The body was washed thoroughly with soap and water; then the abdomen was opened and the sternum raised; the thoracic as well as the abdominal viscera was then removed altogether, as also the brain.
The body was then immersed for one week in a strong solution of alum and nitrate of potash; the body was then taken out and the cavities filled with tow and powdered arsenic; the bowels, lungs, liver, etc., in fact all the viscera, were buried separately.
The body was then completely buried in dry sand for the space of ten days, to absorb all the moisture contained in the tissues, and was then dressed in the funeral habiliments and placed in a leaden coffin, hermetically sealed; a small, thick glass, immediately over the face, allowed the friends to obtain a view of the features.
This process has been found objectionable for a good many reasons; in the first place, the eviscerating of the body is a repulsive feature of it, and not to be had recourse to when less barbarous means are at hand; secondly, the skin of the body assumes a yellow and wrinkled appearance, which, if it does not entirely destroy the cast of the features, alters the general appearance so much as to render them very different from the natural appearance.
At any rate, the method of preserving bodies by the above means has entirely fallen into disuse, and as, with our perfected improvements in this branch of the undertaking business, we are able to do away with the most repugnant features of it, this system has been superseded by the less objectionable and more effective arterial injections.
LAWS OF HEALTH.
Undertakers, like physicians and all those who may be called at any time of the day or night to make use of their physical and mental faculties, whose duties compel them to breathe the foul effluvia of the sick chamber, or the noxious gases generated by the dead, even to come into direct contact with every variety of contagious or epidemic disease—such professionals find it to their interest and physical welfare to observe certain rules of living in accordance with the requirements of their calling.
It is a matter of great importance that their diet, clothing and habits be regulated by certain laws, which will, to a great extent, reduce the dangers to which they are exposed in the discharge of their duties.