The above operation may be performed before closing the wound in the abdomen or replacing the intestine into the cavity, as it will then leave more room to collect the fluid which may escape from the lungs.
The lungs should in all cases be well injected, either through the trachea or by the process given above. The air passages must be carefully stopped with cotton. The mouth being closed, the nostrils are about the only air passages which require the attention of the operator. The eyes, after a few days, are liable to sink in the sockets, which gives the body an unnatural appearance. Mr. John C. Rulon, of Philadelphia, has invented a wax shell, which, after being introduced under the eyelids, prevents the sinking of the eyes.
The arterial system is to be injected, and next requires attention. Before commencing to inject the arteries, the jugular vein on the left side of the neck must be punctured so as to allow the blood to escape. In some subjects, the flow of blood will be very copious, in which instance the jugular veins must be opened on both sides of the neck; at other times the flow of blood will be very limited, and even the opening of the veins has sometimes been found quite unnecessary.
The femoral artery is the vessel generally chosen for injecting, at a point below the arch about eight inches from and below Poupart’s Ligament. After the artery has been raised, a small incision is punctured into the coat of the artery, large enough to admit the nozzle of the injector, and the canula is carefully pushed upwards into it as far as its length will allow; the artery is then safely and firmly fastened around it, and everything is then ready for injecting.
On the mode of injecting depends, in a great measure, the success of the operation. With some of the instruments now employed, the pressure of the injecting fluid is so strong and sudden as in some instances to rupture the walls of the arteries at some weak point, and fill the cavaties of the thorax and abdomen; sometimes even the liquid has been forced in with such force and in such quantities as to burst the arteries, and, after filling the chest, to pour out in a stream from the mouth and nostrils.
In the above instances, it stands to reason that neither the arterial nor venous systems have been properly injected.
The injection should be performed in a slow, regular manner. After a quart of the embalming fluid (the composition of which has been given above) has been injected, the operation should be suspended for about ten minutes, after which it should be renewed in the same manner, until a gallon and a half or two gallons have been injected. Sometimes the quantity injected need not be so great, as for instance in the case of a person much emaciated by long illness, or if the subject be a child.
The jugular veins must be kept open so long as the flow of blood continues, but they must be closed as soon as the embalming fluid makes its appearance. The best manner of closing the veins is by introducing into the jugulars a small pad of cotton, and neatly sewing up the opening.
It should be remembered that the cloth moistened with the solution for the face should be kept on, well saturated, while this operation is being performed, and even for a few hours after the body has been dressed.
A body prepared in this manner has been kept, in a wooden coffin, in a dark and moderately cool place, for the space of nine months without any perceptible change. After that time the shrinking of the tissues took place, and the body was slowly drying up and being desiccated without in the least decaying or putrefying.