On the 16th of August, I injected a subject with eight 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 volume, and was less useful for dissection. Finally, at the end of January, 1836, the varnished parts, 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 consisted, 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 subject injected with acetate of alumine.
Another subject was injected with the chloride of aluminium. This injection did not succeed well, and with three bodies I met with the same difficulties, that is to say, the liquid contained in the syringe 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 aluminium has so great an affinity for water, that it absorbs that of which the organs are constituted. However, the parts of the body which had been penetrated by the liquid were well preserved, the muscles 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 decomposed. Finally, I introduced a quart of chloride at ten degrees, and six quarts at twenty degrees; 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 alumine at ten degrees, and of three quarts of the chloride of aluminium at twenty degrees, injected by the aorta, or better still, by the carotid artery, have afforded the most satisfactory results.
I have already remarked that all these experiments were made under the inspection of the commission appointed by the Academy of Sciences, of those of the Academy of Medicine, and of the Monthyon commission, composed of MM. Dulong, Magendie, 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 experiments of Doctor Tranchini, of Naples, which consists in injecting a solution of two pounds of arsenic in twenty pounds of clear water, or better, in spirits of wine.[15] During eight days the corpse remained perfectly natural; but after this time it gradually dried, although deposited in a damp situation, 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.