MISCELLANEOUS.
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Whenthe services of the undertaker are required, the party or parties—generally some friend of the deceased—who may have charge of the arrangements will, in a few words, make the undertaker acquainted with the nature of the case and the particular duties he is expected to perform.
Sometimes they will there and then select the style of case or casket, order the carriages, and arrange all the other details of the funeral. At other times, again, these particular points are to be decided upon only after consulting the wishes of the family in this respect.
In either case it is the undertaker’s most imperative duty to hasten to the house of mourning with all the implements necessary for washing, laying out, dressing, and if necessary preserving the body. That is, where the party has died at his own house; for, in many cases, where death has taken place either at a hotel, boarding house, or any other place of a like public character, the proprietor thereof may wish the remains removed, at as short notice as convenient, to the rooms of the undertaker, where the remains may be properly cared for without any annoyance or discomfort to the other inmates.
Before the undertaker brings in any of the appliances necessary to the laying out of the corpse, it will be well for him to make his entrance unincumbered, and be introduced to the persons present. He must also view the remains, and make such arrangements or alteration in the furniture of the room as may be necessary to facilitate the operation of laying out, washing, etc.
The assistant may then be called in, and he shall dispose of the funeral implements according to the directions given by the undertaker. After the preliminaries have thus been disposed of, none but the intimate friends or relatives of the deceased are allowed to remain while the work of dressing the corpse is being performed. This is subservient to the wish and good judgment of the undertaker, who is supposed to be vested with powers of expelling those whose presence is not justifiable, or retaining others who may have claim to the privilege.
It should be here borne in mind that the work must be done as silently and noiselessly as the nature of the case admits of; and that any subject of discourse between the undertaker and his assistant, not immediately connected with the matter in hand, is very much out of place, and will be regarded by the persons present as a lack of good manners, not to say a disrespectful behavior.
Let it be also remembered that a mortuary chamber is not the place fitly chosen to consummate the ulterior arrangements of the funeral, but some otherapartment in the house, or even the undertaker’s own office, are the proper places to perfect subsequent proceedings.
The laying out and dressing of the body being completed, the assistant may retire, after having carefully removed whatever articles may have been used in the process; while the undertaker, who may have some directions to give about the proper care of the body until the time of burial, or some instructions to receive from the persons in charge of the funeral, will wait until every point is settled; or some other time and place may be selected for the purpose.
It is not the sphere of the undertaker, especially at such time, to press with questions the parties whom he may chance to serve; but he will abide his time and accept their decisions with becoming respect, unless some imperative object should make it incumbent upon him to hasten the proceedings, as, for instance, the danger of contagion from some infectious disease, or some other equally important reason.
In the matter of dressing the body, especially if it be that of a lady, this duty is usually performed by some lady attached to the establishment, or by some lady friend of the deceased, although the undertaker is often called to perform this office himself. It is at such a time that good taste and refinement will show conspicuous in the professional undertaker.
The same may be said about the floral decorations and the ornamenting of the casket; a certain amount of good sound common sense and discrimination should be used in both cases.
Some parties will consider it a mark of good taste to have but a few elegant and well chosen gold or silver trimmings, while others would consider a superfluity of these as needful to the complete decoration of the casket. This part of the business must be well understood by the undertaker, and it requires a certain amount of tact to pamper successfully to the taste of the different parties he may be called upon to serve.
The remains, after being placed in the coffin a few hours previous to the time of the funeral, do not require much of his attention, but he is expected to be on hand at the specified time. As the hearse and carriages arrive at the house of mourning and take the places allotted to them without confusion or unnecessary noise, the undertaker will see that each carriage driver has his place assigned in thecortègeand observes the directions given him.
The assistant stands ready to receive the casket and help the pall bearers in placing it properly in the hearse; he will also see that each carriage approaches in time and receives the occupants, as his employer may direct. Should the religious ceremonies be performed in the house of the deceased, his duties will end there until the cemetery is reached; should, however, the services be performed at some public place of worship, it will be his duty to precede the arrival of the procession, to see that everything is in readiness, to give timely warning to the sexton, and to assist in removing the casket from the hearse; also inpreserving order in the loading and unloading of carriages; while the undertaker takes the lead in the carrying of the remains into the church, and will see that the casket is laid up with proper care at the place appointed.
The undertaker is expected to occupy a position not far remote from the officiating clergyman, so as to be within hearing of the latter should it be necessary for him to request some service or make some inquiries.
The funeral services over, the undertaker is expected to lead the march out of the church, preceding the casket bearers, but following the minister, who, in many instances, will walk at the head as far as the door.
The assistant will be found ready to assist in placing the casket in the hearse, as before mentioned, and will also have the carriages move up in the right order, open and close the carriage doors, while the undertaker ushers the occupants into the vehicles.
The undertaker may also require the services of an assistant at the grave, but this will depend in great measure upon the nature of the funeral itself, whether it be of a certain magnitude, or if it be one of less importance.
This brief elucidation of the duties of an undertaker in the discharge of his functions is not given as a general rule to be strictly adhered to without any exception, but merely as a ground plan to work upon, and to be subject to different modifications, as circumstances may require.
One undisputable fact is, that in the general management of a funeral pageant, and for the better and more systematic working of the details, especially if the funeral is one on a large scale, the services of a well trained assistant will be found almost indispensable to the undertaker, and will be conducive of the happiest results in securing perfect system, dispatch; and also in preventing delays and mistakes, which might otherwise happen where the responsibility and the smooth working of the whole rests upon one man.
