Lymphatic nodes are scattered along the course of the lymphatic vessels, found in various regions of the body as elliptical flattened nodules of varying size. The embalmer will meet with these in the axillary and inguinal regions, or when he is raising the axillary or femoral arteries.
PART III. EMBALMING
Embalming
The central thought of the modern funeral director in the care of the dead and in all the arrangements of the funeral is to remove so far as may be all that is necessarily painful to those who must place out of sight the body through which the soul of the dear one has expressed itself, in all the ways that are prompted by affection. This does not seem to have been the case in the former days when the methods were in striking contrast to those of today and were such as would intensify the suffering of the living. Beginning with the arrangement of the body in the room made cold by nature in winter or by the ice box in the summer and ending by lowering the body into an unlined grave, each detail seems to have been made with little thought of lessening the pain caused by those things which necessarily have to be done. Perhaps the central thought in the old days was the same as that which was the comfort offered upon funeral occasions by a former local pastor which was “death is a horrible thing.” If this was not the controlling thought, it is certain that many details of former funeral customs would be considered horrible today. Today the aim is to lighten the burden and to cheer the hearts of those who mourn.
The introduction of embalming in the seventies has been of untold benefit in improving the environment of the dead prior to interment. Recollections of the use of the old ice box, the crude and cumbersome cooler, the ice water to be cared for and the thought of the chilled body are not pleasant now, and were far from pleasant then to those into whose homes death had entered in hot weather. In winter natural cold was depended upon, the body being placed in the coldest place possible. With the best of care the results were uncertain and far from satisfactory. Modern embalming has changed all this. Its results are with rare exceptions certain and satisfactory and the embalmed body may be dressed and placed in a warm and comfortable room.
CHAPTER X. MODES, SIGNS AND TESTS OF DEATH.
Just as surely as we are born, just so surely must we die, and just as it is the physician's duty to care for the living body, if possible to keep it in a strong and healthful condition, so it is the embalmer's duty to care for the body after death, not so much for the body itself, but from a sanitary standpoint, namely, to see that the body is well disinfected and embalmed so that there will be absolutely no chance for the spread of disease.
Any one who is familiar with hospital work must know that all do not die in the same way. For some it is the long lingering disease, chronic in form, which after a long and tedious course the thread of life is finally broken, and we hardly know the instant at which the change was completed. For others, it is the short, acute attack, which snaps the life away in a very instant, only after a very short duration. For some it is to die from accidental causes, while for others it is only the passing out from the period of old age. For some the mind may be active and the intellectual faculties useful up to the last moment, while for others the contrary is all but too true.
Although there may be many different kinds of disease infecting the human race, yet we find that death ultimately results from the stoppage of any one, or maybe, all three of the vital organs, namely the heart, brain or lungs. Anything whatsoever which plays upon the body, to such an extent, as to affect the functions absolutely, of either the heart, brain or lungs, will result in the death of that body. And since these organs are of such vital importance to us, and since the stoppage of any one of them will result in death, they have been termed the vital organs.