allowed to flow on it in small streams. This wa- 
 ter is left for four or five days, according to the sea- 
 son, until the water begins to be covered wdth a 
 scum, and the preparation begins to be cottony at 
 its surface ; the liquor is poured off a second time, 
 and the pot or vase is placed beneath the cock of a 
 fountain, from which escapes a delicate stream of 
 water, which will carry off slowly and without 
 shocks, any detached parts ; when .it is perceived 
 that the washing: carries off no more animal matter, 
 the acid is poured into the pot, of which the open- 
 ing is to be reclosed with a stopper of glass or por- 
 
 20 
 
154 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 celain, warmed and endued with wax. This opera- 
 tion is to be repeated every four or eight days, until 
 the tunics of the vessels are altogether denuded, and 
 the injected matter is seen throughout/ 
 
 c. Injections. — These are evacuative, repletive, anti- 
 septic, or preservative. The first have for object, as 
 their name indicates, to disembarrass the vessels or 
 hollow organs, of the matters and fluids which they 
 contain ; they consist of water, of acids very much 
 reduced, of diluted alcohol, &c. Thus it is service- 
 able to inject water or alcohol into the bloodvessels 
 to prepare them for the reception of the repletive 
 and preserving injections. The second are either 
 definite or temporary. 
 
 The substances employed in these injections 
 are vehicles for colouring matter. The nature of 
 the vehicles determines that of the colours, which 
 ought to be as far as possible, analogous to those of 
 the humors, which the vessels contained during life. 
 
 As vehicles, those fluids which always retain 
 their fluidity are rarely employed, for parts thus in- 
 jected cannot be dissected, and they are, besides, 
 apt to allow the colouring matters which they con- 
 tain in suspension, to be deposited. 
 
 Liquids saturated with glue or gelatine, made use 
 of in ordinary injections, have the inconvenience of 
 not being equally solidifiable at different degrees of 
 temperature, or harden too rapidly by cooling ; they 
 are made with the glue of commerce, either simple, or 
 mixed with gummy or saccharine matter; that 
 
 1 These details on maceration and corrosion, are extracted from a work 
 full of interest of Professor Dumeril : Essay on the means of perfecting 
 and extending the anatomical art. — (Paris, 1803.) 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 155 
 
 commonly used, is called Flanders glue, although it 
 is manufactured in Paris, and that called mouth 
 glue, which only differs from the other in containing 
 a little gum or sugar. That which succeeds best, 
 because it melts with the heat of the hand, and 
 which nevertheless coagulates at a temperature of 
 twenty-five or twenty-six degrees of Reaumer's 
 themometer, which is one of the highest points to 
 which our atmosphere attains, is made of the mem- 
 branes of fishes, or icthyocolla. An ounce is to be 
 melted in a sand-bath, in double its weight of water, 
 and mixed afterwards with two ounces of alcohol, 
 previously warmed. In these sorts of gelatinous 
 injections, there is much choice in the- colouring 
 matters. All those that are ground like gum, and 
 which are used in miniature painting, and in painting 
 '•a la gouache,"* may be employed ; they remain 
 very well suspended. 
 
 The sticks of carmine of Delafosse, and the car- 
 mine lacks of Hubert,' may then be used with 
 advantage for the arteries ; for the veins, Prussian 
 blue, ground in vinegar, and the white of zinc of 
 Antheaume, or that of oyster shells well porphyrized, 
 for the colour of metallic oxide is subject to change 
 in animal matter; they are also subject to the in- 
 convenience of becoming precipitated by repose be- 
 fore the vehicle cools, and thus obstruct the smaller 
 vessels. 
 
 Liquors which can be made solid by the effect of 
 certain re-actives, offer, on this account, some advan- 
 tage. It is thus, that it is serviceable to soak for a 
 
 *Paintinq;S where colours are employed diluted with water or (jtim. — Tr. 
 
156 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 day or two in a solution of nut-galls or of tannin, 
 those parts injected with gelatine, when it is in- 
 tended to preserve them dry. In partial injections 
 of lymphatic vessels, and particularly of the chyli- 
 ferous, cow's or goat's milk, may be made use of. 
 When, after having tied the thoracic duct, injections 
 of milk have been made into all the vessels in which 
 can be introduced the beak of a glass syringe, or of 
 the syringe used for injecting the lacrymal ducts, 
 pour on the surface of the injected parts strong 
 vinegar, or a diluted acid, which will coagulate the 
 milk, so that the chyliferous vessels will be found 
 filled with a solid, white, and flexible. ^ 
 
 The most common, the most solid, and the most 
 convenient injections, are made of fatty and resinous 
 matter. Volatile oils, balsams, resins dissolved in 
 alcohol, fats, wax, and the most ordinary fixed oils, 
 are principally used. These different substances 
 are combined, and the compositions of them are 
 varied according to the nature of the injections, 
 which it is desirable to prepare, and above all, ac- 
 cording to the manner which it is proposed to pre- 
 serve them. 
 
 The nature and the preparation of the colouring 
 matters, ought also to vary according to the kind of 
 fatty medium which is used. 
 
 The volatile oils being nearly equally penetrating, 
 turpentine is generally chosen, because it is cheaper. 
 Neverthelessj for small objects, the citron, or that of 
 a species of lavender (aspie of the shops) is pre- 
 
 1 There are some specimens in tlie museum of Natural History pre- 
 pared by this process. 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 157 
 
 ferred, on account of their odour, which are besides 
 not very expensive. When it is intended to inject 
 only with one of these oils, which makes a liquid 
 matter extremely penetrating, after having dissolved 
 a colouring matter previously ground in a fixed oil, 
 the mixtut^ is slightly heated. This liquor is ge- 
 nerally employed to render perceptible the small 
 vessels of membranes, which are not to be dissected, 
 but well preserved in their integrity. If it is in- 
 tended to inject the large trunk which supplies these 
 membranes towards the end of the operation, it is 
 necessary to inject a little essence of varnish, 
 charged with much resin, and before drying the 
 piece, let it soak a day or two in an aqueous solu- 
 tion of the deuto-chloride of mercury, according to 
 the process of Chaussier. 
 
 The matters with which the volatile oils are to be 
 coloured, should be previously ground with the 
 greatest care. It is easy to procure those which are 
 prepared with nut oil, and which are sold in little 
 bladders to be employed upon palettes. 
 
 Colours, thus prepared and intimately amalga- 
 mated with fixed oils, remain much better sus- 
 pended ; the heaviest oxides, even those of lead and 
 mercury, are not then subject to become deposited. 
 
 Resins, dissolved in spirits of wine, are also sold 
 by the pint, all prepared, under the name of varnish, 
 and in general are not costly. Those which the 
 anatomist can turn from the ordinary arts to his 
 own profits, are employed principally in pieces 
 which it is intended to preserve dry. Perfect suc- 
 cess attends the varnish, named in the shops fat. 
 
158 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 wood-red, a la copale, and with some others which 
 remain a long time flexible. 
 
 These fluids are difficult to colour ; it is necessary, 
 for the first, to grind the colouring matter with es- 
 sence, and for the others with alcohol ; and to in- 
 corporate them afterwards with varnish after having 
 slightly heated them. The carmined lakes, thus 
 suspended in fat varnish, produce absolutely the 
 eff"ect of arterial blood ; this colour preserves very 
 well, and with such like injections it is unnecessary 
 to colour the surface of the arteries. 
 
 The mixture of mutton fat or of suet, of white or 
 yellow wax, of the fixed oils of olives, nuts, or flax 
 seed, are the ordinary matters of injections, even for 
 those destined for corrosions. The diflferent de- 
 grees of solidity or softness are determined by the 
 calculated proportions of wax and oil, and by the 
 amalgam of resinous and colouring matters. 
 
 In general, in this sort of injections it is advan- 
 tageous to introduce beforehand, a small quantity 
 of volatile oil mixed with the fatty matter which is 
 to serve for filling the vessels ; by this preliminary 
 process a liquid more fluid, more penetrating, 
 higher coloured, and susceptible of cooling more 
 slowly, is driven before into the smaller ramifications. 
 
 I could here transcribe several receipts proper to 
 indicate the proportion of fatty matters among them- 
 selves ; but the season during which the pieces are 
 made, the nature of the ingredients employed on 
 them, will occasion the proportional quantities to 
 vary, so that a sketch only can be given for ob- 
 taining a matter which may be made more solid or 
 more fluid after having tried it by cooling some 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE TROCESS OF GANNAL. 159 
 
 drops separately. Nevertheless, here is one of those 
 receipts : 
 
 p. Of suet, 5 parts. 
 
 Burgundy pitch, 2 " 
 
 Oil of olives, or of nuts, 2 " 
 Of fluid turpentine and colouring 
 
 matter, dissolved in volatile oil, 1 " 
 
 This latter part should not be mixed until the li- 
 quor is well melted and ready to be put into the sy- 
 ringe, as the heat will volatilize the volatile oils, which 
 will become disengaged in the form of gas, and 
 cause the mass to occupy a very great volume. 
 
 As a matter of injection, the dissolved gum elastic 
 or caoutchouc may be employed ; it becomes gela- 
 tinized in losing a portion of its menstruum by de- 
 siccation. After leaving this matter in a moist place, 
 and having well washed it, in order to clean it of 
 the clayey matter which generally impregnates it, 
 it may be dissolved in volatile oils by heating it in 
 a sand bath, with a moderate fire in a matrass with 
 a long neck ; adding by degrees, a sufficient quan- 
 tity of oil to render the mass very fluid, incorporat- 
 ing- with it the colourinor matters which have been 
 previously ground in an essential oil. The gum 
 elastic may also be dissolved in ether, but this pro- 
 cess is too expensive ; and as a matter for injecting 
 this liquor is not preferable to the other. The elas- 
 tic injections are only advantageous in the prepara- 
 tion of parts which are not to be exposed to cutting 
 instruments, and to which it is desirable to preserve 
 a certain degree of suppleness, as in the injection of 
 the cotyledons, or the placenta of women. This li- 
 
160 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 quor, it must be confessed, has the great inconve- 
 nience of retaining its odour a long time, assuming 
 its solid form with difficulty, and of rendering the 
 preparations pitchy, and rebellious to varnish, and 
 becoming loaded with dust. 
 
 There are certain organs which may be injected 
 with solid matters, in order to obtain, in relief, re- 
 sisting, but coarse, the forms of interior cavities. 
 Such is the injection with the matter which forms 
 the stucco paste, or of fine plaster diluted with ge- 
 latinous water, which gives to this salt a greater so- 
 lidity when it takes its consistency. This gross mat- 
 ter is employed with advantage to render more solid 
 the membranes of certain cavities, in the thickness 
 of which it is desired to search for the nerves. Pure 
 wax does not present the same advantage, because 
 it exacts more heat, and contracts more by cooling, 
 although it is more applicable in case it is proposed 
 to corrode with acids all the fleshy or osseous parts, 
 in order to become acquainted with the real form of 
 their interior capacity : in fine, the fusible metallic 
 mixture of Darcet is employed under different cir- 
 cumstances, but it is not more useful.' 
 
 Preservative injections, which may also be applied 
 to vessels and to hollow organs, are composed of 
 materials to which have been attributed preservative 
 properties to the tissues : such are the solutions of 
 mercurial salts, arsenical, ferruginous, &c., and dif- 
 ferent aromatic and spirituous liquors. 
 
 d. Ablutions — These vary according to the end 
 reposed : acids ; these serve to give whiteness to 
 
 M. Duraeril, work cited. 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 161 
 
 some tissues and resistance to others : alkaline ; these 
 clean the preparations, divesting them of the muci- 
 lage and grease which they contain. In one word, 
 the action of aqueous liquids, of oily, alkaline, saline, 
 acid, alcoholic, is necessary before, as well as after 
 dissection to preserve the preparations. 
 
 When these preparations are left a longer or 
 shorter time in water, they are subjected to what 
 is called a degorgement ; the bath ought to be re- 
 newed until it will no longer receive any colouring 
 matter. 
 
 The removal of grease is included under dissec- 
 tion, maceration, and ablution. 
 
 e. Ligature of the vessels. — This is made with a 
 flat silk, or silk very slightly twisted, during the 
 dissection, or immediately after, on the extremity of 
 the vessel which contains the injection ; it is neces- 
 sary in order to prevent the escape of the injected 
 matter. 
 
 f. Separation and distention of parts. — These offer 
 the whole surface of the prepared pieces to those 
 agents of preservation which ought to be applied to 
 them ; they sustain them, and preserve them from 
 being deformed. Besides, it is well known, that 
 the means of separation and distension ought to 
 vary according to the form of the organs ; atmos- 
 pheric air suffices for hollow and thin organs, the 
 stomach, the intestines, the bladder, &c. Under 
 other circumstances, wool, hair cotton, plaster, &c., 
 serve better. 
 
 21 
 
162 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 Sect. 2. — Means of Preservation. 
 
 The means of preservation may be arranged un- 
 der two principal heads, as we have said, according 
 as the anatomist intends to expose his preparations 
 to the open air, or to preserve them from insects 
 and render them more transparent by the aid of 
 certain liquors, in which it is intended to keep them 
 continually. 
 
 Preservation hij desiccation. — When applied to 
 soft parts is only applicable to anatomy, properly so 
 called, and to natu.ral history; it cannot be em- 
 ployed for specimens of pathological anatomy. 
 
 Desiccation is preceded by a more or less pro- 
 longed immersion, according to the thickness of the 
 organs in acid or saline solutions, &c.; that which 
 presents the greatest advantage for the nerves, ac- 
 cording to Dumeril, is diluted nitric acid. The 
 salts commonly employed present some inconveni- 
 ences. Corrosive sublimate hardens too much, and 
 causes the parts to contract on each other ; the tri- 
 ple sulphate of alumine, (alum,) often chrystalizes in 
 drying, which produces in the interior of the piece, 
 which ought to be pellucid, saline vegetations, which 
 not only elevate the organic lamina, often render- 
 ing the surface tuberculous, but further deprive the 
 part of the transparency necessary to see the tex- 
 ture of it ; the muriate of soda, (white kitchen salt,) 
 attracts the humidity of the air, and causes the var- 
 nish to scale off, which can have no hold upon the 
 preparation. Diluted nitric acid, with which the 
 parts are washed, does not expose them to these in- 
 conveniences : the preparation preserves, it is true, 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 163 
 
 a certain degree of suppleness ; it tarnishes a little, 
 but is never humid. 
 
 The numerous means used for disposing the pre- 
 parations to desiccation, may be reported under four 
 series : 
 
 Alcohol, where expense is no object, is preferable 
 to all the others ; its affinity for water gives it the 
 property of absorbing humidity from anatomical 
 pieces 
 
 The deuto-chloride of mercury, the proto-nitrate 
 of the same base, the solutions of acetate of lead, and 
 of the proto-nitrate, merit the preference among me- 
 talic substances. 
 
 Marine salt and alum are nearly those alone among 
 the earthy salts which have been employed for this 
 object. M. Breschet advises that, according to the 
 method followed by the tanners, the piece be per- 
 mitted to remain for several days in powdered sea 
 salt, and to immerge it afterwards in a strong solu- 
 tion of alum for fifteen days, when it is to be with- 
 drawn and dried. 
 
 In fine, tanning is still a preparatory method for 
 desiccation. 
 
 Desiccation. — Anatomical pieces may, says M. 
 Doct. Patissier, be dried in the open air, in a stove, 
 in a vacuum, and by employing substances very 
 avaricious of water, and in a bath of sand, or of ab- 
 sorbing powders ; but desiccation by means of an 
 oven is the best process : the heat of the oven must 
 be neither too weak nor too strong ; the most conve- 
 nient temperature is that of 45'^ to 55° of centigrade. 
 
 When the parts have been dried by one of the pro- 
 cessess just mentioned, if they be abandoned to 
 
164 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 themselves, they would become injured in a little 
 time by humidity and insects. There remains, then, 
 some care to be taken before depositing them in a 
 cabinet; they should be v^^ashed in a liquid contain- 
 ing a preparation of arsenic, or of sublimate, or 
 rather by applying to them a varnish containing 
 one or both of these substances. We shall not re- 
 consider here the compositions of varnishes, having 
 already given several formulae for them when 
 speaking of Swan's method, and we shall have oc- 
 casion to refer to them again when passing in review 
 the different methods of preparing objects of natural 
 history. 
 
 Preservation in liquids. — Anatomical parts are 
 also preserved, and more advantageously, in liquids. 
 We shall now consider the acids, or acidulated 
 waters, alkalies, salts, oils, spirituous or alcoholic 
 liquors ; expose their advantages under certain cir- 
 cumstances, their inconveniences under others. 
 
 When acids are employed for preserving anato- 
 mical parts in their natural state of suppleness, cau- 
 tion must be used to dilute them, with a sufficient 
 quantity of water, so that they may not corrode or 
 harden the parts. In general, it is advantageous to 
 allow them to remxain for the first few days, in a 
 very weak acid, and not place them in the prepared 
 liquor, until they have ceased to make any deposit. 
 The objections against muriatic acid are, that it 
 renders the surface of the parts gelatinous, gluey, 
 and transparent ; of nitric acid, to tarnish and con- 
 tract them ; of sulphuric acid, to bleach them. All 
 these acids decompose the parts when they are not 
 sufficiently diluted with water; they allow the 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 165 
 
 liquor to putrefy or to freeze, and break the vessel 
 vt^hen they are too weak. The proportions are 
 indicated by experience, and depend upon the 
 nature of the part which it is intended to preserve. 
 It is those parts in particular which are loaded with 
 fat, that are best preserved in acid liquors. 
 
 In general, little use is made of liquors which 
 hold alkalies in solution : the carbonates of com- 
 merce are preferable ; and these are used with ad- 
 vantage, when it is necessary to keep for several 
 •days, before dissection, animal parts in which cor- 
 ruption has already commenced. 
 
 Those salts derived from the combination of acids 
 and earths, the alkalies or metals, may be employed 
 like the acids diluted with water. They are not 
 subject to the same objections. The nitrate of pot- 
 ash, the muriate of ammonia, those of lime, or of 
 soda, are very proper for preserving pieces of myo- 
 logy ; they appear even to reclaim the red colour of 
 the muscles, when these solutions are strongly sa- 
 turated ; but, then, they are liable, some of them, to 
 liquify, others, to effervesce or to chrystalize upon 
 the sides of the jars, and even on. the siirface of the 
 parts themselves, which is a very great inconve- 
 nience when it is wished to expose the parts to view. 
 
 The solution of the triple sulphate of alumine, 
 (alum of commerce) is employed with the same ad- 
 vantages ; it must be confessed, however, that they 
 are more proper to preserve membranous parts 
 which have been previously allowed to macerate a 
 long time. In general, this liquor discolours the 
 parts, and deposits at length on the sides of the jar 
 and the surface of the piece which it bleaches, the 
 
166 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 white earthy matter with which it is charged ; this is a 
 great objection, and exacts great care when the 
 atmosphere freezes suddenly. 
 
 Chaussier has latterly proposed the solution of 
 the deuto-chloride of mercury, in distilled water. 
 This liquor is very useful, but it bleaches the sur- 
 face of the parts, particularly the muscles; it 
 hardens, and attacks the instruments when new re- 
 searches are attempted, upon parts already prepared. 
 This discovery, however, is very valuable to obtain the 
 mummification of certain parts, which it is intended • 
 to preserve in the open air. In order to obtain a solu- 
 tion always equally saturated, Chaussier, i has pro- 
 posed to keep at the bottom of the liquor two or 
 three knots of fine linen enclosing a certain quantity 
 of this metalic salt, in order that the saturation may 
 always be complete. 
 
 In general, we repeat, these preservative liquors 
 are attended with the great inconvenience of leaving 
 suspended, after frosts, the albuminous matters 
 which the cooling has caused to precipitate ; so that 
 the fluid of the vessel which contains the prepara- 
 tion becomes clouded, and no longer permits the ob- 
 ject so be clearly seen. Besides, the liquor freezes, 
 and breaks the jar, when the temperature is very 
 low. 
 
 The volatile oils, from whatever vegetable they 
 may have been extracted, are very proper for the 
 preservation of anatomical objects; they lose at 
 length, it is true, their transparency ; they thicken, 
 precipitate to the bottom of the vessel, the animal 
 
 1 See Bulletin des Sciences, by the Pliiloniatic Society, Vol. 3, 6th 
 year, No. 3. 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANWAL. 167 
 
 fluids which exude from the object, which exposes 
 them to corruption. But all these changes are sen- 
 sible to the eye, and the fault is easily repaired 
 when perceived in time to renew the liquor, which 
 may be afterwards re-distilled. 
 
 It is never useful to employ these liquids for the 
 preservaiion of objects loaded with fat, for they dis- 
 solve these at length and penetrate them entirely, 
 chansfin": their form and colour. 
 