The laying out, washing, dressing, etc., of a corpse, under any and every circumstance, ought to be so systematized and arranged, that either the undertaker or his assistant may be able to perform these duties alone and singly, with ease and promptness, should circumstances so require.
As the undertaker is supposed to understand the wants required by different cases, it will be his duty, so soon as he is acquainted with the nature of the cause of death, to take such steps as his experience will suggest, as regards the safety of those who may trust him with the care of properly disposing of the remains.
Should the disease be of a contagious or infectious character, it will be incumbent upon the undertaker to see that perfect ventilation be established in the chamber where the body lies; that all cloths which are removed from the corpse be disposed of in a cautious manner; that the bed-clothes be either carried immediately out of the room and exposed outsideto the light and heat of the sun, or be burned up, if the character of the disease be so dangerous as to require it.
He will see that proper means of disinfecting the house be used, so as to a great extent neutralize, if not completely destroy, the germ of the epidemic.
A good preparation to combat noxious and poisonous miasma, besides the other disinfecting liquids which have been enumerated in previous chapters, consists of the following:
Dissolve the nitrate of potash in the water. If the water be moderately warm it will dissolve quicker. For this purpose use a largechinawash bowl (no metallic vessel), which must hold at least twice the amount of the solution, or about one gallon. When the solution is completed, gradually pour into it the sulphuric acid; it will effervesce, and care must be taken not to let any of it fall on the carpet, as it will not only destroy the color but also the texture of the fabric; the effervescence will, however, soon subside, and the foul effluvia of the room will soon lose its offensive odor.
This fumigation has been successfully employed in Southern cities, in times of severe epidemics.
Although it may be questioned by some whether or no these measures come within the sphere of theundertaker’s duties, it is by no means a reason why they should be discarded by our professionals, or why undertakers should not be familiar with all the means that will tend to enhance the success of the profession, as well as to promote the comfort and safety of those whom they may be called upon to serve; besides the credit they will receive from the family for their well directed efforts in securing their approval.
Dr. R. H. Goolden calls attention in theLancetto the value of chloride of lead, which he says is the most powerful deodorizer and disinfectant. To prepare it for use, he directs to take half a drachm of nitrate of lead, dissolve in a pint or more of boiling water; then dissolve two drachms of common salt in a bucket of water, and mix the two solutions together; allow the sediment to subside.
The clear supernatant fluid will be a solution of chloride of lead. A cloth dipped in this solution and hung up in a room will sweeten a fetid atmosphere instantaneously; or if the solution be sprinkled over the bed-clothes or clothing of a fast decomposing body, it will produce a like result.
Even the tarnishing of gold and silver ornaments may be prevented, by a rag dipped in the solution being hung up in the room or window where they are exposed.
He relates some striking instances of the instantaneous and efficient action of this preparation.
Undertakers and others using carbolic acid to some extent should always use extreme caution in the handling of it.
The carelessness with which certain papers take up some popular recipe is not always without its dangers. For instance, there appeared lately in some public print an article upon the poison of vipers, which is very similar to that of the virus from a putrefying corpse; the article recommended that carbolic acid should be immediately introduced into the wound, the acid to be mixed with alcohol in the proportion of two to one. Observe the off-hand manner with which a toxic agent is spoken of, as if it were the most inoffensive thing in the world.
In order to try the experiment, a cat was selected, upon whose skin, denuded of hair alone, a saturated solution of carbolic acid in alcohol, with an equal quantity of water, was rubbed; this produced no effect; but when the same solution was rubbed into a scratch upon the end of the nose two or three times, the animal fell immediately into convulsions and very shortly succumbed. Prussic acid could not have acted more promptly. The moral of this experiment is obvious.
Dr. Baxter has executed a great number of very careful experiments, with a view to testing the different disinfecting properties of the so-called disinfectants commonly used. Evidence was adduced to show that carbolic acid, sulphur, permanganate of potash and chlorine are all endowed with true disinfectant properties, though in very varying degrees. The effectual disinfectant operation of chlorine and permanganate of potash appeared to depend far more on the nature of the medium through which the particles of infective matter are distributed than on the specific character of the particles themselves.
A virulent liquid cannot be regarded as certainly and completely disinfected by sulphur, unless it has been rendered permanently and thoroughly acid. No virulent liquid can be considered disinfected by carbolic acid, unless it contains at least two per cent., by weight, of the pure acid.
When disinfectants are mixed with a liquid, it is very important to make sure that they are thoroughly incorporated with it, and that no solid matters capable of shielding contagion from immediate contact with its destroyer be overlooked.
Aerial disinfection, as commonly practised in the sick room, is either useless or positively objectionable, owing to the false sense of security it is calculated to produce.
To make the air of a room smell strongly of carbolic acid, by scattering carbolic powder about thefloor, or of chlorine, by placing a tray of chloride of lime in a corner, is, so far as the specific destruction of contagion is concerned, an utterly futile proceeding.
The practical result of these experiments goes to prove, first, that dry heat, when it can be applied, is probably the most perfect of all disinfectants; second, that the old plan of stopping up crevices and fumigating with sulphur and charcoal is more efficacious than any other proceeding with more modern disinfectants; third, that the use of carbolic vapor for disinfecting purposes should be abandoned, owing to the relative feebleness and uncertainty of its action.
This sign consists in the absence of contraction of the pupil, after puncture of the cornea and evacuation of the aqueous humor. When the pupil contracts, life is still present; when it remains immovable, it is a certain sign of death. The puncture of the cornea may be made with a cataract knife, or even an ordinary lancet. It is a harmless operation.