History of Embalming / and of Preparations in Anatomy, Pathology, and Natural History; Including an Account of a New Process for Embalming

by J.-N. Gannal

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. Consequently, we must proceed in the following manner: remove all the viscera, sew up carefully the integuments, plunge the body for several weeks, in a weak solution of sub-carbonate of soda, after having filled all the cavities with it; wash the corpse freely, and soak it for some days in an aluminous bath, to remove all the alkaline particles; expose it afterwards to the air, or in a stove, to produce desiccation, taking care to fill all the cavities with tow, and with resinous and aromatic matters, so as to preserve the form; desiccation once completed, varnish with 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 observations, and thank M. Pelletan for having substituted an accurate and rational proceeding for blind and thoughtless practices. The operation, nevertheless, as proposed by the professor, still exacts 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 eagerness with which they took advantage of the discoveries of Chaussier, respecting the properties of corrosive sublimate applied to embalming. By his researches it was proved, that this salt preserved animal matters soaked in its aqueous solution; that it produced this effect by an intimate combination with animal matter; in fine, that this matter saturated 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 soft parts. Parts thus prepared, are rigid, hard, grayish, and preserved at the same time from putrefaction and insects. No time was lost to profit by this property of the deuto-chloride of mercury, to apply it to the preservation of whole bodies. It was, in fine, the last method of embalming practised previously to my own, and held as very superior to that of the ancients. We shall collect here, some observations 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 Beclard.

M. Beclard, chief of the anatomical works at the School of Medicine, was charged with the preservation of the body of a young man thirty years of age, who died of a hectic fever. The relatives desired to place the body in a glass case, and requested, above all, that it should not be opened. In spite of the disadvantage of this last restriction, M. Beclard succeeded in this operation by the following process: 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, expressed 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. During the first month it appeared to offer some signs of putrefaction; it was then thought necessary to introduce 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 those 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 exhaling any odour, or without any sign of alteration. The skin is of a leaden gray colour, and the features of the face are deformed by the emaciation of the lips and cheeks.

Second fact, (B.) Preservation of the body of Colonel Morland.

In one of the German campaigns, M. le Baron Larrey was charged with the direction of the preservation 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 preparation.[6] 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 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-saturated solution of corrosive sublimate; 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 cavities 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 recognisable, and the body varnished carefully, and dressed in the usual clothes, produced a soft and melancholy illusion in those who had known this excellent 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 alteration, exhales no odour, and remains perfectly recognisable, although the skin looks brown, 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 Colonel Morland’s body.—We have seen the body of Colonel Morland, and we can comprehend that persons who have known him, and who have seen him dressed, may carry the illusion 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 indication of the exaggeration of this fact in particular; we shall touch upon this subject again in our general remarks.

Third fact, (C.) Preservation of a young girl of ten years.

M. Boudet, apothecary, was requested by a mother 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 viscera, 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 cavities were immediately filled with a dry stoupe, and the openings closed with accurate sutures. During these various preparations, the body had been plunged in a bath of pure alcohol, then into an alcohol bath containing 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 portion of the mercury was revivified; but it is necessary to observe that the vase in which he operated was of lead, which should occasion the decomposition, and augment the consummation of the sublimate. 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, artificial 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 natural; finally, this infant, clothed in its ordinary dress, and enclosed in a glass case, presents a perfect resemblance, and causes an extraordinary illusion.