 Volatile oils, and particularly turpentine, which 
 is the best, are employed to preserve with the 
 greatest success certain injections, the vehicles of 
 which would be dissolved in alcohol, and all the 
 parts whose vessels have been injected with colour- 
 ed gelatine ; finally, these oils are used in all cases 
 where it is desirable to perserve the transparency of 
 certain membranes, which have been previously 
 dried. 
 
 Alcoholic liquors are most generally used for the 
 preservation of animal substances, if they are more 
 costly, they are liable to fewer objections. Brandy, 
 rum, tafea, are coloured by a resinous substance, 
 which clouds their transparency, and which is 
 liable to be deposited. The alcohol of cherries, of 
 grain, of cider, or of wine, is preferred at present, 
 which can be procured well rectified and transpa- 
 rent, and which may be afterwards weakened with 
 distilled water, so as to obtain alcohol very limpid, 
 marking from 22^^ to 30° of Baume's areometre. 
 
 Some years since, alcohol was still employed, in 
 which was dissolved certain transparent resins ; such 
 as camphor, but it has since been ascertained, that 
 animal substances which have remained m this 
 
168 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 liquor, contract such a disagreeable and nauseous 
 odour, that it becomes very painful to keep them 
 long- uncovered for examination, consequently, pure 
 alcohol is preferred. 
 
 Nevertheless, when it is desirable to preserve the 
 preparations of the nerves, it is better to put a few- 
 drops of muriatic acid into the jar along with the 
 spirits of wine : this mixture bleaches and renders 
 more visible the nervous fibres, on which the acid 
 appears to act more specially. The yellow tinge, 
 which the parts sometimes assume in the end, may 
 sometimes be removed by pouring a small quantity 
 of muriatic acid into the jar which contains them : 
 this precaution occasionally gives a new aspect to 
 the parts. 
 
 We have chosen this passage of M. Dumeril's 
 pamphlet, because it gives with sufficient accuracy 
 all the liquids employed by preparers, and because 
 it indicates a part of the inconveniences which we 
 have experienced from them. 
 
 We shall see to what extent the more recent ad- 
 ditions made to sublimated alcohol, of hydrochlorate 
 of soda, (chloride of sodium,) of the hydrochlorate 
 of ammonia, of the muriate and nitrate of alumine, 
 can contribute to the wants of the collector of patho- 
 logical anatomy. 
 
 Before entering into this critical examination, it 
 remains for us to describe the processes employed 
 by naturalists for preserving the different species of 
 animals. The excellent manual of M. Boitard, so 
 useful to preparers, will furnish us with this infor- 
 mation. 
 
 Means of preparing and preserving practised by 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 169 
 
 naturalists. — The soap of Becoeur enjoys with na- 
 turalists a great reputation as a preservative. It is 
 this preservative, then, that we should recommend 
 as the most approved by experience : the following 
 is the receipt : 
 
 ^. Arsenic puberized, 2 ft,. 
 
 Salt of tartar, 12 g. 
 
 Camphor, 5 g. 
 White soap, 2 ih- 
 
 Powdered lime, 8 §. 
 
 In the original, four ounces of lime is recom- 
 mended, and we have given this dose in our first 
 edition ; but it has since been found by doubling it, 
 the preservative is less pasty, and less difficult to 
 use, more abundant and equally good. 
 
 M. Simon thus composes the preservative, but 
 he adds to it a certain quantity of corrosive subli- 
 mate, and of camphor dissolved in spirits of wine. 
 The camphor, thus incorporated with the preserva- 
 tive, does not volatilize so easily as when used in 
 powder. 
 
 When used, a sufficient quantity is placed in a 
 small vessel, and, with the aid of a hair pencil, it is 
 moistened with water and spread upon the piece to 
 be preserved. 
 
 Some naturalists, fearful of the danger of the 
 daily use of arsenic, have endeavoured to replace 
 this preservative by another composition, but have 
 never succeeded in obtaining results equally advan- 
 tagous ; but, nevertheless, in order to render this 
 work as complete as possible, and to facilitate new 
 researches, we thought that we should at least, in- 
 
 22 
 
170 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 dicate here, the different processes which have by- 
 turns been imagined. 
 
 In my cabinet of natural history, I have indi- 
 cated, under the name of soapy pomatum, the fol- 
 lowing composition : 
 
 Jfc. White soap, 1 ib. 
 
 Potash, h ife. 
 
 Powdered alum, 4 §. 
 
 Common water, 2 ib. 
 
 Oil of petroleum, 4 §. 
 
 Camphor, 4 §. 
 
 M. Mouton de Fontenille proposes a tanning li- 
 quor thus composed : 
 
 p. Quinquina, 1 ^. 
 
 Grenada bark, 1 
 
 Oak bark, I 
 
 Gentian root, 1 
 
 Absynthium, 1 
 
 Tobacco, 1 
 
 Powdered alum, 1 
 
 Common water, 2 ft- 
 
 Boil the whole, except the alum, which is not to be^ 
 added to the liquor until withdrawn from the fire ; 
 it is to be put into a well corked vial for use. 
 
 M. Mouton thus uses his liquor : when an ani- 
 mal is skinned, and the skin divested of grease as 
 well as possible, the internal surface is to be moist- 
 ened with the tanning liquor until it is perfectly im- 
 pregnated ; if it be a dry skin, it is to be moistened 
 in the same manner until it is softened. 
 
 An author has recommended, under the name of 
 antiseptic powder, the following composition : 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 171 
 
 ^. Arsenic, ^ it- 
 
 Calcined alum, 1^ lb- 
 
 Purified sea salt, 5 ib- 
 
 The whole to be reduced to a fine powder and well 
 mixed. 
 
 We advise that powdered arsenic never be used, 
 because, by volatilizing, it might penetrate the lungs 
 and cause mortal ravages.* 
 
 The preparor Nicholas recommends, in certain 
 cases, a composition which ought to be here men- 
 tioned, not to advise the use of it, on the .contrary, 
 to advise the rejection of it ; for far from driving off 
 the insects, it attracts them; he calls it gummy 
 paste. 
 
 {t. Colocynth, 2 3. 
 
 Gum Arabic, 4 I. 
 
 Amidon, 6 5- 
 
 Cotton, hashed fine, " 1 a- 
 
 Other preparors, without passing any thing over 
 the skin, confine themselves to the use of the follow- 
 ing powder : 
 
 P. Calcined alum, 3 §. 
 
 Flour of sulphur, 1 
 
 Black pepper, h 
 
 Powdered tobacco, ^ 
 
 Powdered sabine, h 
 
 Powdered camphor, 3 3. 
 
 The whole to be finely powdered and well mixed. 
 
 * In this country, powdered arsenic is almost exclusively used by pre- 
 parors — and is alone sufficient for this purpose— the arsenical soap is not 
 sufficiently strong ; no fatal effects have been known to follow its use; 
 care should be taken to wash frequently. — Tr. 
 
172 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 Some amateurs content themselves in passing 
 over the internal surface of the skin they wish to 
 preserve, a good layer of melted suet mixed with 
 a small quantity of corrosive sublimate ; it appears 
 that they have obtained some ad vantageous results, 
 which authorises further experiments ; it has been 
 remarked, that suet is never attacked by insects ; 
 perhaps, if it were combined with some mineral 
 matter less dangerous than the sublimate, results as 
 satisfactory as those from the arsenical soap of Be- 
 coeur might be obtained. 
 
 Such are the preservatives which have been em- 
 ployed in France, but which do not possess, to any 
 extent, the efficacy of the arsenical soap of Becoeur. 
 It appears that the Germans employ others to which 
 they attribute the same qualities, which appears to 
 us very doubtful in all cases : they may be mentioned 
 here. 
 
 Naumann, in the first place, gives a method which 
 appears to us vicious, although he invokes in its fa- 
 vour his own experience. After having said that 
 the best method of preserving is to close hermeti- 
 cally, stuffed animals in boxes, he adds : " I do no 
 more for skins which are to travel in boxes, than 
 powder them with the following composition : 
 
 " Of lime decomposed in the air, and finely sifted, 
 two parts ; of saxony tobacco, also sifted, one part. 
 
 "Hoffman approves of, and recommends the follow- 
 ing powder : 
 
 J& Sal ammmoniac, I 5. 
 
 Calcined alum, ^ 3- 
 
 Saxony tobacco, ' 3 5. 
 
 Aloes, ' 1 3- 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL 173 
 
 " The librarian of Jena, M. Theodore Thon, pro- 
 poses the following powder, as better for preserving 
 animals in the open air. 
 
 Cobalt, 1 3. 
 
 Alum, 2 5. 
 
 " To be powdered and mixed. Before employing this 
 powder, give a layer of essence of pine, (turpentine,) 
 in order that it may adhere better to the interior of 
 the skin. If the latter be very greasy, add an ounce 
 and a half of lime decomposed in the air and sifted. 
 " Among the preservatives which this naturalist 
 has investigated, we find a very simple one, which 
 he says, is very effectual for mammifera : the fol- 
 lowing is its composition : 
 
 Cobalt in very fine powder, 4 5. 
 
 Alum, 4 E. 
 
 " The same naturalist recommends another com- 
 position as very good, and which I think would be 
 worth making a trial of for large animals, which 
 would be very expensive done with arsenical soap. 
 Very fat bitument is to be melted, in a strong solu- 
 tion of soap- water, until the whole forms a sort of 
 clear broth ; the interior of the skin is to be endued 
 with this mixture, which costs very little. 
 
 " Preservatives in Liquors. 
 
 " Liquors are employed in baths, in lotion, in fric- 
 tion, in injection, and finally, in permanent baths, 
 in which certain objects are always to remain ; we 
 shall now treat of these four methods of preserva- 
 tion. 
 
174 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 '' Of the Bath. 
 
 "In many animals, and particulary in the mammi- 
 fera, the skin has such a thickness, such a degree 
 of intensity, that the arsenical soap can not pene- 
 trate it sufficiently in order to preserve it perfectly ; 
 it is then that the bath becomes an indispensable 
 operation. In penetrating the skin which is left to 
 macerate a longer or shorter time, the preservative 
 molecules with which it is saturated enters all its 
 pores, and preserves it for ever from the attacks of 
 insects. 
 
 " The following is the composition of the bath em- 
 ployed by the naturalists — preparers of Paris. 
 
 ■^ Common water, 5 ft. 
 
 Alum, 1 ib. 
 
 Sea-salt, k ft,. 
 
 " This mixture must be boiled until it is all en- 
 tirely dissolved, and when the liquor has cooled, 
 plunge the skins into it ; those of the size of a hare, 
 or thereabouts, need not remain longer than twenty- 
 four hours ; those of the larger animals must mace- 
 rate a longer or shorter time, according to their 
 thickness ; from eight to fifteen days would not be 
 too long for a buffalo or a zebra. At the museum 
 of Natural History of Paris, they very rarely make 
 use of this composition ; they are satisfied to mace- 
 rate the skins in spirits of wine, which they keep in 
 hogsheads for that purpose. Without attempting to 
 criticise this method, which may have its advantages, 
 we think that they might, perhaps, in this particular, 
 follow the English naturalists, and add, like them, 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 175 
 
 a small quantity of corrosive sublimate dissolved in 
 spirits of wine. 
 
 " Nevertheless, as we ought to be impartial, we 
 should mention here the dangers attendant on the 
 use of this terrible mineral, so much boasted by Sir S. 
 Smith, president of the Linnean Society of London. 
 When there is occasion to mount a subject prepared 
 with sublimate, whether it has been employed in 
 powder or in solution, in arranging the animal 
 there arises a dust, which penetrates the nostrils, 
 and may cause serious accidents. Arsenic, though 
 much less energetic, is not even free from this in- 
 convenience. Thus it is only with much precau- 
 tion that preparers should handle preparations in 
 skins which they receive from foreign countries, the 
 substances used in the preparation of which they are 
 ignorant. 
 
 " Let us now pass to the other preservatives in 
 liquor, less generally employed, at the present time, 
 although some of them may be very useful. The 
 following is the tanning liquor which I have pro- 
 posed in the Cabinet of Natural History : 
 
 Tan, or oak bark, 1 ife. 
 
 Powdered alum, 4 g. 
 
 Common water, 20 tb- 
 
 "An ancient author, the Abbe Manesse, composed 
 his bath in the following manner : 
 
 Alum, 1 ife. 
 
 Sea-salt, 2 §. 
 
 Cream of tartar, 1 3. 
 
 Common water, 4 ft. 
 
 " Liquors employed externally as lotion. 
 
176 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 " When an animal has been mounted or prepared, 
 and fears exist less the insect should attack it, this 
 may be prevented by M^ashing its feathers, its hairs, 
 or its naked skin, with one of the liquors which we 
 are about to indicate. Animals exposed to the open 
 air have, above all, need of being thus treated, and 
 yet, by an inconceivable negligence, many amateurs 
 permit their collections to be devoured, for the want 
 of employment of a means both simple and easy. 
 
 " 1. The essence of wild thyme, has been recently ad- 
 vantageously employed ; in "using it the feathers or 
 hairs of an animal are to be raised every little dis- 
 tance by a long needle, and at their bases, that is to 
 say, the skin, is to be touched by means of a hair 
 pencil with a drop or two of the essence, and when 
 this has been well imbibed, the hairs or feathers are 
 to be replaced, their extremities, never being in con- 
 tact with the liquor, cannot become tarnished. 
 
 "2. Essence of turpentinehas heen recommended 
 by almost all authors, and yet, when made use of 
 it is perceived with astonishment that great incon- 
 veniences result ; it never dries upon the feathers, 
 which it greases and soils in spite of every precau- 
 tion, the spots spreading and enlarging like oil ; be- 
 sides this, it forms a species of glue, which arrests 
 and fixes the dust in such a manner that no subse- 
 quent effort can remove. 
 
 " 3. Liquor of Sir S. Smith. — This intelligent Eng- 
 lish naturalist, president of the Linnean Society of 
 London, having turned his attention to the preser- 
 vation of prepared objects, already classed in collec- 
 tions, has concluded that there cannot be a more 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 177 
 
 efficacious means employed than the following 
 liquor. 
 
 {fe Corrosive sublimate, 2 3. 
 
 Camphor, 2 5. 
 
 Spirits of wine, lib. 
 
 " In large animals it is applied by means of a 
 sponge, which is passed at different times over 
 the whole exterior of the animal, until it is perfectly 
 impregnated, and the liquor has penetrated to the 
 skin. In small animals a hair pencil is used, and 
 the operation is performed in the same manner. 
 Whether the individual submitted to this prac- 
 tice be recently prepared, or whether it has long re- 
 mained in a collection, it must be permitted to dry 
 perfectly before placing it in a cabinet. 
 
 " In France this dangerous composition is replaced 
 by the preservative in very small quantities diluted 
 with water. 
 
 "4:. The hitter spirituous liquor, recommended by 
 other authors, is thus composed : 
 
 Jfc. White soap, 1 5. 
 
 Camphor, 2 3. 
 
 Colocynth, 2 §. 
 
 Spirits of %vine, 2 tb- 
 
 " The whole is to be subjected to cold infusion for 
 several days in a vessel hermetically sealed, fre- 
 quently shaking the vessel during this interval, and 
 allowed to strain through unglazed gray paper ; when 
 it is thought that the infusion is done, it must be put 
 into bottles equally well corked, and used after th&^ 
 same manner as the preceding. 
 
 "5. Varnish is employed only on the naked skin 
 23 
 
178 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 of reptiles and fishes, to which it restores a portion 
 of its splendour ; it must be absolutely colourless, 
 and perfectly transparent. In order to obtain it 
 thus, it must be prepared by dissolving fine and 
 new turpentinein spirits of wine, which must them- 
 selves possess the qualities above mentioned. It is 
 to be applied with a pencil of squirrel's tail, or the 
 tail of a martin, and the object is left exposed to the 
 air, sheltered from the dust, if it be wished to has- 
 ten its desiccation. 
 
 ^'•Liquors employed m Injections. 
 
 "Injections are more generally employed for the 
 preparation of the eggs of birds, for which it is de- 
 sirable to secure a long preservation ; although by 
 a very bad method, they have also been used for 
 the desiccation of very small animals. 
 
 '' In order to decompose the flesh of a foetus already 
 formed in an egg^ recourse is had to a strong solu- 
 tion of a fixed alkali, of soda, of tartar, or to ether. 
 
 " Liquors, in which objects are preserved rvhich do 
 not admit of drying. 
 
 " The qualities which a liquor ought to possess, in 
 which objects of natural history are placed, are, in- 
 dependently of that of preserving from decomposi- 
 tion : 1 . to be colourless, that they may not tarnish 
 the contained objects ; 2. not to attack by corrosion 
 the proper colours of the object ; 3. to be perfectly 
 transparent, that the contained objects may be visa- 
 ble through the vase which encloses them ; 4. the 
 power to resist frost, in order that they may not 
 break the jar which holds them. 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 179 
 
 "1. Spirits of wine, of from fourteen to eighteen 
 degrees of the areometer of Baume, appears to be 
 the liquor which best fulfils all these conditions ; 
 the other alcohols, such as those from potato, from 
 grain, from sugar, &c., have the same qualities; 
 but a serious inconvenience is the high price of all 
 of them, and this reason alone is an inducement to 
 look for other compound liquors, capable of replac- 
 ing them with more or less advantage. 
 
 " 2. Nicholas recommends the following composi- 
 tion : 
 
 Very pure water, 2 ib. 
 
 Alcohol, 1 ft. 
 
 Sulphate of alumine, 6 §. 
 
 " The English naturahst, George Graves, in a 
 work publislied in London, seven years ago, indi- 
 cates a liquor which has much analogy with the 
 preceding : 
 
 Alum, 8 §. 
 
 Common water, 1 ft- 
 
 Alcohol, i ft- 
 
 " The following is the method of preparing this 
 mixture : the alum is pulverised and put into a ves- 
 sel capable of resisting heat ; water being heated to 
 ebullition is poured upon the alum ; when cool, it 
 is to be filtered through gray paper, and then mixed 
 with alcohol. The same author recommends an- 
 other liquor, thus composed, but of which the mix- 
 ture is made cold. 
 
 Common water, 1 ft. 
 
 Alcohol, 1 ft. 
 
 Alum, 12 5. 
 
180 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 " 4. The Abbe Manesse, after various trials, more or 
 less successful, has published the result of his ex- 
 periments ; he proposes as the best liquor, one com- 
 posed as follows : 
 
 Alum, 1 lb. 
 
 Nitre, 1 lb. 
 
 Sea salt, 1 lb- 
 
 Common water, 4 ft 
 
 Alcohol, 1 ib- 
 
 " The water used should be distilled, so as to be 
 freed of any foreign matter ; the alum should be the 
 most transparent that could be obtained, and the 
 salt also should be purified before use. The liquor 
 may be made cold, but it is always better to boil it, 
 with the precaution not to add the spirits of wine 
 until it has cooled. 
 
 " All these liquors are inferior to spirits of wine, in- 
 asmuch as they are liable to freeze." 
 
 After having given this long list of the known 
 means of preserving, and given in detail the repre- 
 sentation of authors, it remains for us to judge of 
 them, to determine their merit, and the degree of 
 confidence that ought to be accorded to each, under 
 the triple point of view of the preservation of objects 
 of normal anatomy, of pathological anatomy, and of 
 natural history. 
 
 1. Process of desiccation. — It can be of no utihty 
 for pathological anatomy, because it changes en- 
 tirely the aspect and texture of parts, and in most 
 cases it leaves no traces of the alterations which it 
 is important to know. For normal anatomy, these 
 preparations are, and always must be, from the sim- 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 181 
 
 pie fact of desiccation, a feeble resource, and really 
 much inferior to the artificial subjects of M. Azoux ; 
 for this ingenious preparation, if it has many of the 
 faults of dry anatomy, the objects are not so de- 
 formed as scarcely to be recognised. 
 
 Further, each of the preparations which tend to 
 desiccation has its particular inconvenience : thus 
 those of the deuto-chloride are numerous, as we 
 have seen in the preceding chapter, and as have re- 
 marked in this the authors whom we have cited. 
 We may add that the salts of mercury, of copper, 
 and of lead, which, in combining with gelatine, form, 
 it is true, an inalterable compound, have a great af- 
 finity for hydrosulphuric acid, and that there re- 
 sults from this affinity, a necessary deterioration of 
 the objects, colouring them black. Sea salt does 
 not possess durable preservative properties ; and its 
 affinity for water even facilitates the decomposition 
 of the dried subjects which contain it. Alcohol is, 
 doubtless, a good means, but it requires to be fre- 
 quently renewed, until by its affinity for water it 
 absorbs all which the organs contain ; but alcohol 
 costs forty cents a quart, and loses always by evapo- 
 ration. Besides, parts thus prepared, are not less 
 deformed than other dried parts, when subjected to 
 desiccation. 
 
 The naturalist finds in the soap of Becoeur, in 
 other preparations containing arsenic, the deuto- 
 chloride of mercury, alum, &c., sufficiently good 
 means of drying or of tanning the skin and other 
 animal tissues. But, as M. Boitard has remarked, 
 these preparations are not without their inconveni- 
 ences. 
 
