MODIFICATIONS IN THE MODEOF EMBALMING BODIES.
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Thereare modifications in the processes used for the preservation of bodies, which are governed by circumstances affecting the different conditions of the body at the time of death. Although we may lay general rules for the quantity and variety of antiseptics used in embalming, there are certain cases where the quantity of the chemicals which enter into the composition of the injecting fluid must be either increased or curtailed, as well as the amount of the injection.
It would require the scope of a cyclopedia to give in detail the proportions of each constituent in the number of different cases which may come under the notice of the embalmer.
The mode of operation in all cases may be the same, but the nature and quantity of the injection will vary, first, with the climatic circumstances of the atmosphere; second, with the cause of death; third, with the age of the deceased; fourth, with the state of the body after death; fifth, with the length of time which has elapsed since death took place.
It has been demonstrated in a previous chapter that a high temperature is conducive to rapid decompositionof organic matter, also that a warm, moist atmosphere will operate in the same manner; it is therefore incumbent upon the operator to guard against these two agents of putrefaction by keeping the body in a moderately cool and well ventilated place until the work of preserving is accomplished; also to give the antiseptics employed time to successfully destroy and render harmless the dangerous effects of the heat.
It must not be understood by the preceding caution that a body cannot be embalmed in an ordinary room during the heat of the summer, but the suggestion herein given is solely for the purpose of facilitating the operation and rendering the success certain; besides, as it has been illustrated in some of the processes precedingly given, the strength as well as the quantity of the injection have been increased when used during the warm season.
As to the modifications to be observed in the treatment of bodies, when the cause of death is taken into consideration. It has formed the subject of some chapters to show that, in cases where death is the result of a certain class of diseases, the body is more prone to putrefy than in others; whilst in other cases, again, the body is to a certain extent preserved from corruption by the agents which have proved fatal to the organism; as, for instance, when death has been the result of poisoning, either by alcohol or arsenic.
The age of the person deceased, and the conditionof the body after death, as also the length of time elapsed since death took place, as affecting the mode of treatment, have all been discussed in a former part of this work, and it would hardly be necessary to have a new elucidation upon the same subject.
The important point we wish to impress now upon the minds of our professionals is, that circumstances in this case are to be strictly investigated; also, that a uniform treatment of all cases, however different the circumstances and conditions, will not prove successful; and that a thorough knowledge and experience are necessary to achieve satisfactory results.
Discrimination and judgment are to be used in every case. Some are too ready to condemn a certain process, or to question the properties of some antiseptics, because their first trial of either has proved an ignominious failure; whereas the real cause of all the trouble lies in their ignorance of the laws which govern the mode of proceeding, and the use of the chemicals placed at their disposition.
Others, again, are prone to extol the merits of some preparation, the component parts of which they do not know, but it may have done them good service in several instances; and when, contrary to their expectations, it fails to answer the purpose, they lose faith in it, discard it altogether as worthless, and never entertain the idea that an alteration in the quantity used, or in the combination and strength of the constituents, is the real source of mischief.
Hence, it is a fact not to be denied that a diagnosis(if it may be called so) is necessary before the work of embalming be entered into. And he who would endeavor to preserve the body of a stout, fleshy person by the same means employed in the preserving of a body emaciated by long sufferings, and under different conditions of temperature, might not meet with a success equal to his expectations.