There remained for me, then, an ulterior series of observations in order to prevent these unfavourable results.
It was necessary to discover a method of preserving bodies always fresh, with the appearance of sleep, in the state in which they exist immediately after death. It was necessary that the preservation should be indefinitely prolonged; that is to say, that the embalming be such a one that it would allow a dead body to be preserved in all its integrity, without mutilation, without incisions, and fit for dissection at will at all possible epochs.
Have I fulfilled these conditions? Let the facts answer.
First observation.—In the month of February, 1836, at the request of Dr. Petigard, I embalmed the body of the son of M. Dupré, architect, living in Cerisarie street, No. 13.
This child, aged about twelve years, was interred in the cemetery of Père la Chaise. During the construction of the monument, which the father caused to be erected to him, some of his friends excited doubts as to the efficacy of my method of preservation. Wounded in his affections, M. Dupré conceived suspicions which he communicated to Dr. Petigard, expressing the desire for the exhumation of the body. He advised me of this, but numerous occupations prevented me giving it immediate attention; he attributed my delay to hesitation, to the fear I had of seeing my promises made to the relatives contradicted, and, as he has since avowed, expressed himself without reserve on my account.
Finally, the opening of the coffin was made in the month of July, 1837; when the unfortunate father, feeling revive all his grief at the sight of his son, whom he found exactly in the state in which he was at the moment of inhumation, regretting, besides, his suspicions of me, embraced me with effusion, and gave me every proof of his lively gratitude.
“Your hesitation,” he remarked, “made me fear that I had been deceived, under which persuasion I have undoubtedly prejudiced several persons against you, but I will repair the fault in telling the truth.” Here is one fact which may appear of some value, and that which follows is none the less conclusive.
Second observation.—Dr. Oudet, surgeon dentist, died at Paris, Dauphine street, was embalmed sixth March, 1837, after my process; his body was deposited in a coffin of oak, without a lining of lead, and placed, thus enclosed, in a clayey, humid soil. Three months after, the exhumation was made, in presence of M. Prunier, commissary of police for the quarter of the observatory, and of Dr. Petit. The body was found in such a perfect state of preservation, that it astonished the numerous persons present at the exhumation; all admitting that the aspect of the defunct was exactly that of a man asleep: a “procès-verbal” was drawn up on the spot, to prove the state of the body. The following is a copy of it:
“I, the undersigned, Doctor of Medicine of the faculty of Paris, certify, that on the sixth of March, 1837, M. Gannal embalmed, by his process, the body of Oudet, senior, Doctor in Medicine, who lived No. 24 Dauphine street. This operation was performed in my presence, no other opening being necessary than that in the carotid artery, and was finished in less than half an hour.
“On the twenty-eighth of May following, the exhumation of the body was made in my presence, that of M. Prunier, commissary of police, the persons attached to the cemetery, and some spectators. The body, which had remained three months in the earth, and in a coffin not lined with lead, was in such a perfect state of preservation, that all present declared that it resembled a man asleep.