182 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS. 
 
 What have I to offer the anatomist who believes 
 in the utiUty of dried preparations, to the naturalist 
 whom a real necessity often forces to recur to them ? 
 My liquid, employed as a bath or injection, without 
 either danger or inconvenience, and wliicJi costs only 
 two or four cents the quart. 
 
 I shall give here an example of injection ; a corpse 
 is injected by the carotid with from five to seven 
 quarts of the acetate of alumine at 20°, and contain- 
 ing in solution about two ounces (fifty grammes) of 
 arsenic acid. Four days after this injection, if it is 
 intended to prepare the large and small vessels, in- 
 ject by the aorta half a quart of a mixture, equal 
 parts, of the essence of turpentine and essence of 
 varnish ; finally, make a single cast of a hot injec- 
 tion of a mixture of suet and of rosin, in equal parts, 
 coloured with cinabar for the arteries, and with a 
 black or blue colour for the veins. Then, the corpse, 
 or the part of the corpse which it is intended to pre- 
 serve, is prepared and dissected at leisure, accord- 
 ing to the wish of the operator. 
 
 When the body has been injected, as above des- 
 cribed, the preparation which is made of it easily 
 dries in the open air from the month of May to the 
 month of October ; during the winter it is necessary 
 to deposit it in an oven, or in a heated chamber. 
 When the desiccation is slow, or the moisture is ex- 
 cessive, the byssus sometimes developes on its 
 surface, but this may be washed off, and a layer of 
 varnish will prevent new vegetations. This prepa- 
 ration will be certainly superior to any contained in 
 cabinets of anatomy. 
 
 In support of this assertion, I will cite an au- 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 183 
 
 thentic fact, that of a woman whose body was sub- 
 mitted to the examination of the commissioners of 
 the Institute and of the Royal Academy of Medicine, 
 appointed to prove the value of my process. 
 
 On the 10th of May, 1834, a woman died in the 
 wards of M. Majendie, at the Hotel-Dieu ; the body 
 was injected the next day with the acetate of alu- 
 mine, at the termination of this operation, it re- 
 mained fresh until the 15th of January, 1835, when it 
 dried without experiencing- any alteration. The com- 
 missioners of the two Academies made experiments 
 upon this body, at different periods. On the 15th 
 of January, 1836, M. Gueneau de Mussy, to assure 
 himself of the state of the cerebral substance, de- 
 manded the head to be opened, I profited by this 
 occasion to take off the hairy scalp. The same day, 
 M. Breschet, desiring toknow what would result from 
 the exposure of this corpse to the open air, it was 
 suspended beneath the shed of the dissecting rooms 
 (ecole pratique.) 
 
 Ten months after, in the month of November of 
 the same year, it had not experienced any altera- 
 tion. At this period, M. Gaucherant, inspecting 
 overseer of the ecole pratique, wishing to terminate 
 the experiment, the body was sent to the cemetery. 
 
 The right arm and forearm, the only parts re- 
 maining untouched, after the experiments of MM. 
 the commissioners, were amputated hy myself. I 
 preserve this piece, as well as the hairy scalp ; I can 
 show them to anatomists to be compared with all 
 the preparations obtained by other processes ; none of 
 them, I am convinced will be pronounced comparable 
 to mine. The hairs remain so firmly attached to the 
 
184 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 scalp, that a strong pull will not detach them ; I am 
 quite sure that the injection has penetrated even to 
 the capillary tubes of these organs ; my experiments 
 upon cats, dogs, and birds, have demonstrated the 
 penetration of my liquid into the horny organs, hairs, 
 or feathers, which clothe the skin of these animals. 
 These facts will demonstrate all the services which 
 it is capable of rendering naturalists. Finally, no 
 process of tanning could give to the internal surface 
 of the skin an aspect more satisfactory than that 
 which offer other preparations deposited in my ca- 
 binet 
 
 2. Preservation in liquids. — The different preser- 
 vative liquids produce effects very different from 
 the process of desiccation ; however, all those em- 
 ployed up to the present day, possess serious incon- 
 veniences, as any one may be convinced by reading 
 the very commendable passages w^hich we have ex- 
 tracted from the pamphlet of M. Dumeril. We 
 shall point out some others which he has omitted. 
 
 {a.) Nitric Acid, the only one of all the acids, that 
 can be of any use to the anatomists, preserves well, 
 it is true, the preparation of the nerves, hardening 
 their structure, and increasing their nacreous white 
 colour ; but it deteriorates all the other structures, 
 it dissolves the gelatine, softens the muscles, and 
 deprives the bones of their calcareous salts ; it can- 
 not be other than deleterious to objects of patholo- 
 gical anatomy, and natural history. 
 
 {b.) Alcohol, is more servicable than any other li- 
 quor in use, but its high price renders its employ- 
 ment almost impossible for objects of normal ana- 
 tomy ; it hardens and sensibly alters objects of pa- 
 thological anatomy ; and these alterations, however 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 185 
 
 trifling they maybe, and unimportant to regular ana- 
 tomy, are serious for the physician, who cannot have 
 too exact an idea of the progress of disorganization 
 in the livino;- tissues. If alcohol is eminentlv useful 
 for natural history, its costliness renders it impos- 
 sible to extend the use of it as far as the interest of 
 science demands. 
 
 c. Diluted Alcohol, to which is added the deuto- 
 chloride of mercury, is a less expensive liquor ; it 
 preserves accurately enough the labours of the na- 
 turalist and anatomist, but it is not sufficiently 
 faithful for a pathological anatomy. The same may 
 be said of the hydro-chlorate of soda, the hydro- 
 chlorate of ammonia, the muriate and nitrate of 
 alumine added to alcohol. 
 
 d. Alum, which we have seen figure in many of 
 the adopted formulae, is, nevertheless an unprofit- 
 able means of preservation. Extensively used in 
 commerce, and employed from time immemorial in 
 dyeing, it has only recently attracted the attention 
 of preparers. This salt, to which the new chemical 
 nomenclature has successively assigned the names 
 of double sulphate, triple sulphate, acid sulphate oj 
 alumine and potash ; has been experimented upon 
 by myself, and has not answered my expectations. 
 I have investigated the cause of this failure, and 
 think I have found it ; in analysing this compound, 
 for every hundred parts I have obtained 
 
 Sulphate of alumine, 36.85 
 
 Sulphate of potash, 18.15 
 
 Water, 45 
 
 100 
 
 2 A 
 
186 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 One hundred parts of this salt contains 10.86 of 
 alumine. At the temperature of 12° centigrade, 
 five hundred grammes of v^ater dissolves thirty 
 grammes of salt, from M^hence it results that a 
 pound of water contains in solution only eighteen 
 grains of alumine ; from whence I have suspected 
 that the little efficacy of alum for the preservation 
 of animal matter, depends on the too small quantity 
 of alumine in the solution. A fact convinced me 
 that I was right : twenty-four hours after the im- 
 mersion of a corpse in a bath containing the acid 
 sulphate of alumine, I have observed that all the 
 alumine was absorbed by the animal matter. Finally, 
 the experiments which I have tried with the salts 
 of alum, more rich in alumine, and more soluble in 
 water, and the happy results I have attained, au- 
 thorizes me to say : alum is a bad means of preser- 
 vation, because it is not sufficiently soluble, and does 
 not contain enough alumiiie. The reader will na- 
 turally again recur to the subject when we come to 
 the exposition of my researches. 
 
 Sect. 3. — Means of preservation apj^lied to each 
 tissue. 
 
 In our first paragraph, we have passed in review 
 the different preparations which ought to precede 
 the application of preservative means ; in the se- 
 cond, we have seen these numerous means, and we 
 were compelled to deliver an impartial judgment. 
 It remains for us to explain here how anatomists 
 have applied them to the tissues taken separately. 
 We shall abstain from relating the preparations 
 which precede the application of preservative means, 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 187 
 
 because they are foreign to the subject which occu- 
 pies us, and would uselessly prolong a discussion 
 already too much extended. 
 
 1. Fibrous tissues. — Articulations, aponeuroses, 
 tendons, and ligaments. — The process generally 
 adopted is due to M. J. Cloquet, in nearly following 
 the method employed by the tanner, he has suc- 
 ceeded in preserving ihe suppleness of these tissues. 
 
 " The following," continues he, " is the process 
 which I have adopted. 
 
 " Dissolve four pounds of muriate of soda and a 
 pound of alum in ten pints of water : the articula- 
 tion, which has been carefully dissected, must be 
 allowed to macerate fifteen or twenty days in this 
 lie ; paying attention to move it frequently in the 
 solution, to press and twist its ligaments, and, above 
 all, to strike it lightly with a little mace of light 
 wood. These manoeuvres are intended to render 
 them pliable, to separate the fibres, which permits 
 the salts to penetrate more easily. Withdraw the 
 articulation from the solution, dry it for four or five 
 days, taking care to move it occasionally, and still 
 to strike it with the little mace; then put the arti- 
 culation into a very concentrated solution of soap, 
 (a pound to three pints of water,) handle, and strike 
 it again for seven or eight days, the time necessary 
 for divesting it of salt, and permitting the soap to 
 penetrate the ligamentous fibres, to take the place 
 of the salts. At the end of this time, that is to say, 
 thirty-six or forty days after the commencement of 
 the operation, wash the articulation in a weak lie of 
 carbonate of soda, (an ounce to two pounds of wa- 
 ter,) after which it is to be dried. 
 
188 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 " By this process, which may be modified in va- 
 rious ways, ligament may be obtained perfectly sup- 
 ple, of a yellowish or grayish colour, resembling 
 chamois leather, very resisting, and permitting the 
 joints to execute their ordinary movements. 
 
 " I have prepared, in this manner, the articula- 
 tions of the shoulder, of the knee, of the fingers, and 
 of the vertebral column. I repeated my experiments 
 with the intention of obtaining a more expeditious 
 method. 
 
 " The articulations may also be preserved per- 
 fectly supple, by keeping them immersed in a mix- 
 ture of equal parts of olive oil and essence of tur- 
 pentine. 
 
 " 2. Osseous tissue. — The difiJ'erent preparations 
 to which bones are subjected in order to preserve 
 them, are maceration or ebullition, and then bleach- 
 ing- 
 
 " Maceration. — When it is desired to obtain the 
 bones very white, it is necessary to choose, as far as 
 possible, a thin or infiltrated corpse, of an individual 
 of from thirty to forty-five years, or thereabouts, 
 dead of some chronic disease which has not altered 
 the structure of the bones. Consumptive bodies are 
 the most proper for this kind of preparation. The 
 subject being chosen, it is roughly stripped of its 
 muscles and periosteum ; the sternum is to be de- 
 tached by dividing the costal cartilages where they 
 join the ribs ; the members are to be separated from 
 the trunk, in order that these various parts may be 
 more conveniently placed in a trough, which is to 
 be filled with water, and disposed in some place 
 where the putrid emanations cannot produce any in- 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 189 
 
 convenience ; the bones must be constantly kept co- 
 vered with water, which must be renewed every 
 four or five days in the commencement, and at more 
 prolonged intervals towards the end of the macera- 
 tion. 
 
 " The anatomist should watch over these macera- 
 tions ; and it is only when all the fibrous parts se- 
 parate easily from the bones, or the inter-vertebral 
 fibro-cartilages, and the yellow ligaments separate 
 readily from the vertebra, that the skeleton should 
 be withdrawn from the bath and cleaned. For this 
 purpose, he collects with care all the pieces, and 
 places them in clean water ; he cleans them by re- 
 moving with a scalpel the fibrous parts which may 
 yet adhere, and by rubbing them under water with 
 a very coarse brush ; he then places them on coarse 
 linen to dry them. 
 
 ''Ebullition. — Boiling water is often resorted to 
 for preparing the bones of the skeleton. After hav- 
 ing roughly separated them from the soft parts, they 
 are placed in a kettle of water, and subjected to 
 ebullition for six or ten hours, according to the sub- 
 ject. The action of the water is increased, and the 
 fibrous parts more accurately stripped from the 
 bones, as well as the grease, by placing in the ket- 
 tle, an hour before the end of the operation, potash, 
 or soda of commerce, (sub-carbonate of potash, and 
 of soda,) one pound to eighty or a hundred pints of 
 liquid. After having carefully removed the grease 
 which swims on the surface of the water, the bones 
 are to be withdrawn and plunged into a new alka- 
 line lie, warm and very weak ; clean them with 
 care, as in the preceding case, separating exactly 
 
190 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 from the articular surfaces, the swollen and softened 
 cartilages, which remain adhering to them : the 
 bones being clean, they are to be washed frequently 
 previously to drying. 
 
 " In employing ebullition, we have the advantage 
 of preparing the bones more promptly, and in a man- 
 ner less insalubrious than by maceration. Never- 
 theless, this mode of preparation has its inconveni- 
 ence : 1. Bones which are boiled, become, in gene- 
 ral, less white than those which are macerated ; the 
 blood coagulating in their pores, leaves a brown 
 tinge, which it is often impossible to remove ; 2. 
 They commonly retain a greater quantity of medul- 
 lary matter, which, by becoming rancid, soon gives 
 them a yellow colour and a very disagreeable odour ; 
 3. Ebullition is not applicable to the bones of young 
 subjects, in which the epiphyses are not yet ad- 
 herent ; it acts upon their gelatinous texture, and 
 despoils, in part, the short bones and the extremities 
 of the long bones of the compact layer which enve- 
 lopes them. This last inconvenience is manifested 
 even in the bones of adults. 
 
 " Dealbation, or bleaching of hones. — In order to 
 obtain macerated bones perfectly white, several pro- 
 cesses are employed : 1. The best method consists 
 in placing them upon the grass exposed to the united 
 action of the air, the sun, and the dew, as is prac- 
 tised in bleaching linen, wax, &c.; care is to be 
 taken to turn them every fifteen days, in order that 
 they may bleach equably ; two or three months of 
 such exposure is sufficient, particularly during the 
 spring, to give them a brilliant whiteness. 2. The 
 bones may be exposed to the action of chlorine, 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 191 
 
 either liquid or gaseous. In the first case, they are 
 to be plunged three or four times daily in a lie which 
 holds chlorine in solution, repeating this operation 
 for ten or twelve days ; in the second, they must be 
 steeped in \vater, placed on a hurdle and covered 
 with cere-cloth or gummed taffeta, they are then to 
 be exposed over an earthen pan, in which has been 
 placed suitable proportions, of muriate of soda, oxide 
 of manganese, and sulphuric acid : from time to time 
 this mixture is to be slightly heated. 3. In place of 
 gaseous chlorine, the vapour of sulphuric acid may 
 be advantageously employed, as is done in the arts 
 of bleaching wool, silk, &c.; sulphur is slowly burned 
 beneath the hurdle, upon which has been placed 
 the moistened bones ; the alkaline lies may also be 
 used for the bleaching of bones although they do 
 not appear to me so advantageous as the preceding 
 means. 
 
 ''3. Cutaneous tissues. — Deprived of grease, and of 
 subjacent cellular tissue and exposed to the air, 
 this tissue inclines to dry. The human skin may 
 be prepared by the aid of several processes ana- 
 logous to those of tanners and leather dressers. 
 A lie has been recommended composed of two 
 pounds of common salt, four ounces of sulphate 
 of iron, and eight ounces of alum, melted in three 
 pints of almost boiling water ; the skin divested 
 of its grease, is plunged into this solution, agitated 
 for half an hour, and macerated for a day or two in 
 this liquid ; the lie must be frequently renewed, then 
 the skin is to be withdrawn from the bath and dried 
 in the shade. 
 
 " 4. Cellular tissue. — Authors have successively 
 employed desiccation, insufflation, tanning liquors 
 
192 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 and alcohol, for preparing the cellular tissue ; al- 
 though the method given by them as preferable, is 
 the preservation in an aqueous solution of nitrate of 
 alumine, to v^^hich is added a small quantity of 
 spirits of vi^ine. 
 
 " 5. Synovial and serous tissues. — The first is much 
 more easily preserved than the other ; an accura+e 
 dissection, expulsion of the synovial liquor, knead- 
 ing, and desiccation, are the means used ; the ope- 
 ration is finished by the application of a preserva- 
 tive varnish. The same practice is applied to the 
 serous tissues, but with less success ; its proximity 
 to organs eminently putrescible, such as the brain, 
 the lungs, the liver, renders its dissolution more im- 
 minent, more difficult to prevent. 
 
 "6. Encephalon, spinal marrow, 7ierves. — We have 
 already spoken of the property of nitric acid, to give 
 consistency to the nerves, without causing them to 
 lose any thing of their pearly whiteness. Anatomists 
 generally avail themselves, for the preservation of 
 the whole nervous system, of the alcoholic solution 
 of corrosive sublimate. After twenty or thirty days 
 immersion in the bath, these organs are withdrawn 
 and exposed to dry. As communicating a remark- 
 able density to the encephalic mass, a solution of 
 sugar in brandy is much praised : it is a method re- 
 commended by Lobstein, chief of the anatomical de- 
 partment of the Faculty of Strasbourg. 
 
 "7. Arterial vessels, veins, and lymphatics. — The in- 
 teresting details which have been furnished to us 
 by the pamphlets of M. Dumeril on the subject of 
 injections, will enable us to dispense with much 
 further developments ; the vessels injected and pre- 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 193 
 
 served, as we have seen, are dried and preserved in 
 alcoholic liquors. 
 
 " When the object is to prepare the vessels of the 
 bones, some care is exacted to render visible their 
 passage through the bony frame ; after having filled 
 the vessel with a coloured injection, the piece is to 
 be placed in a diluted mineral acid, w^hich, in dis- 
 solving the calcareous phosphate, leaves the vessels 
 in position, and clearly visible through the gelatinous 
 portion of the bone. 
 
 " In causing this mucous body to dry slowly and 
 in the shade, it will acquire the necessary trans- 
 parency to manifest on its cut surface (endued with 
 volatile oil and varnished) the distribution of the 
 vessels which penetrate the bones. These pieces 
 may be preserved in a collection, either in the open 
 air, after having been plunged into an alcoholic so- 
 lution of arsenical soap, which dries quickly with- 
 out bleaching; and to which essence varnish ad- 
 heres very well ; or if the piece is small, it may be 
 suspended in a jar of volatile oil, luted with care ; in 
 this latter case, the injection must have been made 
 with gelatine, and not with fatty matter. 
 
 " 8. Muscular tissue. — The process of Swan, or 
 rather the discoveries of Chaussier, furnish the 
 means of preserving the muscles by desiccation. 
 Nevertheless, another method is recommended by 
 authors ; after having prepared the vessels and the 
 muscles, the preparation is to be placed in a mix- 
 ture of alcohol, lavender, and essence of turpentine ; 
 it is to be left for several days in this liquor, and then 
 exposed to a warm and dry air; when desiccation is 
 complete, a layer of varnish may be applied. 
 
 25 
 
194 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS 
 
 "9. The preservation of particular organs, such as 
 the heart, the lungs, the eye, &c., differ but little from 
 that of the organs w^hich we have just mentioned ; 
 they are always to be either dried, or deposited in an 
 alcohol bath. The lacrymal ways, says M. Breschet 
 in his excellent thesis on the preservation of anato- 
 mical subjects (Paris, 1819,) are less easily pre- 
 served, although the lacrymal sac, nasal canal, the 
 lacrymal points and conducts, offer more difficulty 
 in their preparation than in their preservation, which 
 may be accomplished by liquors, or by desiccation. 
 The lacrymal canal, and its excretory canals, can 
 only be seen on preparations in spirits of wine. 
 Finally, the following are some passages from the 
 same work, upon the means of preserving the emhryon 
 and thefcBtal envelopes. 
 
 "It is useful to preserve theembryons and foetuses 
 at different periods of gestation, in order to study the 
 successive development of each organ. 
 
 " The egg, considered in its various periods of in- 
 cubation, can only be preserved in alcohol somewhat 
 weakened, in order that it may not harden the mem- 
 branes. Kirschwasser, in which has been dissolved 
 the nitrate of alumine, forms a limpid liquor, in 
 which the egg may be preserved without any alter- 
 ation. In order to demonstrate the development 
 of these organs, many parts may be injected ; thus, 
 during the earlier periods, the pedicle of the umbi- 
 lical vesicle admits mercury, which is introduced 
 by a small glass syringe, the tube of which has been 
 drawn fine in the blow-pipe : this injection ought to 
 be made on the side of the vesicle, and sometimes 
 the metal may be seen passing into the intestines. 
 
PREVIOUS TO THE PROCESS OF GANNAL. 195 
 
 " The omphalo-mesenteric vessel ought also to be 
 injected. The urachus should be opened, and its 
 communication with the bladder should be shown 
 on one part, and with the alantois on the other. All 
 these parts are to be kept separate from each other, 
 and attached by means of small pins to a plate of 
 wax. In the foetus, near the term of gestation, 
 those vessels which establish the communication be- 
 tween it and the mother, are to be injected. 
 
 "The bones of the embryon, after having been in- 
 jected, are to be placed in oil of turpentine, without 
 its being necessary previously to place them in a 
 weakened acid. 
 
 As regards the envelopes of the foetus, and the 
 placenta which it may be intended to preserve after 
 an accouchment at full term, injections of different 
 colours are forced into the umbilical arteries and 
 veins ; this injection should not be too delicate, or 
 pushed with too much force, otherwise it will pass 
 from one of the vessels into the other. These two 
 parts should be allowed to soak some time in an 
 aluminous water, or, what is better, in a sublimated 
 alcoholic solution, then place a hog's bladder in the 
 cavity of the membranes, blow up the bladder, and 
 thus expose the parts to the air for desiccation ; after 
 which the bladder is to be withdrawn. The mem- 
 branes, with the placenta, may thus be preserved, 
 by placing the uterine face of the latter sometimes 
 within sometimes without the cavity of the mem- 
 branes. These same parts can be preserved in li- 
 quors. Finally, some persons make use of the me- 
 thod of corrosion to prepare and preserve the pla- 
 centa." 
 
106 METHOD OF PRESERVING SUBJECTS, &C. 
 
 It is useless to advance here new observations ; 
 those which have been already presented on the oc- 
 casion of preservation, considered in general, are 
 equally applicable to the present. It will be per- 
 ceived in the following chapter what means I pro- 
 pose to substitute for them, as meriting the prefer- 
 ence. 
 
GENERAL PROCESSES, &C. 197 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE PRESERVATION OF 
 OBJECTS OF NORMAL ANATOMY, PATHOLOGICAL ANA- 
 TOMY, AND OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 E M B A I, M I N G . 
 
 A PORTION of my researches has been submitted 
 to the examination of commissioners, appointed by 
 the Institute, and by the Academy of Medicine. 
 
 After long and repeated experiments, MM. the 
 commisioners, have been unanimous upon the uti- 
 Hty of the processes of preservation which I propose, 
 and in particular my process for the preservation of 
 subjects for the amphitheatres, the only one for 
 which it was important for me to obtain a definite 
 sanction, recommended by the Institute, is applied 
 to the dissecting rooms of Clamart, with a success 
 that every one may witness. 
 
 The faithful and complete exposition of the nu- 
 merous trials which I have attempted, will furnish 
 me, in this chapter, the occasion of indicating the 
 most efficacious means of preservation for objects of 
 pathological anatomy and of natural history. And, 
 as it is incumbent on a man of study, disinterested 
 in all that concerns science, I will give publicity to 
 the result of my labours, the composition of the dif- 
 ferent liquids, and the mode of using them. 
 
 As for my process of embalming, I have thought 
 
198 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 that it ought to remain my property, and that one 
 exclusively addicted to chemical studies was more 
 qualified than the physician to subject it to those 
 modifications which each particular case requires. 
 
 I have secured a patent of invention ; for my me- 
 thod differs essentially enough from the prepara- 
 tions which I indicate for the purposes of anatomy. 
 
 It is necessary, in effect, to preserve to the tissues 
 in embalming, a freshness and suppleness which is 
 lost by desiccation, at the end of some months, in 
 the subjects injected for the use of the anatomist ; it 
 is necessary, above all, to secure to the body, in this 
 latter case, a more prolonged preservation : the facts 
 which I can show, will prove that I have attained 
 my end. 
 
 1. — Preservation of bodies for dissection. 
 
 My experiments upon gelatine have conducted 
 me to the knowledge of some one of the constituent 
 parts of different animals. I had studied the action 
 of chemical agents habitually employed in the arts ; 
 the labour of the tanner, or leather dresser, of the 
 parchment maker, the fabrication of glue, which I 
 have practised on a large scale from 1819 to 1828, 
 have equally furnished me with valuable data. 
 
 In 1826, my attention having been arrested by 
 MM. Begin and Serrulas, on the preservation of ob- 
 jects of pathological anatomy, trials were made at 
 the Val-de-Grace. 
 
 In 1828, M. Alphonse Sanson, disposing himself 
 to prepare a cabinet of anatomy, at the request and 
 for the use of some English gentlemen, proposed to 
 me to occupy myself with the question relative to 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &LC. 199 
 
 preservation, which obliged me to make some re- 
 searches; but it was not until 1831, and at the so- 
 licitation of M. Strauss, an anatomist of well known 
 merit, that I undertook serious and continued la- 
 bours upon the preservation of bodies. From this 
 moment, I employed all my attention and cares to 
 resolve this question. 
 
 The researches on the preservation of bodies de- 
 manded the re-union of different circumstances, 
 without which it would have been impossible for 
 me to have attained a satisfactory solution. It is 
 easy to conceive, in effect, the great difference which 
 ought to exist between the action of any given li- 
 quid upon some scruples of animal matter, and its 
 action on an entire corpse ; I ought to confess, also, 
 that without the extreme courtesy of M. Orfila, 
 who placed at my disposition, at the practical school 
 of the faculty of medicine, all the objects of which 
 I might stand in need, it is probable that it would 
 have been impossible for me to have arrived at po- 
 sitive results. I encountered some difficulties, some 
 resistance, and even something more, on the part of 
 some scientific notables, and also of some ambitious 
 subalterns ; but I have surmounted all. 
 
 This work on the preservation of bodies ought 
 only to be considered as the suit of that in which I 
 have treated of the preservation of alimentary meats. 
 It is only the circumstances of which I have just 
 spoken, that have determined me to finish this work 
 
 sooner.. 
 
 It is well known that the study of medicine should 
 be preceded by the study of anatomy, which teaches 
 the knowledge of the ororanization of the human 
 
200 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 body ; but this study is difficult and presents nu- 
 merous dangers. The study of the orgaas exacts 
 time; their dissection is tedious, especially if in- 
 tended for demonstration. In this case it almost al- 
 ways happens that putrefaction seizes the subject 
 before the preparation is finished ; for, at a tem- 
 perature above fifteen degrees, it is impossible to 
 preserve a subject more than six days ; under this 
 temperature, that is to say, from to 10 degrees, 
 the longest time one can disssect is tM^elve or fifteen 
 days. But the corpse alw^ays exhales mephitic mi- 
 asmata before all the organs are putrefied, and this 
 emanation of gas is certainly the cause which most 
 frequently determines typhus fever, so destructive 
 to a portion of our studious youths.^ 
 
 Before exposing my own researches upon the pre- 
 servation of bodies, it was necessary to examine the 
 researches anterior to mine ; it will have been per- 
 ceived by what precedes, that they were of no ser- 
 vice to me. 
 
 Thus, in viewing all that has been effected on 
 this matter, I can find no indications excepting the 
 processes employed in the arts. 
 
 In our works of chemistry applied to the arts, I 
 have often been able to prove, practically, that mus- 
 cular flesh, perfectly isolated, easily dries. When 
 it is mixed with gelatine, it easily experiences, on 
 the contrary, putrid fermentation. Geline^ is the 
 
 ^ Out of ten medical students lodging together, and frequently of the 
 same amphitheatre, nine were attacked by this grave malady in the 
 course of last year, and three of them died. 
 
 2 Up to the present, certain animal substances have been considered 
 chemically identical, which are not so: 1, the proper matter of gelati- 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &C. 201 
 
 animal matter, which, all circumstances being equal, 
 putrefies the easiest ; and which, forming the organs 
 of animals, experiences an alteration more or less 
 prompt, according to the prevalence of a greater or 
 less quantity of water of composition present. Al- 
 ways, then, when we succeed in preserving from 
 putrefaction this animal part, the other parts will be 
 disposed to desiccation. My researches have con- 
 ducted me to this conclusion. 
 
 In order to find a method of preserving bodies, 
 and animal matters in general, it was essential to 
 examine the action of chemical substances to which 
 may be attributed properties which produce upon 
 the constituent parts of these matters an immediate 
 action; it is necessary also, that they should be 
 easily procured, and that they be of a moderate 
 price. I am satisfied that acids do not preserve ani- 
 mal matters ; they disorganize them more or less 
 promptly, in direct proportion to their concentration. 
 Many weak acids, among others hydrochloric acid, 
 at five degrees, may be employed to dissolve the 
 calcareous salts from the bones ; nitric acid also, at 
 five degrees, may be brought into use in some par- 
 ticular cases; for example, when it is wished to 
 study the nervous system ; but then the bones are 
 softened, the geline is in part disorganized, the mus- 
 
 nous tissues not decomposed ; 2, the product which results from their de- 
 composition by the action of heat and water ; 3, this same secondary 
 product dried. These three compounds were designated by the denomi- 
 nation of gelatine. As I have proved that there is not between them any 
 identity of character, I have named gelatine the animal matter contained 
 in the gelatinous tissues ; I have reserved the name jelly to the product 
 of the decomposition of geline, and I have left the name gelatine to glue, 
 whatever may be its purity. 
 
 26 
 
202 GENERAL TROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 cles are discolored, and become flabby, as well as 
 the viscera ; the nerves only remain of a pearly blue, 
 strongly pronounced. 
 
 Arsenic acid has a very marked action on animal 
 matters ; I shall make it known without delay in 
 my second memoir upon gelatine. It preserves bo- 
 dies well, but appears to favour their desiccation. In 
 the details of experiments made under the surveil- 
 lance of the commissioners of the two academies, I 
 shall cite the effects produced by the employment 
 of this substance. Acetic acid preserves flesh only 
 by drying it. This acid weakened, or vinegar, re- 
 tards putrefaction, softens the bones, as well as the 
 muscles, which are discolored by its action. 
 
 Concentrated lies dissolve all animal matters; 
 weak alkaline solutions disorganize more or less 
 promptly the same substances. 
 
 A very small quantity of alkali suffices, when 
 warm, to decompose very large masses of glue. 
 This effect is often produced through ignorance in 
 the manufacture of strong glue. 
 
 Salts only preserve meats when employed dry, or 
 in very concentrated solutions ; it is necessary that 
 their affinity should be sufficiently great to absorb 
 all the water of combination of animal matters. It 
 may be then affirmed that salt only preserves meat 
 by drying it ; thus those salts more soluble in warm 
 than in cold water ; may, when injected warm, in a 
 saturated solution, be considered as a good means 
 of preservation, but which cannot be employed for 
 anatomical purposes, because of the crystals which 
 form in the organs during the cooling of the injected 
 liquor. 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOAIY. &iC. 203 
 
 Salts with a metallic oxide base have in general 
 little affinity for geline, and do not preserve well ; 
 those which are poisonous being alone excepted. 
 The salts of copper, and above all those of mercury 
 hinder putrefaction ; but many causes are opposed 
 to their employment. 
 
 1. Their action is not sufficiently energetic to give 
 them the preference : 2. they are always dangerous 
 when employed in large quantities. 3. They are 
 very injurious to dissecting instruments. 4. In fine 
 they are too costly. 
 
 The aluminous salts are those alone which I find 
 possessed of the property of preserving animal mat- 
 ters ; their bases combine w^ith geline to form a parr 
 ticular compound, the acid being set free. 
 
 The vegetable kingdom furnishes but few pro- 
 ducts capable of preventing or retarding putrefac- 
 tion ; alcohol is nearly the only substance posses- 
 sing the property. It preserves in the same man- 
 ner as the salts, by imbibing a portion of the water 
 of composition ; it bleaches, discolours, and hardens 
 the organs. Alcohol is the only substance employed up 
 to the present for preservation ; but its action upon the 
 tissues, its extreme volatility, the difficulty of trans- 
 porting it, and its extreme dearness, makes another 
 process desirable. 
 
 Tannin cannot be employed, because water does 
 not contain enough of it in solution to render an in- 
 jection of it preservative ; a corpse im merged, even 
 in a great mass of tannin, is no better preserved, 
 tlie skin is tanned, but the flesh decomposes.* 
 
 * Entire bodies of both men and horses have been found not unfre«- 
 quentlvi preserved for centuries in the Knsrlisli bogs — which preserva- 
 
204 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 Gallic acid acts in the same manner, but yet more 
 feebly than tannin. 
 
 An oily, volatile, and very odorous substance, re- 
 cently discovered, and to which the name Creosote, 
 has been given, has been presented as a universal 
 panacea, which, among other properties, ought to 
 possess that of well preserving bodies. In order to 
 assure myself of the truth of this assertion, on the 18th 
 October, 1835, I injected a subject with one hun- 
 dred scruples of creosote, dissolved in seven quarts 
 water. On the 23d, the abdomen was very much 
 swollen, and of a very strongly pronounced blue- 
 green colour ; on the 26th, the left side of the face, 
 the right arm, and all of the left leg, were green ; 
 on the 30th of October, putrefaction was so much 
 developed that it became necessary to bury the body. 
 It may be objected, that the subject should have 
 been at the same time steeped in a bath saturated 
 with this substance ; but its high price discouraged 
 me from making such an experiment; besides I think 
 that the odour of the creosote will always prove an 
 obstacle to its employment. 
 
 Alum, the acid sulphate of alumine, and of pot- 
 ash, have given me the first good results; but, 
 slightly soluble when cold, they will not suffice 
 when the atmospherical temperature rises above fif- 
 teen degrees, (cent.) A mixture of alum, of chlo- 
 ride of sodium, (common salt,) and of nitrate of pot- 
 
 tion has always been referred to the tannin in its fluid portion. These in- 
 stances probably occurred at a low temperature. I have tried the experiment 
 by immersing small quadrupeds in a saturated solution of powdered nut- 
 galls, during warm weather, but always found it insufficient for preser- 
 vation from putrefaction. — TV. 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &C. 205 
 
 ash, has succeeded better with me. I have tried the 
 action of sulphate of soda, of chloride of calcium, 
 (muriate of lime,) of hydrochlorate of ammonia, &c.; 
 they were almost useless. 
 
 The mixture of two parts of alum, of two parts of 
 salt, and of one part of nitre, in a sufficient quantity 
 of water to mark the Uquor at ten degrees, injected, 
 preserves bodies very well bathed in the same liquor, 
 but only when the temperature is under ten de- 
 grees 0|0 for a more elevated temperature it is ne- 
 cessary to warm the liquid, and add the salt mix- 
 ture until the areometer marks twenty-five or thirty 
 degrees. 
 
 Of all the saline substances which have given me 
 satisfactory results, the aluminous deliquescent 
 salts are to be preferred. The acetate and chloride 
 of alumine have perfectly succeeded with me. In 
 fine, a mixture of equal parts, of chloride of alumine 
 at twenty degrees, and of the acetate of alumine at 
 ten degrees, may be considered, employed in injec- 
 tion, as a good method which we now possess for 
 the preservation of bodies. 
 
 Now that I have explained the action of chemical 
 agents upon animal matters, I shall enter upon the 
 details of experiments. 
 
 I presented my work to the Institute on the fourth 
 of March, 1833. The Academy of Sciences named 
 for its examination, a commission composed of MM. 
 Savart, Flourens, ChevreuiJ, and Serres, reporter. 
 A few days after, M. Serres placed at my disposi- 
 tion, at the Hospital La Pitie, and in his private ca- 
 binet, a corpse, which I bathed in a tub containino- 
 a solution at ten degrees, two parts of alum, two 
 
206 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 parts of common salt, and one part of nitre. This 
 subject^ repeatedly examined, appeared to be well 
 preserved- At the end of about six weeks it was 
 opened ; the flesh and the viscera were in a good 
 state of preservation, but particular circumstances 
 put an end to this examinatioiL 
 
 On the twelfth of November, 1834, the adminis- 
 tration of Hospitals presented two subjects to me, 
 which M. Orfila authorized me to place in one of 
 the grand pavilions of the practical school of the fa- 
 culty of medicine. These two subjects were bathed 
 in a liquid of ten degrees. The second of Decem- 
 ber the commission of the Academy of Sciences 
 came to examine these two subjects, which were 
 consigned to dissection. On the same day another 
 subject was given to me. This was injected with 
 eight quarts of the saline solution at ten degrees. 
 At the end of December, these three subjects were 
 in a good state of preservation ; it was remarked, 
 however, that the skin as well as the flesh, had 
 slightly assumed a decayed consistence and colour ; 
 the deep organs, which had not been in immediate 
 contact with the liquid, remained almost natural. 
 From this period until the end of April, the com- 
 mission frequently assembled and confirmed these 
 results- 
 
 A commission constituted by the Academy of Me- 
 dicine early in March, examined these same sub- 
 jects, and demanded new experiments. The first 
 subject was injected with coloured fat, and then 
 bathed. The corpse injected on the second of De- 
 cember, was also injected with coloured fat. 
 
 Here it may be remarked that it required double 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &C. 207 
 
 the quantity of fatty matter for this, than for afresh 
 subject, and that the most delicate arterial net-work 
 had been prepared by the injection. 
 
 These experiments, which lasted for half the 
 month of May, satisfied me that an injection of ten 
 or twelve degrees of density, and immersion of the 
 body in a bath of the same liquid, will suffice for a 
 preparation destined for ordinary anatomical pur- 
 poses, and will allow of dissection after several 
 months. 
 
 At the end of July, 1835, M. Orfila, placed at my 
 disposition in one of the grand pavillions of the practi- 
 cal school, all the utensils and instruments that I 
 might stand in need of; on the 7th of August, I in- 
 jected a subject with the liquid at 12 degrees, and 
 afterwards bathed it in the same liquid. The body,, 
 at the end of two days, began to swell. Eight days 
 after, it disengaged so large a portion of gas, that I 
 was obliged to Avithdraw it from the trough, at the 
 bottom of which it was no longer possible to retain 
 it. Placed upon a table, its decomposition appeared 
 to be arrested, no more gas being disengaged, but 
 there escaped a great quantity of liquor coloured by 
 the blood ; the subject, which had assumed a deep 
 brown colour, became completely dried. During all 
 this time, no putrid odour was remarked ; it was that 
 of smoked ham. 
 
 A second subject was injected with the same liquid 
 and abandoned on a table; it was decomposed at the 
 end of five days ; but it must be remarked that the 
 atmospherical temperature varied from twenty to 
 thirty degrees. 
 
 On the 8th of August, a subject was injected with 
 
208 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 the liquid at thirty degrees of density, which was 
 made necessary by the elevation of the temperature 
 up to fifty degrees 0|0. This corpse was well pre- 
 served and was dissected about the end of Decem- 
 ber. 
 
 These various experiments convinced me that the 
 saline solutions employed with success during the 
 winter, were insufficient for the operations during 
 summer ; that is to say, at a temparature above fifteen 
 degrees. 
 
 The success which I obtained by the injection of 
 a more concentrated liquid, indicated the route T 
 was to follow. 
 
 I have already stated that the alum was decom- 
 posed, that the animal matter, the geline, combined 
 with the alumine, and that the liberated sulphuric acid 
 produced the alteration of the tissues. It was then 
 indispensable to seek an aluminous salt, containing 
 more of the base and a less powerful acid. 
 
 On the 16th of August, I injected a subject with 
 eio-ht quarts of acetate of alumine at twenty degrees. 
 This corpse, placed upon the table without any 
 other preparation, was preserved perfectly well for 
 the period of one month ; at the end of this period, 
 it might be perceived that the nostrils, the eyelids, 
 and the extremities of the ears, commenced drying, 
 as well as the hands and feet. In order to remedy 
 this inconvenience, I covered one half the subject 
 with a layer of varnish. At the end of two months, 
 it was easy to remark, that the part subjected to the 
 action of the air had considerably diminished in vo- 
 lume, and was less useful for dissection. Finally, 
 at the end of January, 1836, the varnished parts, 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &C. 209 
 
 not dissected, were still well preserved, whilst the 
 rest was completely dried, mummified. 
 
 Dr. Piory had indicated to the Academy of 
 Medicine a method of preserving bodies : it con- 
 sisted, according to him, in enveloping the body in 
 layers of pewter, and of linen, and then of varnish. 
 This process perfectly succeeded with me on a sub- 
 ject injected with acetate of alumino. 
 
 Another subject was injected with the chloride of 
 aluminium. This injection did not succeed well, 
 and with three bodies I met with the same difficul- 
 ties, that is to say, the liquid contained in the sy- 
 ringe having been introduced after the space of 
 time allowed for refilling it, the circulatory system 
 had become so obliterated that the force of even two 
 men was not sufficient to introduce an additional 
 quantity. At twenty degrees the chloride of alumi- 
 nium has so great an affinity for water, that it ab- 
 sorbs that of which the organs are constituted. How- 
 ever, the parts of the body which had been pene- 
 trated by the liquid were well preserved, the mus- 
 cles in particular had preserved their colour. 
 
 I injected another subject with the chloride at 
 eight degrees, but, at the end of a month, it was de- 
 composed. Finally, I introduced a quart of chlo- 
 ride at ten degrees, and six quarts at twenty de- 
 grees ; this subject was preserved, but the parts 
 not dissected were dried at the end of five months. 
 
 A mixture of three quarts of the acetate of alu- 
 mine at ten degrees, and of three quarts of the chlo- 
 ride of aluminium at twenty degrees, injected by 
 the aorta, or better still, by the carotid artery, have 
 afforded tlie most satisfactory results. 
 
 27 
 
210 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 I have already remarked that all these experi- 
 ments were made under the inspection of the com- 
 mission appointed by the Academy of Sciences, of 
 those of the Academy of Medicine, and of the Mon- 
 thyon commission, composed of MM. Dnlong, Ma- 
 gendie, Darcet, and Dumas, reporter. The account 
 which these commissioners have rendered to the 
 two Academies, renders it unnecessary to present 
 here a summary of my experiments. 
 
 These gentlemen requested me to repeat the ex- 
 periments of Doctor Tranchini, of Naples, which 
 consists in injecting a solution of two pounds of ar- 
 senic in twenty pounds of clear water, or better, in 
 spirits of wine. ^ During eight days the corpse re- 
 mained perfectly natural ; but after this time it gra- 
 dually dried, although deposited in a damp situa- 
 tion, and along side of a water cock, kept running. 
 It was injected on the ninth of September, and 
 examined on the twenty-fifth of the same month ; 
 but, on the same day, having offered it to several 
 students for dissection, none of them were willing 
 to accept of my proposition. 
 
 On the sixteenth of October, it was found unfit 
 for any anatomical purposes ; on the thirtieth it was 
 completely dried. 
 
 I think that the employment of this method pre- 
 sents real dangers for the anatomist, of which the 
 following is a proof : Doctor Poirson declared be- 
 fore the Academy of Medicine, that he had been ex- 
 ceedingly incommoded, as well as two of his col- 
 
 1 Arsenic is so little soluble, even in warm water, and, above all, in 
 alcohol, that I introduced the liquid saturated, holding in suspension 
 more than one-half of the powder which could not he dissolved. 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &LC. 211 
 
 leagues, in having embalmed two generals with this 
 substance; he attributed this derangement of his 
 health to the arsenic absorbed during the prepara- 
 tion. 
 
 I drew the attention of the commissioners to the 
 fact, that the table upon which the body lay, that 
 the windows of the room, and that the corpse itself, 
 were covered with dead flies ; a considerable mass 
 of them was observed on the opening made in the 
 sternum. I thought that this effect might be attri- 
 buted to the evolution of arsenical hydrogen ; this 
 evolution is, at least, probable, and the action of this 
 gas on the animal economy can well be conceived. 
 
 Finally, when we reflect that there are always 
 more than eighty bodies under dissection at the 
 Practical School, and that, consequently, it would 
 demand one hundred and sixty pounds of arsenic 
 to be put at the disposition of each student, it will 
 readily be conceded that this process would not be 
 applicable.* 
 
 At this period of my labour, I had already proved 
 that the methods by which I had obtained favoura- 
 ble results in principle, became insufficient when 
 exterior circumstances changed ; that the salt of 
 alumine, which I made use of in my injections, was 
 
 ♦ In the diitumn of 1837 I tried this experiment of Tranchini, on the 
 body of a patient who had died the day before with consumption, in the 
 wards of the Philadelphia Hospital. A saturated solution of spirits of 
 wine and arsenic, coloured with carmine, was injected into the carotid 
 
 artery the countenance refined its natural fulness and complexion, 
 
 which state continued for about three weeks, with the exception of some 
 shrinking of the eyes. In about six weeks the corpse began to mould, 
 and the skin of the legs could be scraped off, — the body was then bu- 
 ried. — TV. 
 
212 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 not sufficiently rich in alnmine ; that the preserva- 
 tion was not certain above a certain degree of tem- 
 perature ; finally, I had found in the acetate of alu- 
 mine a suitable matter for forming injections emi- 
 nently preservative. 
 
 It was then that the reports were read to the In- 
 stitute and Academy of Medicine. I cite them be- 
 cause they prove, in an authentic manner, the point 
 which I have attained. It was already possible, 
 with these data, to dissect during all seasons, with- 
 out fearing henceforwards the dangers attached to 
 this employment during the heat of the weather. 
 
 Institute of France. — Aca^iemy of Sciences — 
 Public sitting of Monday, ^Sth of December, 
 1835 — Prize relative to the means of rendering 
 an art or a trade less unhealthy — On the pre- 
 servation of dead bodies, by M. Gannal. 
 
 Your commission have followed with interest the 
 experiments of M. Gannal ; it has availed itself of 
 the experience of those of our confreres whose stu- 
 dies oblige them to practise daily dissections, and it 
 believes itself authorized to declare to the Academy, 
 that the means pointed out in the first place by M. 
 Gannal, and that, which is still better, the simple 
 injections of acetate of alumine, at ten degrees of 
 the areometer, which he practised at a later period, 
 answers for preserving bodies for several months, 
 even during the summer. It is assured that no in- 
 convenience results from it in dissections. 
 
 Your commission has thought it proper to wait 
 until this process should be regularly practised in 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &C. 213 
 
 some amphitheatre of considerable extent, before 
 pronouncing on it in a definitive manner. It is 
 aware how difficult it is to introduce the most sim- 
 ple improvement into routine operations, because, 
 against the employment of them there arises nume- 
 rous unforeseen obstacles. 
 
 It remains convinced, however, that this process 
 may render, even now, real services in all countries 
 where dissection meets with difficulties, either from 
 the scarcity of bodies, or from the prejudices of the 
 populace. 
 
 Taking this circumstance into consideration, to- 
 gether with the obstacles which M. Gannal has en- 
 countered, the disgusts which he has had to sur- 
 mount, in order to complete the experiments which 
 he has made, j^our commission has the honour to 
 propose to you to award to him, in anticipation, an 
 encouragement of three thousand francs, (six hun- 
 dred dollars.) 
 
 Report of a Commission appointed by the Academy 
 of Medicine, and composed of MM. Safison, Roux, 
 Dizi^, Guineau de Miissy, Breschet, reporter, to ex- 
 amine a process for the preservation of dead bodies, 
 discovered and proposed by M. J. N. Gannal, 
 chemist. 
 
 Messieurs, — If anatomy is the basis of all sound 
 medical study, if almost all those who have most 
 contributed to the progress of medicine and surgery 
 have been skilful anatomists, it is rendering a great 
 service to those same sciences and to humanity, 
 to discover a method of facilitating the study of 
 anatomy, and obviating its insalubrity. Well, gen- 
 
214 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 tlemen, it is a discovery of this kind that M. Gannal 
 presumes he has made. 
 
 By a letter dated on the 10th of March, 1835, 
 addressed to the Academy of Medicine, by M. the 
 Minister of Commerce, this learned body is charged 
 to make known to superior authority its opinion of 
 the real merit of the process of M. Gannal, for the 
 preservation of dead bodies. 
 
 In consequence, the Academy has appointed a 
 commission composed of MM. Sanson, Roux, Dize, 
 Gueneaude Mussy, and Breschet; it is in the name 
 of this commission that I now present myself to make 
 known to you the result of our labours. 
 
 Already two commissions from the Academy of 
 Sciences have been occupied in the examination of 
 this discovery of M. Gannal; the one, considering 
 the process as useful to the study of the sciences 
 which concerns the composition of organized beings ; 
 the other, considering it as a means of rendering 
 less insalubrious an art or a profession, a prize 
 having been founded for this purpose by M. de 
 Monthyon, whose name will remain eternally dear 
 to science and to philanthropy. 
 
 The reasons which have hindered the ancients 
 from carrying to any great length a knowledge of 
 the structure of man and animals, was not only 
 the idea of filthiness attached to the sight and dis- 
 section of dead bodies, or the difficulty of procuring 
 the means of dissection ; but rather the almost ab- 
 solute impossibility of preserving dead bodies in 
 part or entire, which has retarded the progress of 
 anatomy. Aristotle, to whom Phihp of Macedon 
 had given every facility for the dissection of animals, 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &C. 215 
 
 and who must have made collections, does not say, 
 in any of his known works, how he preserved the 
 animals which he did not immediately examine, and 
 Galien, in his anatomical administrations, says very 
 few words of the means of preservation in liquors. 
 
 Cuvier, in giving the history of the progress of 
 the natural sciences, teaches us that one of the cir- 
 cumstances which has the most contributed to the 
 advancement of these sciences was the discovery of 
 alcohol. 
 
 We are, however, astonished at the novelty of 
 our means for the preservation of animals, for zoolo- 
 gical and anatomical collections, when we reflect 
 that during the time of Reaumur the art of preserv- 
 ing animal bodies with their natural forms and co- 
 lours, was not known. Thus, in the cabinet of this 
 celebrated naturalist, are seen birds skinned and sus- 
 pended by the beak with a thread. 
 
 The taxidermic processes have almost all origi- 
 nated among us, for the formation of zoological col- 
 lections ; but we still are in want of less expensive 
 methods, of easy transport, and in small space in 
 order to preserve animals destined to serve for the 
 researches of comparative anatomy, or for the study 
 of the anatomy of man. 
 
 Peron,in the relation of his voyage to Terra Aus- 
 tralis, in the commencement of the present century, 
 laments the embarrassment of zoologists in long voy- 
 ages, in preser\'ing animals, without altering any of 
 their zooloorical characters, and in a manner that 
 they may serve finally for anatomical researches. 
 He says, that it would be rendering great service 
 
216 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 to natural history and zoology, if the following pro- 
 blem could be resolved : 
 
 " Any species of animal being given, to preserve 
 it the most certainly, the most perfectly, and with 
 the smallest quanity of an alcoholic liquid of the 
 least possible strength." 
 
 Alcohol is very costly in this country, where con- 
 siderable duties are exacted, nor is it suitable for 
 preserving bodies, except of small volume. During 
 voyages, this liquor is difficult of export, evaporates 
 rapidly, particularly in equatorial regions, and 
 often bursting the vessels which contain it ; it alters 
 or dissolves the resins or resinous mastic which is 
 used to seal the jars or other vessels which contain 
 the animals. 
 
 If an acid be added to alcohol, the bones are acted 
 upon, and softened ; colours are destroyed ; the 
 scalpels and other dissecting instruments are 
 promptly oxidised, when it is desirable to dissect 
 animals preserved in these liquors. 
 
 The same inconveniences exist if alcohol holds 
 arsenic in solution, or corrosive sublimate, and 
 many other metallic salts. 
 
 The essence of turpentine can only serve for 
 small pieces ; it is not easily transported, alters se- 
 veral of the tissues, becomes thick and clouded. 
 
 The oils are suitable only for the preservation of 
 some fishes ; their acquisition is expensive, and it is 
 difficult to obtain them everyw^here. 
 
 The syrups which have been proposed for the 
 preservation of some animal parts, such as the brain, 
 spinal marrow, &c., are t«o dear to be useful to any 
 great extent ; besides, they do no penetrate the 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &C. 217 
 
 tissues profoundly, preserve only the external sur- 
 faces, deposit crystals or a viscous matter which 
 changes the colour ; and, finally, they run readily 
 into fermentation, especially in hot climates. 
 
 Creosote, advised of late, for the preservation of 
 the nerves and brain, is too costly, but, as we have 
 not made use of it, we cannot describe its mode of 
 action upon the tissues. 
 
 Sea-salt, employed alone and in solution, has a 
 mode of action for a long time known, and its in- 
 efficiency cannot be disputed ; we do not speak 
 however, of saltings, because this method cannot 
 answer for the preservation of bodies for dissection; 
 or for preserving animals from putrefaction, that 
 they may be subsequently dissected, or be placed in 
 zoological collections. 
 
 In an English Medical Journal, for the year 1818, 
 we find, that it is proposed to replace alcohol by 
 roch-salt) for the preservation of anatomical and na- 
 tural history subjects, which is known to be nothing 
 more than muriate of soda, purer than that of com- 
 merce ; this proposition is inadmissible. 
 
 The chlorides of the oxides of calcium, of sodium, 
 of potassium, have been recommended for some 
 pieces of pathological anatomy ; but they are not 
 applicable for the preservation of thick objects, and 
 much less entire subjects. 
 
 Wine to which has been added a nitrous solution 
 of mercury, has been employed by some naviga- 
 tors, for the preservation of small zoological collec- 
 tions ; its use cannot be employed extensively. 
 Acids, more or less diluted, alter the tissues, and 
 attack the dissecting instruments. 
 
 23 
 
218 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 Aqueous or alcholic solutions of the salts of mer- 
 cury, arsenical solutions, &c., are dangerous, by 
 their emanations, for the anatomist who constantly 
 handles the objects impregnated with these metallic 
 salts ; and further they harden the tissues, contract 
 them, destroy their colours, and attack anatomical 
 instruments. 
 
 We may repeat of the pyroligneous and acetic 
 acids, what we have already advanced of the other 
 acids. Nevertheless, it was proposed about fifteen 
 years ago, to use the pyroligneous acid, as excelling 
 in its properties for preserving animals, and anato- 
 mical subjects. 
 
 All acids, not excepting vinegar, attack the colour 
 of organic tissues, corrode them, and deprive the 
 bones of their earthy salts, rendering them flexible 
 and transparent, and cover the soft parts with a 
 layer of gluey matter which conceals the fibres and 
 the structure of the parts. It is known that alum 
 and nitre are employed separately in aqueous solu- 
 tion, to preserve anatomical preparations, during the 
 time of their fabrication. It is known that anato- 
 mists employ nitre, or simply saltpetre of commerce, 
 not only to preserve the fleshy tissues,* but to give 
 a lively red colour to the flesh. 
 
 We have thus, gentlemen, in a cursory manner, 
 exposed the ordinary methods proposed or employed 
 for the preservation of animal matters. 
 
 In order to respond to the Academy upon the 
 merits of the discovery of M. Gannal, we will say 
 that his process consists of an aqueous solution of 
 
 * Nitre possesses no preservative properties. — TV. 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &C. 219 
 
 three salts, already employed separately in the ana- 
 tomical laboratory, nitre, common salt, and alum. 
 
 We have caused to be repeated under our inspec- 
 tion the experiments of M. Gannal. In the course 
 of last March, two bodies were placed in a bathing 
 tub six feet six inches long, sixteen inches wide, and 
 twenty incheshigh. A liquor was poured upon these 
 bodies, composed of acid sulphate of alumine, and of 
 potash, of the chloride of sodium of each two parts, 
 and one part of nitrate of potash. 
 
 The water which contains these salts in solution 
 was in sufficient quantity to cause the Hquor to 
 stand at fifteen degrees of the areometer ; that is 
 to say, and according to the indication of M. Gannal, 
 that the liquid should mark from seven to eight de- 
 o-rees during: winter, and from twelve to fifteen dur- 
 ing summer. 
 
 The tub was placed in one of the pavilions of 
 the Practical School; and in the same room there 
 were a great number of tables covered with dead 
 bodies for the study of practical anatomy. At the end 
 of two months, the two bodies were withdrawn from 
 the bath, and dissected; no change had taken place 
 in their exterior aspect ; the tissues and internal or- 
 gans were ascertained to be well preserved, and 
 capable of serving for anatomical demonstrations. 
 
 Other subjects have been examined by the com- 
 mission of the Academy of Sciences ; they had re- 
 mained in the same liquor since the 2d of Decem- 
 ber, 1834, and were still sound at the end of April, 
 1835. 
 
 We thought it our duty to exact of M. Gannal 
 some other experiments ; thus, we desired to see in- 
 
220 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 jections with this preservative liquor, of the arterial 
 system ; we caused another subject to be injected 
 with ordinary fatty matter ; and at a later period we 
 had injected into the vessels of the subject which 
 had received the preservative liquor, a matter com- 
 posed of suet, and of resin, in equal parts, and co- 
 loured with cinabar, (sulphate of mercury.) This 
 last injection was successful. The first injection of 
 saline liquid exacted eight quarts of the liquid, 
 which was introduced through the left ventricle of 
 the heart. 
 
 The subject examined at the end of two months, 
 was well preserved, did not exhale any fetid odour, 
 and might serve for the common dissection of stu- 
 dents. 
 
 The commission were desirous to know whether 
 a body would rapidly putrefy, if it were withdrawn 
 from the tub and left upon the table of the amphi- 
 theatre, exposed to the air, and to the influence of the 
 putred emanations from the other bodies. A sub- 
 ject was accordingly withdrawn from the preserva- 
 tive saline liquor, and remained fifteen days exposed 
 to the air ; no sensible putrefaction took place dur- 
 ing this time ; this was during the last fifteen days of 
 April. The muscles of the corpse were seen to dry, 
 and, so to speak, to mummify, whilst the tissues which 
 had not come in contact with the saline liquid, or 
 which had not been uncovered and exposed to the 
 air, remained still in a state which permitted an 
 anatomical analysis. 
 
 We ought to remark, that the tissues which are 
 bathed by the liquid lose their natural colours ; but 
 the more deeply disposed organs did not experience 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &C. 221 
 
 the same change ; there was no emphysema in the 
 cellular tissue, although we thought we remarked 
 that there was less resistance in the fibres of the 
 organs, than in a subject dead for twenty-four or 
 forty-eight hours. 
 
 We may remark, that under no circumstances 
 were long and deep scarifications made on the 
 trunk or members, in order to allow the liquid to 
 penetrate the thickness of the tissues. The cranium 
 itself was not opened, nor was there any application 
 of the trephine, in order to permit a more ready en- 
 trance of the liquor to the meninges, or to the brain 
 itself Nevertheless, after more than two months 
 immersion in the liquor, the brain, extracted from 
 the cranium, if it could no longer serve for new re- 
 searches on its structure, might have been employed 
 for demonstrations. 
 
 But, for how much longer time could this preser- 
 vation be continued ? What temperature is it capa- 
 ble of resisting ? And what expense does it require ? 
 In fine, can the discovery be extensively applied ? 
 That is to say, is it possible, by this process, to pre- 
 serve a great number of subjects during summer, to 
 deliver them later to the students during the season 
 of dissection ? And if these subjects, thus preserved, 
 exhale no odour, become in no manner a cause of 
 insalubrity, or of danger to the students, for the 
 anatomists themselves, or for the persons who in- 
 habit the houses adjoining the anatomical amphi- 
 theatre, might not the diss'ections be indefinitely 
 prolonged, in place of permitting them only during 
 the rigors of winter ? 
 
 In fine, has this saline liquor of M. Gannal pre- 
 
222 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 servative properties sufficiently pronounced to be 
 employed during long voyages, and in hot climates, 
 for the purpose of bringing home numerous animals 
 of large size, to serve for the study of comparative 
 anatomy ? 
 
 The small volume which saline substances oc- 
 cupy, and the sea water, which might serve to make 
 the solution of the salts in any quantity as soon as 
 needed, would be circumstances favourable to the 
 use of this process. 
 
 In order to answer all these questions, it would be 
 requisite to multiply the experiments, to extend them 
 during a much longer period, and upon a very great 
 number of subjects. 
 
 These experiments, directed in this spirit, would 
 exact expenses which we thought ought not to be 
 imposed upon the author of the process for the pre- 
 servation of dead bodies, who has already been sub- 
 jected to a multiplicity of demands, for the reim- 
 bursement of which we propose an indemnity from 
 the Academy, without prejudice to the recompense 
 which M. Gannal may have a right to claim, when 
 the experiments shall have received that extension 
 which we wish to be able to give them. 
 
 However this may be, we thought, in this provi- 
 sionary report, that we ought to call the attention 
 of the Academy, and of superior authority, to the 
 process of preservation discovered by M. Gannal, 
 and we manifest the desire that a sum be awarded 
 to him as an indemnification for expenses already 
 accrued, and in order to facilitate the means of con- 
 tinuing his experiments on a large scale. 
 
 We shall add that this process of preservation 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &C. 223 
 
 may be very advantageously applied to various cases 
 of legal medicine. 
 
 Paris, 16th June, 1835. 
 
 Signed, MM. Gueneau de Mussy, 
 
 DizE, 
 Roux, 
 Sanson, 
 
 Breschet, Reporter. 
 Certified. — The perpetual Secretary of the Aca- 
 demy of Medicine. 
 
 Signed, Pariset. 
 
 The first report of MM. the members of the com- 
 mission named by the Academy of Medicine was 
 only pro\*isionary ; new facts were discovered to en- 
 Hghten the conscience of the judges ; these facts 
 were presented, and the following report read to the 
 Academy by M. Dize. 
 
 Defnitive report of the commission named hy the 
 Academy of Medicine, to examine the process of 
 preserving dead bodies, presented by M. Gannal. 
 
 GentlemexV, — The Academy had formed a com- 
 mission composed of MM. Sanson, Gueneau de 
 Mussy, Breschet, Roux, and Dize, to make known 
 the results of a process presented by M. Gannal, 
 having for its object the preservation of dead bodies 
 destined for dissection. 
 
 Our honourable colleague, M. Breschet, presented, 
 in a provisionary report, the experiments which 
 had been made, and the success obtained by M. 
 Gannal. 
 
 But the commission having expressed a desire to 
 
224 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 give more development to trials which, after the im- 
 portant results already obtained, deserved to fix the 
 attention of the Academy, it proposed to him to 
 multiply, to vary the experiments, to extend them 
 a longer time upon a greater number of subjects. 
 
 But trials directed in this spirit, exact expenses ; 
 the commission did not think it just to impose them 
 upon the author of the process, who had already 
 multiplied expenses ; in consequence it proposed to 
 the Academy to demand an indemnity of govern- 
 ment for expenses already made, and for the con- 
 tinuance of experiments, without any prejudice to 
 the recompense that M. Gannal would have a right 
 to claim. 
 
 The Academy seconded the wishes of the com- 
 mission ; it obtained from the minister of public in- 
 struction the sum necessary for covering all ex- 
 penses made, and for those to be made in the con- 
 tinuance of the experiments. 
 
 .M Gannal made a series of preliminary experi- 
 ments, which served him as so many starting points 
 on the road to the discovery of the means of preserv- 
 ing animal matters ; these labours subsequently con- 
 ducted to the research of an antiseptic sufficiently 
 powerful, which unites to the property of preserv- 
 ing bodies, that of not altering the organic tissues, 
 and not too much weakening their natural colours, 
 so important to anatomical demonstrations. 
 
 We shall cite the most important experiments, so 
 that you may be able to appreciate the process which 
 is proposed. 
 
 In the first place, acids in general modify the con- 
 sistence of animal matters ; they produce disorgani- 
 
GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 225 
 
 zation in proportion to their concentration ; some 
 diluted acids, for example, nitric acid at five degrees, 
 may serve when it is necessary to study the nervous 
 system, but then the bones lose their saline particles 
 and are reduced to their organic frame ; the mus- 
 cles are discolored and faded, as well as the viscera ; 
 the nerves alone remain of a very remarkable mo- 
 ther-of-pearl whiteness. 
 
 Arsenious acid preserves bodies very well, but a 
 single subject would require a killogram ! Although 
 the medical journals having spoken of a process dis- 
 covered by Dr. Tranchini, of Naples, the commis- 
 sion judged it expedient to invite M. Gannal to re- 
 peat this experiment ; a subject was injected with a 
 killogram of arsenious acid and ten quarts of water ; 
 this subject examined by your commission, pre- 
 sented all the characters of a good preservation ; but, 
 on one hand, this process has been for a long time 
 knoM^i, and on the other hand, the employment of 
 it presents so many dangers, that in case of its suc- 
 cess your commission would feel themselves obliged 
 to proscribe it ; effectually, when twenty subjects 
 were under dissection, there would be twenty killo- 
 grams of this poisonous substance at the disposition 
 of the public. 
 
 Concentrated acetic acid preserves meats, but dries 
 them. This same acid diluted retards putrefaction, 
 but softens the bones, as well as the muscles, which 
 are discolored by its action. 
 
 The alkaline salts only preserve meats when 
 they are used dry, or in a very concentrated solu- 
 tion ; it is necessary in this case that the salts pre- 
 serve an affinity for the water of composition, so 
 
 29 
 
226 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 that it may be said that these salts preserve meats 
 because they dry them ; thus, on this principle, salts 
 more soluble in warm, than in cold water, may, in- 
 jected as a warm concentrated solution, be consi- 
 dered as a means of preservation ; this applies par- 
 ticularly to the nitrate of potash. 
 
 Creosote, a newly discovered vegetable substance 
 has been recommended as a preservative of flesh ; 
 this fact demanded verification : a corpse w^hich had 
 been injected on the 18th of October, with one hun- 
 dred scruples of creosote and seven quarts of water, 
 was decomposed on the 30th of the same month.* 
 But, in order to respond to the objection which was 
 made, that the body should have been immersed in 
 a bath saturated with creosote, it is sufficient to say 
 that this bath would have cost forty dollars ; besides 
 the necessity of combatting the odour of the creosote, 
 which may prove an obstacle to anatomical labours. 
 
 A solution of alum at eight degrees has succeeded 
 better ; but the flesh becomes hardened, faded, and 
 friable. 
 
 The mixture of alum, (acid sulphate of alumine, 
 and potash,) two parts, the chloride of sodium two 
 parts, and of nitrate of potash one part, dissolved in 
 water, employed as a bath^ has afforded the first 
 good results. 
 
 The acid phosphate of lime is the first substance 
 
 ♦ To have given the creosote a fair trial it should have been injected undi- 
 luted with water; no one who has tried this curious product will deny 
 that it possesses the most powerful antiseptic properties. I have used 
 it formerly very successfully in my dissecting rooms for purifying sub- 
 jects dead of mortification, foul ulcerations, or tainted by decomposition, 
 especially the viscera. A small quantity of the creosote passed over the 
 surface of these with a feather, immediately removes the fetid odours. 
 
 TV. 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &C. 227 
 
 which has been employed in injection for subjects ; 
 this salt did not oppose the movement of putrefac- 
 tion. 
 
 The kidnies, injected with this salt, and immersed 
 in the milk ofUme, became hardened at the surface 
 and putrefied in the interior. 
 
 After this first part of the experiments of M. 
 Gannal, it results that the aluminous salts are 
 those alone which succeed well in preserving animal 
 matters, and which may be used advantageously. 
 
 Alum, employed alone, preserves well, but for a 
 short time ; this salt, slightly soluble in cold water, 
 (fifteen degrees,) will not suffice as an injection for 
 the preservation of a body ; it is indispensable to im- 
 merse the body in a bath of the same salt. 
 
 The mixture of alum, salt, and nitre, as indicated 
 in the provisionary report, has not the same incon- 
 venience ; a subject injected with this liquid, at ten 
 or twelve degrees of density, may be preserved for 
 more than a month ; but it is indispensable to im- 
 merse it, at least from time to time, when it is desi- 
 rable to prolong its preservation ; that is to say, for 
 the entire winter ; but at a temperature above fifteen 
 degrees, it is necessary to inject the liquid at a den- 
 sity of twenty-five or thirty degrees, and, in order 
 to obtain it, it requires to be heated at least to forty 
 degrees. 
 
 Several bodies injected with this liquid at ten de- 
 grees, on the 2d of December, 1834, were well pre- 
 served until the end of April ; other subjects, injected 
 on the 7th of August, but with the liquid at twenty- 
 five degrees of density, and at ten degrees of the 
 thermometer, were still, on the 10th of December 
 
228 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 in good condition, whilst those that were injected 
 with a liquor of inferior density, did not resist a 
 temperature of twenty or twenty-five degrees, al- 
 though they were immersed in a bath denoting fif- 
 teen degrees.- The bath of salted liquid has, inde- 
 pendently of the inconvenience of expense for the 
 necessary salts and the embarrassment of the tubes, 
 which require frequent renewal, the objection of 
 hardening the skin, considerably. 
 
 On these motives new eiforts have been made, 
 which have conducted to the following results : to de- 
 monstrate that all the salts with a soluble aluminous 
 base, are decomposed ; that those which are very 
 soluble offer all the advantages of alum employed 
 in very concentrated solution, and have not the 
 same inconveniences. 
 
 For example, a solution of acetate of alumine at 
 twenty degrees, injected the 16th of August, 1835, 
 perfectly preserved a subject abandoned to the table 
 without any other preparation ; only, at the end of 
 a month it was remarked that desiccation had com- 
 menced ; when a part of it was covered with a layer 
 of varnish, which preserved it from futher evapora- 
 tion. At the present day, 25th January, 1836, the 
 varnished part may be dissected as easily as a fresh 
 subject, whilst the other part offers resistance to dis- 
 section. 
 
 During the first days of September, another sub- 
 ject was injected with acetate of alumine at fifteen 
 degrees ; although this was the corpse of a woman 
 who had died from abortion, it was very well pre- 
 served . 
 
 On the 1 2th of December, a subject was injected 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &C. 229 
 
 with the chloride of alumine at twenty degrees; 
 this injection did not succeed well, and only three 
 quarts could be introduced. Nevertheless, the body 
 was perfectly well preserved. This want of success 
 in introducing the liquid led to the following obser- 
 vation ; that the chloride of aluminium at twenty 
 degrees acts sopowerfuUy on the arterial tabes and 
 obliterates them to such a degree, that it prevents 
 the passage of the liquid ; but in order to remedy 
 this inconvenience, it suffices to inject a first quart 
 of the liquid at ten degrees, and the rest at twenty 
 degrees. The chloride of aluminium has all the 
 advantages of the acetate of alumine, and has further 
 that of preserving the muscles of a bright red. 
 
 A mixture of acetate of alumine at ten degrees, and 
 the chloride of the same base at twenty degrees, 
 forms a good preservative injection. The use of 
 one of these salts, or the mixture that has just been 
 indicated, offers the advantage of preserving bodies, 
 without its being necessary to svibject them to any 
 other preparation. 
 
 The density of the solutions of the acetate and 
 chloride of aluminium must be graduated by the 
 state of the atmosphere. When it is required to 
 prolong indefinitely the preservation of the subject, 
 it is essential to employ it at twenty degrees ; it is 
 equally necessary, in this case, to cover the subject 
 with a layer of varnish, the sole object of which is 
 to prevent the too prompt desiccation, which would 
 prove an obstacle to dissection. 
 
 The first injections were made through the aorta. 
 Subsequently, in order to avoid the laceration of the 
 
230 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 pectoral parts, the subject was injected through the 
 carotid artery, which always succeeded very well 
 when the liquid was forced both upward and down- 
 ward. 
 
 After the saline injection, at the end of forty-eight 
 hours, coloured grease may be injected; even after 
 two months the same operation may be performed 
 with the same success. 
 
 From the series of experiments which we have 
 just exposed, it results : 
 
 1. That a solution of alum, of salt, and of nitrate 
 of potash, injected at ten degrees, answers for pre- 
 serving bodies at a temperature below ten degrees 
 of the thermometer ; that, for a more elevated tem- 
 perature, it is necessary to carry the density to 
 twenty -five or thirty degrees, and immerse the sub- 
 ject in a liquid of ten or twelve degrees. 
 
 2. That it is preferable to employ the acetate of 
 alumine, because it preserves better ; as the skin ex- 
 periences no alteration, and as the central organs 
 remain natural., excepting the colour of the muscles 
 which become bleached. 
 
 3. That the chloride of aluminium offers the 
 same advantages. 
 
 4. That, in order to preserve parts of bodies which 
 have not been injected, it is necessary to immerse 
 them in a mixture of water, and of the acetate or 
 chloride, marking five or six degrees. 
 
 But this part of the operation is transferred to the 
 experiments which are to be undertaken on the pre- 
 servation of objects of pathological anatomy. 
 
 Gentlemen, such are the series of experiments 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &C. 231 
 
 made by M. Gannal, since the first pro visionary re- 
 port was presented to you. 
 
 The commission has attentively followed the new 
 experiments ; the results obtained, demonstrate that 
 by M. Gannal's process bodies for dissection may 
 be preserved, and the preservation prolonged be- 
 yond the term exacted by the most minute investi- 
 gations. 
 
 As we have already stated, the soluble salts with 
 an aluminous base, offer this preservative method 
 without any danger in their use, and they can also 
 be procured at a low price. 
 
 Their antiseptic properties are founded on their 
 chemical action, which modifies animal substances 
 either by depriving them of their water of composi- 
 tion, which determines their putrefaction, or in op- 
 posing themselves to its immediate action. 
 
 It is, then, only an act of justice rendered to M. 
 Gannal, in considering his labour as an important 
 service rendered to science and to humanity, and 
 which may prove of great utility in anatomical ex- 
 plorations, and in legal medicine. 
 
 Consequently, your commission has the honour 
 to propose to you the transmission of the present re- 
 port — 
 
 1. To the Minister of Pubhc Instruction, as an 
 object of improvement in anatomical researches, 
 and to reclaim the continuation of his good offices, 
 in affording extension to the experiments for pre- 
 serving objects of pathological anatomy. 
 
 2. To the Minister of Commerce and of Public 
 Works, as an object of public salubrity. On the 
 proposition of a member of the Academy, it was 
 
232 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 unanimously decided to send the present report to 
 the committee of publication. 
 
 Signed, MM. Gueneau de Mussy, 
 
 Sanson, 
 Breschet, 
 Roux, 
 
 DizE, Reporter. 
 Certified. — The perpetual Secretary of the xA.ca- 
 demy of Medicine. 
 
 Signed, Pariset. 
 
 Reflections. — The mixture of the acid sulphate of 
 alumine and potash, of the nitrate of potash, and the 
 chloride of sodium, furnished me, at first, with some 
 favourable results. But when new experiments were 
 attempted at a temperature above 10° of centigrade, 
 this liquid, which I only employed as a bath, did 
 not answer my expectations. I then tried to inject 
 bodies with concentrated solution, which were after- 
 wards consigned to a bath of the same nature. The 
 preservation was thus rendered more durable ; but 
 still it did not balance the influence of an atmos- 
 phere very warm and very humid, prolonged for 
 any length of time. 
 
 I observed that after twenty-four hours of immer- 
 sion of the bodies in the bath, all the alumine was 
 absorbed : this fact, well established, was a gleam 
 of light to me. 
 
 Since the preservation is produced by the com- 
 bination of geline with alumine, and as the alumine 
 furnished by the acid sulphate does not inherit 
 enough of the preservative element, let us have re- 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF AN ATOM V, &LC. 233 
 
 course to the salts of alum, richer in alumine, and 
 more soluble in water. 
 
 The following are the data on which I rely : 
 
 To find a salt of alum capable of effectually pre- 
 seroing bodies, and which, by the moderation of its 
 price, may be extensively employed in amphitheatres. 
 I abandoned my trials with the nitrate of alumine, 
 this being excluded by its high price. The chloride 
 of alumine, Avith which I had experimented, is lia- 
 ble to equal objections : 1. Because, owing to its exces- 
 sive affinity for water, it instantaneously dries the 
 internal membrane of the artery, and obliterates the 
 canal, rendering it impossible to finish the injec- 
 tion. 2. Besides, admitting the injection to have been 
 completed by the introduction, in the first place, of 
 a little oil of turpentine, the hydrochloric acid con- 
 tained in the flesh injures the instruments, and im- 
 pedes dissection. Further, the chloride of alumi- 
 nium, like all the soluble chlorides, is a bad agent 
 in dissections, being hygrometric. 
 
 The acetate of alumine is an excellent preserva- 
 tive of animal matters, as will be seen by referring 
 to the observation cited at the end of the last chap- 
 ter ; but it is costly, and on this account cannot be 
 employed in amphitheatres. 
 
 It was necessary, then, to search for a more eco- 
 nomical method ; tliis I have found in the simple sul- 
 phate of alumine. This salt, but indifferently known, 
 no' one having thought of it before me, is of a sim- 
 ple preparation and moderate price. 
 
 A killogram of this salt, costing about twenty 
 cents, dissolved in two quarts of water, is suffcient 
 
 30 
 
234 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 in winter to preserve a body fresh, hy injection, fm 
 three months. 
 
 In order to preserve a body for a month or sii 
 weeks, it is not even necessary to inject the blood 
 vessels — a glyster of one quart, and the same quan 
 tity injected into the oesophagus, suffices for this li 
 mited preservation. This process is adopted at Cla- 
 rriart for all the dead bodies destined for dissection. 
 The preservative power of this salt will be easily 
 understood, if its analysis be compared with that of 
 the double sulphate given above. 
 
 One hundred parts of simple sulphate of alumine, 
 are composed of alumine 30, of sulphuric acid 70. 
 This salt properly prepared, exempt from iron, com- 
 monly contains from thirty-six to forty for OjO of 
 water. 
 
 The following is a table of the different densities 
 of this salt, according to the quantity of water in 
 which it is dissolved. 
 
 A killogram dissolved in five hundred scruples of 
 water gives a quart of liquid which marks 32° on 
 the areometer of Baume. 
 
 This same quantity in a quart of water 
 Marks, 20° 
 
 In two quarts, 17' 
 In four quarts, 8° 
 In five quarts, 6° 
 
 This table is important, as it gives the compesi- 
 tion of the different liquids of which we shall see 
 the application. 
 
 The liquid of injection, of which we have indi- 
 cated the preparation and the quantity, is sufficient 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATO:\IY, &C. 235 
 
 during winter, and moderate temperatures; but 
 when it passes 20-^ it ought to be more abundant, or 
 the solution more concentrated. 
 
 When it is intended to preserve the body for a 
 longer period, it is necessary to neutralize the sul- 
 phuric acid, which is taken up by the addition of ace- 
 tate of lead. Two hundred and fifty scruples of this 
 salt for one killogram of the dry sulphate produces 
 the desired effect. If the preservation is to be in- 
 definitely prolonged, the use of the acetate of lead 
 will have a tendency at length to blacken the epi- 
 dermis. Indeed, as it is impossible to cause all the 
 lead to disappear, the small quantity of this salt re- 
 maining in the liquid will be then decomposed by 
 the hvdro-sulphuric acid disengaged by the corpse, 
 or rather by the sulphur which it contains, and the 
 salt of lead is changed into sulphuret, a black in- 
 soluble powder, giving to the body all the exterior 
 aspect of the negro. 
 
 I preserved in my cabinet an infant treated after this 
 method ; its skin, after the lapse of a year, became 
 black, not of that colour assumed by animal matters 
 in drying, but of the finest negro colour that could 
 be conceived. 
 
 I finish Avith these details ; for the facts of pro- 
 longed preservation of which we have just spoken 
 are derived from the wants of the anatomists ; and, 
 previous to proceeding to other considerations, it is 
 best to exhaust all that we have to make known 
 concerning my processes of preservation applied in 
 amphitheatres to subjects intended to be dissected. 
 The preservation of these subjects, it is known, 
 
236 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 would be prolonged without any advantage beyond 
 two or three months at all seasons. 
 
 I shall therefore terminate all that is relative to 
 this first portion of my labour, by the report of the 
 committee of the members of the Institute. They 
 have admitted the result of my labours to be of great 
 utility, and that it merits the encouragement of the 
 grand Monthyon prize, founded on the discovery 
 of any means calculated to remedy the insalubrity 
 of any art or profession. 
 
 The following is the report : 
 
 Upon the 'preservation of the dead body, hy M. 
 Gannal. 
 
 The Academy is well aware, having recom- 
 mended an encouragement to the author, that M. 
 Gannal has made numerous experiments on the 
 preservation of dead bodies, either with the view of 
 making dissecting amphitheatres more healthful, or 
 to obtain a method of embalming at the same time 
 economical and certain. 
 
 As far as concerns embalming of dead bodies, it 
 will be conceded that before advancing an opinion, 
 it would be necessary to prolong the proofs for se- 
 veral years, which has not yet been accomplished 
 for the process under consideration. Besides, as 
 this investigation would be without the bounds of 
 the duties of your commission on noxious arts, even 
 when it shall have attained perfection, we were only 
 disposed to examine it under the head of instruction. 
 The judgment which we are about to give should 
 then be considered as applying exclusively to pro- 
 cesses concerning the amphitheatres of dissection. 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &C. 237 
 
 In this latter case, the experiments bein^ less te- 
 dious, could be varied and multiplied sufficiently to 
 demonstrate that we actually possess a process ca- 
 pable of preserving dead bodies, during the longest 
 period that the most minute dissection could exact. 
 
 This process is of an easy and economical execu- 
 tion; it consists in the employment of matters which 
 have nothing poisonous in them. In fine, after 
 many trials, the author has fixed upon the following 
 method : he injects an aluminous salt dissolved in 
 w^ater, by one of the carotids ; a few quarts of the li- 
 quid is sufficient, and the body abandoned to the 
 open air is preserved for a long time from putrefac- 
 tion ; sometimes it even ends in becoming dry or 
 mummified. 
 
 The author made use of the acetate of alumine, 
 prepared by the acetate of lead and the sulphate of 
 alumine and potash. This acetate of alumine at 
 IS'' of the areometer of Baume, and in the quantity 
 of five or six quarts, is sufficient to preserve a body 
 for five or six months. 
 
 He has also used the simple sulphate of alumine 
 in order to procure the acetate of this base. With 
 one killogram of the simple sulphate of alumine in 
 mass, two hundred and ten grains of acetate of 
 lead, and two quarts of water, may be obtained, the 
 necessary quantity of the mixture to preserve a body 
 for two months. 
 
 By the employment of these processes, the pre- 
 servation of bodies without odour may be calcu- 
 lated upon, for twenty days, a month, six weeks, 
 more or less, according to the circumstances of tem- 
 perature, state of the body, and quantity of the li- 
 quor actually injected into the vessels. 
 
238 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 Your commissioners have assured themselves of 
 this by the examination of bodies prepared by M. 
 Gannal, but not wishing to report on their own judg- 
 ment, and in order to obtain a full conviction of the 
 practical utility of the process, it determined to con- 
 sult those persons who were continually occupied 
 in dissection. Their opinion was unanimous. 
 
 Among the experiments or applications of which 
 the process of M. Gannal, has been the object, we 
 shall place in the first rank the series of facts ob- 
 served by our honourable associate M. Serres. The 
 following are the details which he has transmitted 
 to use on this subject. 
 
 ^' In the month of June, 1836, in the amphithea- 
 tre of the hospital, the body of a man twenty-two 
 years of age was injected. Abandoned to the open 
 air, in a cabinet exposed to the south, and upon a 
 wooden table, it was preserved until the month of 
 September, and it ended in becoming mummified. 
 
 " In the month of July, eight bodies were injected 
 for dissection, each during fifteen days. 
 
 '■'■ During the months of August and September, 
 sixty subjects were injected ; these were preserved 
 for twenty days. 
 
 " From these experiments, adds M. Serres, it re- 
 sults that the liquid furnished by M. Gannal pre- 
 serves bodies to a certain extent : 
 
 " I. Permitting their dissection during summer, 
 a thing which has not been accomplished heretofore 
 'vci the anatomical school of the hospitals. 2. Per- 
 mitting to give to the instruction of operative medi- 
 cine a development which, up to the present period, 
 it had not enjoyed ; for, during the months of Au- 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &C. 230 
 
 gust and September, we were enabled to preserve, 
 as in the middle of winter, thirty bodies at a time 
 on the tables, enabling us to repeat to seventy pu- 
 pils all the operations, in following a regular course, 
 previously impossible." 
 
 To this series of observations, already so decisive, 
 we shall add the intelligence furnished us by dif- 
 ferent anatomists well known to science. 
 
 Thus M. Dubreuil, the honourable dean of the 
 faculty of Medicine of Montpelier, hastened, in the 
 interest of anatomical studies, to make the necessary 
 trials to assure himself of the efficacy of the process 
 in question. During the spring of last year, the 
 first body on which he operated was preserved for 
 forty-one days, and the experiment was terminated 
 without any thing announcing putrefaction. On a 
 second body the result was the same, although it 
 was chosen under the most unfavourable conditions. 
 
 M. Bougery, who, it is known, is occupied in the 
 publication of a great work on anatomy, declares 
 that this process has very well succeeded in his 
 hands, and that it has been very useful to him. In 
 summer he injected two subjects which were pre- 
 served for three weeks ; in winter, he injected a 
 third, and this, although kept in a room heated to 
 15°, was preserved for seven weeks. 
 
 M. Azoux, who, at a distance from Paris, has 
 formed an establishment for the manufacture of his ar- 
 tificial anatomical preparations, employs the process 
 of M. Gannal, in order to place before the eyes of 
 his workmen the preparations which they are to re- 
 produce. This process has rendered him great ser- 
 vice. 
 
240 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 MM. Velpeau and Amussat, who have had occa- 
 sion to put it to the proof, have been equally well 
 satisfied with it. 
 
 Your commission was further enlightened by a 
 report made to the Academy of Medicine, which in- 
 cludes circumstantial details of the successive trials 
 through which M. Gannal had to pass before at- 
 taining the simple and easy method which he em- 
 ploys at present. 
 
 After the whole of the intelligence which it has 
 collected, your commission feels itself authorized to 
 say, that the process of M. Gannal, as it now exists, 
 may render the greatest service to anatomical stu- 
 dies ; that it divests them, in great part, of what is 
 repulsive, and deprives them almost entirely, per- 
 haps, of what is insalubrious. 
 
 "We have just seen that M. Bougery, M. Amussat, 
 and, in general, all who consign themselves to con- 
 tinued anatomical researches, follow this process, 
 and have found benefit from it. It is desirable that 
 it should have been adopted in some grand amphi- 
 theatre of anatomy, and that its use should have 
 been subjected to the chances of an extensive prac- 
 tice. It appears that the additional expense which its 
 application would occasion, has opposed its introduc- 
 tion, thus far, into such an establishment. 
 
 Nevertheless, it is incontestible, that the use of 
 the injections of M. Gannal deprives subjects of all 
 putrid odour, and it is to be hoped that it will di- 
 minish, if not altogether put an end to the serious 
 accidents which happen too often to anatomists who 
 are so unfortunate as to be wounded in dissectingf. 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &C. 241 
 
 This is yet only a presumption; extended experience 
 can only determine the fact. 
 
 Your commission thinks, then, that it has reason 
 to recommend the adoption of this process in the 
 amphitheatres of dissection, notwithstanding it may 
 occasion a slight increase of expense. How trifling, 
 indeed, is this consideration, when it is proposed to 
 render anatomical studies more easy, and more 
 healthful ; when it is calculated to render them more 
 fruitful, since each subject could be made to serve a 
 greater number of students, who, working without 
 disgust or repugnance, would much better preserve 
 the free exercise of their faculties ! 
 
 All things considered, the expense, already in- 
 considerable, and which will become still less here- 
 after, is then equivalent to real economy, if, for ex- 
 ample, the cost of an anatomical education to a stu- 
 dent be calculated. By the aid of the new process, 
 fewer subjects are necessary for the same number 
 of students; or rather, with the same number of sub- 
 jects, the education of a much greater number of 
 students may be completed. 
 
 Your commission has been strongly impressed 
 with these considerations ; it has thought that the 
 process under consideration was sufficiently proved ; 
 that it might, even now. be practised habitually in 
 dissecting amphitheatres ; and that this has not al- 
 ready been effected, is evidently due to administra- 
 tive circumstances. 
 
 Consequently, it has the honour to propose to you 
 to award to M. Gannal a prize of $1600. 
 
 The members of tlie commission agreed that it 
 
 31 
 
242 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 was expedient to recommend my process to the dis- 
 secting amphitheatres : their wish is in part accom- 
 plished, since, by decision of the central adminis- 
 tration of hospitals, the subjects are henceforward 
 to be subjected, in the capacious clmmbers of Clamart, 
 to one of the injections, the compositions of which I 
 have given. This decision will not astonish those of 
 our readers who are aware that M. Serres is charged 
 with the direction of the anatomical arrangements 
 at Clamart; this gentleman, whose works have ele- 
 vated him to so distinguished a rank, has been long 
 known for the zeal and noble disinterestedness with 
 which he advances all useful discoveries. 
 
 2. — Preservation of subjects of normal anatomy, of 
 pathological anatomy, and of natural history. 
 
 As it is my intention to publish hereafter a com- 
 plete work on the preservation of pieces of patholo- 
 gical anatomy, and of objects of natural history, 
 which, besides the details into which I might enter, 
 would lead me beyond the proper limits of this work, 
 I shall confine myself here to some results obtained 
 during the last three years, and the composition of 
 the liquids derived therefrom. 
 
 1. In 1833, I took the thigh and all the organs 
 contained in the abdominal cavity of an infant at 
 full term, and treated them after the manner to be 
 hereafter indicated, and at the present moment, 
 8th December, 1837, 1 preserve the pieces in two 
 jars. They display no sensible alteration, and are 
 as fit for study as when first separated from the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 2. In 1835, Dr. Beniquet having to pursue some 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &C. 243 
 
 investigations on the brain, he made use of my li- 
 quor in order to preserve entire heads, for which he 
 had occasion. After his experiments were finished, 
 he presented to me a head which remained, and 
 which I preserve in my cabinet. It is impossible to 
 detect the slightest trace of change in it. 
 
 3. I have preserved unaltered for three months, 
 the head of a Bar, (a species of Silurus,) weighing 
 several pounds ; this head has served for dissection. 
 
 4. I have preserved leeches and other worms for 
 several years, without perceiving that they had lost 
 any of the characters necessary for the naturalist to 
 know. 
 
 5. The same observation applies to the different 
 organs of birds and mammalia : the heads of phea- 
 sants plunged, feathers and all, into the preserva- 
 tive liquor, after fifteen days of maceration, present 
 the red colour around the eye of as lively a shade 
 as at the moment of immersion. 
 
 I might multiply these examples, and produce 
 several hundred trials equally conclusive, made du- 
 ring the course of my experiments ; but as it could 
 not result in any advantage to the reader, I forbear. 
 Besides, the use that Captain Darville has made of 
 my liquor during his scientific voyage, and the thou- 
 sand proofs to which it is every day subjected on 
 the part of men, whom the study of natural history 
 induces to have recourse to it, will be the most 
 faithful and sure confirmation. 
 
 In fine, I shall always be most happy to receive 
 the observations, remarks, and criticisms of those, 
 who, with an interest for science, may have occa- 
 sion to point out to me any circumstances calculated 
 
244 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 to modify the applications. Many, without doubt, 
 may have escaped me, and as I desire, above all 
 things, to bring my processes to the highest degree 
 of perfection, I shall be thankful for any aid that 
 may contribute to this end. The following is the 
 composition of the liquids^ which I employ for pre- 
 serving the different pieces of normal anatomy, pa- 
 thological anatomy, and natural history. 
 
 1. A solution of the simple sulphate of alumine, 
 at six degrees; that is to say, the solution of a killo- 
 gram of this salt in six quarts of water. 
 
 2. A solution of simple sulphate with water satu- 
 rated with arsenious acid : — five hundred scruples 
 of arsenic to forty quarts of water ; — six quarts of 
 this solution to one killogram of the simple sul- 
 phate. 
 
 3. Of the acetate of alumine at five degrees, satu- 
 rated with arsenious acid. 
 
 Usage. — For fifteen days I cause the pieces to 
 disgorge in the first liquid ; at the end of this pe- 
 riod they are withdrawn and placed in the bath of 
 a second liquid, where they may remain for from 
 three to five months ; finally, they are withdrawn 
 and placed in a third liquid. It is thus that I have 
 preserved preparations for three or four years, which 
 the public is welcome to come and see. 
 
 It would be useless to recur here to dried prepa- 
 rations, having given an example of them in the se- 
 venth chapter ; nevertheless, as I then only indicated 
 
 1 These liquids, which may be employed for the limited preservation 
 of fish destined to dissection, will not answer for their indefinite preser- 
 vation, but I shall have occasion, in my work on the preservation of pa- 
 thological anatomy, to indicate another process. 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &C. 245 
 
 the injection of acetate of alumine, without making 
 any observation, one of the results wliich I have at- 
 tained by the simple sulphate, reported now, will 
 be a useful confirmation of the process which I 
 have (fiven before. Distinguished men have ex- 
 amined the viscera and vessels of a subject injected 
 for six months, and we shall see how satisfactory 
 was the state of the organs after so long a period. 
 
 M. Professor Dumas, treating of the acetate of 
 alumine in the lectures which he gives in the Poly- 
 technic School, was led to refer to the application 
 which I had successfully made of this salt, for the 
 preservation of bodies. He requested me to lend him 
 some preparations to show to the students of the 
 school. I lost no time in sending him several spe- 
 cimens ; I added the first body which I had injected 
 with the solution of the simple sulphate at thirty 
 degrees ; it was the corpse of a foetus that had only 
 lived fifteen days. Injected six months ago, and 
 abandoned to the air of my laboratory, this body 
 had lost about one-half of its water of composition ; 
 the feet, the hands, the ears, were dried ; — the face 
 was covered with bjjssiis,' but no trace of decompo- 
 sition evinced an approaching dissolution of the or- 
 gans. 
 
 On the next lecture, Cazalis asked me in what 
 state the vessels ought to be found in this stage of 
 the preservation. The subject, I remarked, is at 
 
 1 These productions on the surface of dried preparations, not covered 
 with varnish, do not produce, it is true, putrid decomposition, but they 
 change, and tend to destroy them. I have experienced all the inconve- 
 nienc^e of this fact in embalming ; after numerous trials I have disco- 
 vered a method of preventing it. 
 
246 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 your disposal, and you can satisfy yourself. He 
 then opened the chest, placed the syphon in the 
 aorta, and a fatty injection of about three hundred 
 scruples was forced into the arterial system. 
 
 The injection having cooled, the subject was 
 opened ; the intestines were in a remarkable state 
 of preservation, and the injection had penetrated 
 them, as well as the brain, which was found in a 
 healthy state. Finally, the brachial artery, followed 
 in its divisions and subdivisions to the palm of the 
 hand, was seen to be injected. Since this period, I 
 often show this subject to persons who visit my la- 
 boratory ; it is immersed in the preservative liquor, 
 and I can submit it to the examination of anatomists, 
 for whom facts only are important. Observations 
 of this nature prove that I have given to anatomists 
 the means of preservation which respond loudly 
 to all the wants of the science ; and it ought further 
 to be remarked, that my experiments have been 
 conducted under the most unfavourable circum- 
 stances. Indeed, for the trial of all the substances 
 which I supposed possessed of preservative proper- 
 ties, I have chosen, as in the preceding case, foe- 
 tuses, as subjects the most disposed to fall into pu- 
 trefaction, as in them animal matter is not com- 
 pletely formed, and they include a considerable 
 quantity of water of composition, much geline, and 
 very little muscular flesh. This method of proceed- 
 ing has enabled me to dispense with numerous at- 
 tempts, and to avoid deception. The aspect of foe- 
 tuses, and the intimate structure of their tissues 
 vary little from each other ; but the diff'erence, very 
 trifling for these subjects, is immense in men of ad- 
 vanced age ; the temperament, and idiosyncrasy, 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &C. 247 
 
 which display themselves later, establish a thousand 
 degrees, a thousand shades in the tendency to de- 
 composition, and the subject which cedes most ra- 
 pidly to dissolving causes, is scarcely on a par with 
 new-born infants. This opinion, which can be es- 
 tablished by facts, if necessary, convinces me, inde- 
 pendently of my experiments, that all means proper 
 for the preservation of infants, may, a priori, be 
 supposed an excellent process for the preservation 
 of all animal bodies. 
 
 I possess in my cabinet a dozen of foetuses, in- 
 jected at different periods with the acetate of alu- 
 mine, or the simple sulphate, some preserved in the 
 liquid, others abandoned to the air : on these pieces 
 may be perceived the different phases, the various 
 transformations produced by time and chemical 
 agents on animal matters. Some of these subjects, 
 prepared for more than a year, are in as favourable 
 a state for anatomical study as on the day of their 
 death; others, submitted to the action of the air, 
 have become dried, and offer the appearance of the 
 mummy of the sands. 
 
 3. — Embalming. 
 
 I have presented a history of embalming as com- 
 plete as the nature of the case would admit ; as a 
 historian, I have investigated those sources most 
 worthy of credit ; I have collected all the documents 
 of interest, and have used them as occasion required ; 
 observations and criticisms have lent their aid, either 
 to enlighten or correct information, and admitted 
 opinions : I have, above all, endeavoured to confine 
 
248 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 myself to scientific data. From the mummy of the 
 sands to that obtained from the deuto-chloride of 
 mercury, these two extreme points of my endea- 
 vours, this was the idea which prevailed, and di- 
 rected the exposition of my subject. I shall not de- 
 part from this method in order to make known my 
 work ; I shall abstain from all conjecture on the du- 
 ration of bodies embalmed by my process; here, 
 too, I confine myself to facts, and to the deductions 
 which are naturally derived from them. 
 
 I refer to the end of the sixth chapter for the ad- 
 vantages resulting from my processes compared 
 with all others, and I resume the subject where I 
 left it in the preceding chapter. 
 
 The acetate of alumine, and the simple sulphate, 
 ought to be chosen in preference to all other dried 
 substances for the preservation of bodies ; these two 
 salts can render to anatomists all desirable services; 
 but the study of their action ought to be extended 
 further for the purposes of the embalmer. 
 
 What happens, then, w^hen a subject is injected 
 with one of these two salts ? They remain exposed 
 to the thermometric and liygrometric variations of 
 the air, and should undergo one of the following 
 transformations ; or rather, submitted to the action 
 of a dry and free air, they rapidly dry ; or preserved 
 in a close and humid place, they become emaciated, 
 blackened, and covered with mouldiness, without, 
 however, experiencing putrid fermentation ; they 
 decompose like skin or tanned leather enclosed in a 
 humid place, or beneath the earth. These transfor- 
 mations experienced by bodies thus prepared, were 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &C. 249 
 
 an obstacle to the application of my process to 
 embalming. 
 
 There remained for me, then, an ulterior series of 
 observations in order to prevent these unfavourable 
 results. 
 
 It was necessanj to discover a method of preserv- 
 ing bodies always fresh, with the appearance of 
 sleep, in the state in which theij exist immediatehj 
 after death. It was necessary that the preserva- 
 tion should he indefinitely prolonged ; that is to 
 say, that the embalming he such a one that it would 
 allow a dead body to be preserved in all its integ- 
 rity, without mutilation, without incisions, and fit 
 for dissection at ivill at all possible epochs. 
 
 Have I fulfilled these conditions ? Let the facts 
 answer. 
 
 First observation. — In the month of February, 
 1836, at the request of Dr. Petigard, I embalmed 
 the body of the son of M. Dupre, architect, living in 
 Cerisarie street, No. 13, 
 
 This child, aged about twelve years, was interred 
 in the cemetery of Pere la Chaise. During the con- 
 struction of the monument, which the father caused 
 to be erected to him, some of his friends excited 
 doubts as to the efficacy of my method of preserva- 
 tion. Wounded in his affections, M. Dupre con- 
 ceived suspicions which he communicated to Dr. 
 Petigard, expressing the desire for the exhumation 
 of the body. He advised me of this, but numerous 
 occupations prevented me giving it immediate at- 
 tention ; he attributed my delay to hesitation, to the 
 fear I had of seeing my promises made to the rela- 
 
 32 
 
250 GENERAL PROCESSES FOR THE 
 
 tives contradicted, and, as he has since avowed, ex- 
 pressed himself without reserve on my account. 
 
 Finally, the opening of the coffin was made in 
 the month of July, 1837 ; when the unfortunate 
 father, feeling revive all his grief at the sight of his 
 son, whom he found exactly in the state in which he 
 was at the moment of inhumation, regretting, be- 
 sides, his suspicions of me, embraced me with effu- 
 sion, and gave me every proof of his lively grati- 
 tude. 
 
 " Your hesitation," he remarked, "made me fear that 
 I had been deceived, under which persuasion I have 
 undoubtedly prejudiced several persons against you, 
 but I will repair the fault in telling the truth." Here 
 is one fact which may appear of some value, and 
 that which follows is none the less conclusive. 
 
 Second observation. — Dr. Oudet, surgeon dentist, 
 died at Paris, Dauphine street, was embalmed sixth 
 March, 1837, after my process; his body was de- 
 posited in a coffin of oak, without a lining of lead, 
 and placed, thus enclosed, in a clayey, humid soil. 
 Three months after, the exhumation was made, in 
 presence of M. Prunier, commissary of police for 
 the quarter of the observatory, and of Dr. Petit. 
 The body was found in such a perfect state of pre- 
 servation, that it astonished the numerous persons 
 present at the exhumation ; all admitting that the 
 aspect of the defunct was exactly that of a man 
 asleep : a " proces-verbal" was drawn up on the 
 spot, to prove the state of the body. The following 
 is a copy of it : 
 
 " I, tlie undersigned, Doctor of Medicine of the 
 faculty of Paris, certify, that on the sixth of March, 
 
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS OF ANATOMY, &C. 251 
 
 1837, M. Gannal embalmed, by his process, the 
 body of Oudet, senior, Doctor in Medicine, who 
 lived No. 24 Dauphine street. This operation was 
 performed in my presence, no other opening being 
 necessary than that in the carotid artery, and was 
 finished in less than half an hour. 
 
 " On the twenty-eighth of May following, the ex- 
 humation of the body was made in my presence, 
 that of M. Prunier, commissary of police, the per- 
 sons attached to the cemetery, and some spectators. 
 The body, which had remained three months in the 
 earth, and in a coffin not lined with lead, was* in 
 such a perfect state of preservation, that all present 
 declared that it resembled a man asleep. 
 
 Signed, H. Petit." 
 
 It is, perhaps, unnecessary to refer here to the 
 embalming which I made at the request of Dr. Hus- 
 son. I had to preserve the body of the nephew of 
 General Guilleminot, who died at the hotel de 
 Bade, Helder street. The mother requested that her 
 son should be dressed in his usual manner, and 
 placed on a bed of repose as if asleep. He remained 
 fifteen days in this position before being enclosed in 
 a coffin, to be transported to the family sepulchre. 
 I abstain from mentioning many instances of exhu- 
 mation made at my own request, because they need 
 the authenticity of character necessary to facts, from 
 which are to be drawn scientific results. Besides, 
 it will always be easy, when any scientific body or 
 the authorities desire to assure themselves of the ef- 
 ficacy of the means which I employ, to obtain an 
 
252 GENERAL PROCESSES, &C. 
 
 exhumation and prove the state of the subjects thus 
 prepared. 
 
 I preserve in my cabinet the body of an infant of 
 ten years, embalmed for more than eight months ; 
 the countenance of this subject, which remains un- 
 covered, has not experienced any alteration ; his 
 open eyes* give his physiognomy the expression of 
 astonishment often observed on first awakening. 
 
 If such results can offer any consolation to fami- 
 lies who lament a painful loss, I have received my 
 reward. 
 
 ♦ The eyes have been replaced by artificial ones.— TV, 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 We propose to make a few general observations on the 
 process of M. Gannal, and add some remarks on anatomical 
 preparations, in order to make the present work more com- 
 plete. 
 
 The perusal of this volume must convince any one that 
 we are indebted to M. Gannal for a real improvement in 
 the progress of anatomical science. But, as is generally the 
 case with authors who urge a research into any particular 
 department of science with equal enthusiasm, M. Gannal 
 has, perhaps, overrated the extent and importance of his 
 discovery. The commissioners appointed by the Academy 
 of Sciences, and the Royal Academy of Medicine, have sa- 
 tisfactorily demonstrated the great utility and novelty of M. 
 G.'s process, in preserving bodies for dissection without ma- 
 terially altering the organic tissues, or offering any injury to 
 the instruments of the dissector. And the museum of the 
 author contains numerous specimens, to show that subjects 
 injected by his process and dried, are capable of resisting 
 destruction for ages ; but we did not observe any specimens 
 during our examination of them, which retained so close a 
 resemblance to living nature, as his accounts would lead us 
 to believe, with the exception of those which had been re- 
 cently injected, and previous to the process of desiccation ; 
 a process which always results unless the object is enveloped 
 by a preservative liquor, and thus adding considerably to 
 the labour and expense. Whilst the process of desiccation 
 produces such contraction and distortion in the subject, as 
 to render the new method of embalming ever inapplicable 
 as a general means of accurately preserving birds and quad- 
 
254 APPENDIX. 
 
 rupeds as objects of zoological collections. But it might be 
 made an economical and expeditious method of preparing 
 objects of natural history during long voyages, as such ob- 
 jects could be subsequently moistened and subjected to dis- 
 section. But desiccation does not immediately follow pre- 
 servation by this process ; as was satisfactorily exemplified 
 in the person of the late Archbishop Quelin, who died dur- 
 ing our residence in Paris, and who was thus embalmed at 
 his own dying request, and whose body retained its natural 
 appearance after several weeks exposure to public view in 
 the church of Notre Dame. 
 
 A more useful application of the process has also been 
 made by the police of Paris, in preserving bodies for many 
 weeks in the morgue, where suspicions of murder exacted 
 an unusual retention of the body. 
 
 The specimens of pathological anatomy, preserved in the 
 same liquid of injection, were not exempt from the usual 
 inconvenience attached to similar preparations in a solution 
 of muriate of soda and other salts, being equally liable to 
 incrustations, requiring a change or renewal of the solu- 
 tion. 
 
 In the preservation of birds by this process it was found 
 sufficient to inject the body by the trachea, subsequently 
 suspending the animal by the feet in order to drain it of the 
 superabundant fluid, and then giving it a fixed position by 
 means of wires ; such preparations retain their flexibility 
 and natural appearance for some weeks, or until desicca- 
 tion commences. 
 
 The powerful preservative properties of aluminous salts 
 have been long known, and were not unfrequently resorted 
 to by the ancients. Some remarkable instances of preserva- 
 tion by such a medium have accidentally occurred in our 
 own country, among which the following may be here no- 
 ticed. That distinguished officer of the American revolu- 
 tion, General Wayne, died thirty or forty years ago at Erie, 
 Pennsylvania, and was buried in the vicinity of the lake ; 
 the body was not long since disinterred and removed by 
 
APPENDIX. 255 
 
 his son, who was astonished to find it in so perfect a state 
 of preservation — and on examination it was discovered to 
 have been deposited in an argillaceous soil strongly impreg- 
 nated with a solution of alum. 
 
 Another interesting instance occurred many years since 
 in the State of Maine, where the body of a person, missing 
 for several months, was discovered in a clay pit, into which 
 it had fallen, face downwards, enveloped in moist clay; the 
 features were recognisable, although the parts of the body 
 exposed to the air had long decayed to a skeleton. 
 
 The interesting and important subject of embalming, and 
 of preserving and preparing anatomical objects, though 
 much improved of late, is by no means exhausted. It has 
 long been our desire to turn our attention in a special man- 
 ner to such researches, and to have instituted numerous ex- 
 periments, but imperative duties, and unexpected events, 
 have interfered with such views for the present — we are 
 not without a hope, however, that some one of our country- 
 men, more fortunately situated, will push his discoveries in 
 a direction which affords so admirable a field for distinc- 
 tion. 
 
 The investigator might even be so fortunate as to dis- 
 cover the lost secret of the Florentine Physician, Segato^ 
 for petrifying animal substances ! The problem is by no 
 means an unphilosophical one, nor yet a chemical ano- 
 maly — it is only perfectly to saturate, by injection or other- 
 wise, animal substance with the silicate of potash, or liquor 
 of flints, — ( Verre Soluble, of Fuchs,) and subsequently to im- 
 merse it in a weak acid solution: — the"methodus oper- 
 andi," remains to be discovered. (Consult Dumas, Traits 
 de Chimie, Vol. 2. p. 577, for an interesting chapter on 
 "Verre Soluble.") 
 
 - Bodies of men, horses, &c., have been preserved for cen- 
 turies in the bogs of Scotland and Ireland ; it is to be pre- 
 sumed that these must have been immersed when the tem- 
 perature was low, as we have always failed in attempting 
 to preserve bodies in a saturated solution of gall nuts, dm-- 
 
256 APPENDIX. 
 
 ing warm weather but an injection of the vessels with the 
 tincture of galls has proved more successful. 
 
 We have already demonstrated by experiment that Tran- 
 chini's arsenical solution is inadequate as a means of em- 
 balming, (vide Note, p. 211 of this volume.) 
 
 The mercurial corrosive sublimate, as a means of preser- 
 ving from corruption, in addition to the palpable objections 
 to its use designated by our author, exacts much time, la- 
 bour, and expense, and not imfrequently fails altogether, 
 whether applied to animal or vegetable substances. 
 
 The sulphate of copper, has more recently been proposed 
 as a preservative of vegetable matter, especially as appli- 
 cable to the blocks for paving streets ; its properties as a 
 preservative of animal matters have long been recognised. 
 We have read of human bodies found in some parts of Ger- 
 many, preserved entire for many years, by being deposited 
 in a soil strongly impregnated with this salt. 
 
 About the close of the year 1839, we read in the Medi- 
 cal Gazette, an account of some experiments performed by 
 Drs. Babington and Rees, with the view of preserving hu- 
 man bodies, for the purposes of dissection. After numerous 
 unsuccessful trials with various antiseptic substances, they 
 succeeded to their entire satisfaction by simply injecting the 
 arteries of an adult with one gallon of pyroxilic spirits ; of 
 which substance, (which must not be confounded withpyro- 
 ligneous acid, or pyro-acetic spirits,) a full account may be 
 found in the "Annals of Philosophy," N. S. VIII, 69. Ac- 
 cording to the authors, the advantage of employing Pyroxi- 
 lic Spirits are — 1. Its extreme fluidity. 2. Its freedom from 
 colour. 3. Its cheapness, being only one half the price of 
 alcohol. 4. Its innoccuous nature, and its freedom from 
 any corrosive action on dissecting instruments. 
 
 In the London Medical Gazette, for December, 1839, 
 there is a memoir of Dr. Thomas Marshall, on the same 
 subject, who thinks he has discovered a much cheaper and 
 more efi'ectual method — which consists in puncturing the 
 surface of the body very generally with needles or scissors. 
 
APPENDIX. -SS? 
 
 &c., and brushing over the body with acetic acid, specitic 
 , gravity 1,04S, which must be brushed into it slowly and re- 
 peatedly, the same acid slightly diluted with water, to be 
 introduced into the great cavities. This process, the author 
 asserts, has not only preserved bodies perfectly sweet for 
 months; but is capable of restoring the natural colour to 
 parts already gangrenous. 
 
 To use the author's own words, "two days' application in 
 this way, will beautify any subject." The face of a corpse 
 thus punctured, and supplied with compresses moistened 
 with this acid, would be preserved, or even restored to its 
 natural appearance, when discoloured by incipient putrefac- 
 tion. John Hiaiter and other contemporaneous surgeons 
 were in the habit of using diluted nitric acid for this pur- 
 pose, but we have frequently seen this application fail, in 
 our climate, when puncturation was omitted. 
 
 Most beautiful specimens of natural skeletons may be 
 obtained by employing tadpoles ; the animal must be di- 
 vested of its skin, and the bones roughly cleaned of their 
 flesh, and then suspended in water, exposed to the depre- 
 dations of the tadpoles, who delicately remove, atom by 
 atom, the softened flesh still adhering to the skeleton, by 
 means of their suction mouths, in the course of a few hours, 
 during warm weather ; when the preparation is to be placed 
 in position and dried. The aid of the ant has also been 
 successfully invoked for a similar purpose. A small quad- 
 ruped prepared as above, is placed in a box, and deposited 
 in the vicinity of an ant's nest; these industrious operatives 
 rapidly remove the flesh from the bones. 
 
 As approaching the nearest to natural objects, we can se- 
 curely reconamend the accm'ate anatomical preparations in 
 Carton, of Dr. Azoux, of Paris: the annual course of po- 
 pular anatomy which he delivers, and which we have had 
 the satisfaction of attending, are admirably and accurately 
 illustrated by this means. 
 
 These preparations consist not only of every part of the 
 human body, but of entire subjects, both male and female, in- 
 
 33 
 
258 APPENDIX. 
 
 eluding the gravid uterus. The only objection that can be 
 urged against them, is the high price, say six hundred dollars 
 for the entire adult subject. 
 
 p]]qually valuable is the more recent invention of another 
 Parisian artist, of a material which he denominates "Carton 
 pierreuse," which appears to be a composition of "papier 
 mache" and ground plaster of Paris, with which he executes 
 anatomical models of great beauty and accuracy, including 
 innumerable pieces of morbid anatomy, coloured to nature. 
 Either of the above preparations are vastly superior to those 
 in wax -, they are more durable and more natural. 
 
 The study of minute anatomy has been yet further essen- 
 tially aided, by the representations of the nerves, arteries, 
 and veins of the head and face, by means of wires en- 
 veloped in wax, coloured after nature ; these constitute very, 
 accurate and handsome preparations, and are the ornament 
 of anatomical museums, as manufactured by M. Guy, ad- 
 joining the School of Medicine in Paris. 
 
 Preparations of the nerves and blood vessels of the entire 
 subject, distinct from the body, are made in a similar man- 
 ner; fine specimens of which are contained in the Museum 
 of Comparative Anatomy in the Garden of Plants. The end- 
 less variety and perfection of the preparations, models, &c., 
 as a means of prosecuting anatomical studies at the present 
 time, are strongly contrasted with those at the command of 
 the student in the days of Harvey ; when the vessels and 
 nerves were imperfectly displayed with great labour and 
 expense by the tedious process of dissecting them from the 
 body and drying them on a board. Valuable specimens of 
 these kinds of preparations from the cabinet of Harvey, are 
 still scrupulously preserved in the cabinet of the Royal Col- 
 lege of Physicians of London. 
 
 It will only be necessary to add here, a few formulae for 
 the various kinds of injections used in the preparations of 
 the blood vessels by the American and English anatomists, 
 which will be observed to differ considerably from those 
 used on the Continent, by reference to chapter seventh of 
 
APPENDIX. 259 
 
 this volume, where will also he found fonnulasfor the com- 
 position of varnishes : as regards the various methods of ma- 
 nipulation requisite for the preparation of each particular 
 part of the body, these will be best obtained by the student's 
 personal application to the anatomical instructor or assis- 
 tant connected with medical schools and teachers of prac- 
 tical anatomy. 
 
 We have found, by experience, that the great secret of 
 success in anatomical injections, consists in first heating the 
 part, or subject, thoroughly in hot water, the temperature of 
 which, for an entire subject must be continued for ten or 
 twelve hours, or until the deepest parts are equally heated; 
 secondly, to take the precaution to reduce the colouring 
 matters to an impalpable powder, and use the injection at 
 as high a temperature as possible without injury to the 
 tissues. 
 
 Formulao for coarse Injections. 
 
 Red. — Yellow bees-wax, 16 3. 
 
 White resin, 9 i- 
 
 Turpentine varnish, 6 g. 
 
 Vermilion, or carmine, 3 3. 
 
 Yelloic.—The same materials, substituting for the 
 
 red colouring matter. King's yellow, 2l 3. 
 
 Black. — Substituting lamp-black, 1 §• 
 
 Green. — Substituting crystallized verdigris, 4^ 3. 
 
 Best flake v/hite, I5 B- 
 
 Gamboge, 1 o- 
 
 White. — Substituting fine white bees-wax, and 
 
 best flake white, Si 5. 
 
 Pale blue. — The same, substituting fine blue smalt, 2\ 3. 
 Dark blue. — Substituting blue verditer, lOd 3. 
 
 First liquify the wax, resin, and turpentine varnish, over 
 a slow fire, in an earthen pot, then add the colouring mat- 
 ter, previously mixing it in another pot, with a very small 
 quantity of the liquified composition, and stirrins it well 
 
260 APPENDIX. 
 
 wiih a wooden pestle, so that the colouring ingredients may 
 be intimately and smoothly blended; then add, by degrees, 
 the whole of the ingredients, and when they have acquired 
 their due heat, by being placed again over the fire, the in- 
 jection will be ready for immediate use. A quantity of the 
 ingredients of these injections may be kept prepared with- 
 out the colouring matters, wliich may be added in their pro- 
 per proportions, pro re nata. The ingredients become brittle 
 by frequent melting, and turpentine varnish must be occa- 
 sionally added. The same rules apply to the mixture of the 
 following 
 
 Formulae for fine Injections. 
 
 Red. — Brown spirit varnish, white spirit varnish, a.a. 
 
 Turpentine varnish,"* 
 
 Vermilion, 
 Yellow. — The same, substituting King's yellow. 
 White. — Substituting best flake white, 
 Light blue. — Substituting fine blue smalt, 
 
 Best flake white. 
 Dark blue. — Substituting blue verditer, 
 Black. — Lamp-black, 
 
 Formulse for Minute Injections. 
 
 The size which constitutes the principal part of these 
 formulae, is made in the following manner: 
 
 Take the finest and most transparent glue, one pound, 
 break it into pieces about the size of a nutmeg ; put it into 
 an earthen pot, and pour on it three pints of cold water, let 
 it stand twenty-four hours, stirring occasionally with a stick; 
 then set it over a slow fire for half an hour, or until the glue 
 is perfectly dissolved ; skim ofl" the froth from the surface 
 and strain it through flannel ; then add the colouring in- 
 gredients. 
 
 * The varnishes go by measure. 
 
 4 5- 
 
 1 S- 
 
 1 §. 
 
 ni. 
 
 2 1. 
 
 n §. 
 
 U5- 
 
 4 1. 
 
 h §. 
 
APPENDIX. 261 
 
 Red. — Size, one pint — Vermilion, 3^ 5. 
 
 Yelloitf. " " King's yellow, 2^ g. 
 
 TV/lite. " " Best flake white, 3i 5. 
 
 Blue. " <•' Fine blue smalt, 6 3. 
 
 Green. " " Crystallized verdigris, 2 §. 
 
 '• " Best flake white, gamboge, a.fl'. 8 9. 
 
 Black. " " Lamp-black, 1 5. 
 
 Cold Injections. 
 
 Whilst pursuing practical anatomy in the University of 
 Pennsylvania, in the year 1814, under the direction of Pro- 
 fessor Wistar, I became acquainted with a material for 
 many years known in that institution under the denomina- 
 tion of " Spalding's Cold Injection''* used for the piu-pose 
 of filling the bloodvessels, without the preparatory measm'e 
 of heating the subject or the injection ingredients — its use 
 exacted great care on the part of the manipulator, and fre- 
 quently failed ; although, when successful, it siu-passed all 
 other coarse injections in minuteness. It was composed by 
 grinding white lead and red lead, of each 4 5, in a suffi- 
 cient quantity of boiled linseed oil to form a thick paste, 
 adding, just previously to injecting, turpentine varnish 8 5. 
 
 Dr. Parsons gives the following formulas for cold injec- 
 tions. ( Vide Parson's Anatomical Preparations, p. 2.) 
 
 " Cold coarse Injections. — This kind consists of colour- 
 ing matter ground in boiled linseed oil upon a painter's 
 marble, and made of the consistence of white lead, ground 
 in oil. After being finely levigated, a little lime water, in 
 proportion of two table spoonsful to a pint, is to be incorpo- 
 rated by stirring. At the moment of filling the syringe with 
 the injection, there should be added to it about one-third of 
 its measure of Venice turpentine, which should be stirred 
 quickly, and used immediately, as it very soon hardens. 
 
 ♦ Dr. Spalding was a native of Massachusetts, and a student of the 
 late Professor Rusli, some thirty or forty years ago. 
 
262 APPENDIX. 
 
 The use of the hme water is to harden the injection ; but 
 when white lead (which is almost always adulterated with 
 carbonate of lime) is used, lime water is unnecessary. 
 
 " Cold fine Injections. — The same materials will answer, 
 only adding to t!io Venice turpentine an equal quantity of 
 spirits of turpentine. This is generally thrown in the vessel 
 in small quantities at first, and followed by the above coarse 
 injection. 
 
 " Cold minute Injection. — This may be the same as the 
 warui minute injection; or it may consist of vermilion 
 ground very fine in spirits of turpentine, adding a small por- 
 tion of Venice turpentine, the whole being as fluid as milk, 
 and when thrown in, should be followed by the cold coarse 
 injection." 
 
 Sloan's cold Injection. 
 
 This consists of plaster of Paris, to which some colouring 
 matter has been added, and water gradually poured on it 
 until reduced to the consistence of cream — taking care to 
 cleanse the syringe immediately after injecting. For mak- 
 ing corroded preparations of the kidney, &c., the fusible 
 metal may be thrown into the artery, after heating the or- 
 gan (but not the artery) until it acquires the temperature of 
 boiling water — to be afterwards treated as directed in this 
 volume. 
 
 A simple injection, adequate to all useful purposes, where 
 it is only intended to illustrate the bloodvessels, consists of 
 tallow, melted and coloured. Or the following, which is 
 in general use in the Parisian dissecting rooms : Lamp- 
 black, ground in oil, adding the lime water and turpentine 
 as above mentioned in the cold coarse injection. 
 
 It is difficult, at the present time, to ascertain to whom 
 anatomy is justly indebted for the discovery and first intro- 
 duction of arterial injections, &c. The first use of wax in- 
 jections has been attributed to Swammerdam, in 1672, al- 
 though it is probable that De Bils and Ruysch preceded 
 him. The Sieur Disenclosses possessed a cabinet furnished 
 
APPENDIX. 263 
 
 with over one hundred pieces, many consisting of injected 
 vessels, a description of which was jmblished in 1727, but 
 the collection must have existed many years previously. 
 
 Corroded preparations have been attributed to Francis 
 Nicolls, Professor of Anatomy, at Oxford, about the begii;- 
 ning of last century ; size injections to Rouhaut, surgeon 
 to the King of Sardinia ; the fusible metal, to Homberg, of 
 Paris, (this metal is composed of an equal proportion of tin, 
 bismuth, and brass,) who used a pneumatic apparatus for 
 forcing it into the vessels ; the origin of Spalding's cold m- 
 jections has more recently been attributed to Mr. Allan 
 Ramsay, a Scotch anatomist. ( Vide Horner\s Practical 
 Anatomy, p. xviii, Introduction.) 
 
 Mercurial Injections. 
 
 These exact great skill and care in the operator. It re- 
 quires an iron tube with a finely drawn glass pipe attached, 
 supplied with a stop-cock — they are chiefly used for filling 
 the lymphatics : the pipe must be introduced into these ves- 
 sels at numerous points most distant from the heart, and 
 these successively charged with the quicksilver. 
 
 The lymphatic vessels of the liver, the parotid glands, the 
 vesicute seminales, the testicles, the mesentery of the tor- 
 toise, the lactiferous ducts of the mammae, the kidneys of a 
 cat, &c., form the best objects for a successful display of this 
 kind of injection. 
 
 The hand of an emaciated individual may be readily in- 
 jected, both arteries and veins, by fixing the pipe in the ra- 
 dial artery. The vessels are very apt to rupture during this 
 operation, when it had been the custom to throw away the 
 preparation as spoiled. But this accident we have found 
 very readily remedied, by simply touching the ruptured 
 vessel with a red hot wire, when, by the contraction of to- 
 nicity, the effiision of the quicksilver is suppressed. After 
 the injection has been completed, the hand must be mace- 
 rated in water, frequently changed, until the blood and cu- 
 
264 APPENDIX. 
 
 tide are removed, when it may be dried and varnished, or 
 suspended in spirits of turpentine. 
 
 We have seen admirable preparations in possession of 
 Professor Flourens, in the Museum of the Jardin des Plantes, 
 illustrating the vascular connection between mother and foe- 
 tus, by means of both quicksilver and size injections, passed 
 both from the foetal vessels to those of the uterus, and vice 
 versa ; a species of connection said to exist in all animals 
 possessed of a simple placenta, and not cotyledinous. 
 
 Various other minute particulars connected with ana- 
 tomical preparations in all its branches, will be found fully 
 detailed in the present volume. 
 
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