PROCESS OF EMBALMING.
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Thefollowing process is more laborious and requires more time than the one already given, but at the same time it is more complete and lasting, and when the operation is skillfully and properly performed, the body may be said to be embalmed for an indefinite period of time.
But to carry out this process to a successful issue, it will be found strictly necessary to study well, and bear in mind, all the details of the operation.
It would be impossible to omit any part of the process and still expect the same results, for, after repeated experiments and trials under favorable and adverse circumstances, the result has always proved to be the same. Still, this process is regulated by the same laws and governed by the same conditions which affect a body under all circumstances. An explanation of these conditions has already been given, and it will be found that a thorough knowledge of these will materially assist the operator in his work.
Let us suppose, for one moment, that a man entirely unacquainted with the causes which may affect the morbid conditions of the veins and arteries, goes recklessly on, and commences to inject some part of the circulating system; if that system is in a normal conditionthe injection will prove successful; if not, the worst consequences may follow. How is he then to remedy his mistake? His very limited knowledge, if he has any, will be of no avail to him. It is in the lack of a sufficient understanding of the human organism that the cause of many failures is to be found. When the proper antiseptics are used, the fault does not lie in the inefficiency, but in the manner in which they have been employed.
It is unnecessary to repeat here what we have before stated, that in order to understand thoroughly the process of embalming, the operator must make himself familiar with the explanations already given, and also with those which shall be found hereafter.
It will be seen in the following pages that the mode of treatment to which the body is subjected in this process, is entirely different from that which has already been given.
The completeness of this process will be readily understood after a careful study of its details, and if strictly followed in every particular, will be found not only satisfactory in its results, but also lasting for an indefinite period of time.
It is well enough to say here, that a metallic casket is not required to assist in keeping the body after it has been treated according to the following method. Quite the reverse, a wooden casket will answer the purpose much better, as the body is rendered perfectly inaccessible to the attacks of the ambient atmosphere by the external covering which encases the body, in its transparentand elastic coating, impervious alike to air and moisture.
The body should be placed on a table about four feet high, and elevated nearly six inches at the head; it must be here borne in mind that, to perform the following operation successfully, the operator should be left alone to his work, in a room free from intrusion, where idle questioning from standers by, or the talk of the usual routine of business, will not disturb him. And as it may require some time to complete the work, it were better that the remains were brought to the undertaker’s establishment, where there is generally, or ought to be, a room set apart for this branch of the business.
The body is first washed clean with soap and tepid water, so as to remove every particle of fat or greasy substance which might obstruct the pores of the skin, and thereby prevent the salts contained in the bathing lotion to penetrate the tissues and produce the desired effect.
The body must then be thoroughly dried by means of clean towels, and be well saturated with the following lotion:
The body is to be kept constantly moist with the aforesaid solution, and as soon as evaporation hasdried up the surface of the skin, a new application of the solution becomes necessary; in fact, the process should come as near complete immersion as possible. The eyes must be well closed. To avoid the sinking, which after a certain time must inevitably take place, and which will disfigure the best prepared corpse, I would here suggest the use of the wax shells, to be inserted under the eyelids—these shells, as stated in a previous chapter, are manufactured byJohn C. Rulon, of Philadelphia, and can be had by the quantity on very moderate terms—to keep the eyelids in their place; the outside of the shell must be coated with white gum shellac, dissolved in alcohol.
After the insertion of the shells thus coated, the lids are brought together and held in place by the fingers. Shelac dries quick, and in about five minutes’ time it will be found that the gum has acquired enough of consistency to hold the lids together. As a matter of course it will get harder in time and prevent the lids from starting apart.
The operator will then cut a straight line through the skin with a scalpel, the line to extend from the superior part of the sternum to the umbilical region.
Another incision of the skin is to be made at right angles from the first, about six inches in length, and one inch below the lower bend of the last rib.
Then, with the thumb and forefinger of the left hand, seize the skin firmly at a point where the two lines intersect each other, and with the scalpel held in the right hand, carefully separate the skin from thefascia underneath. This operation is repeated on the four sides, and the flaps of the skin turned over the sides of the body. This will leave exposed to view a diamond shaped opening of the epidermis, with its apex reaching above to the superior portions of the sternum, and the lowest angle reaching to within two inches of the navel; the two lateral points extend on both sides of the body from the region of the stomach to the liver, and almost immediately above the transverse arch of the colon.
To cut through the abdominal fascia, carefully puncture it above the stomach, so the opening will be large enough to admit the forefinger of the right hand being introduced through the opening; then holding the scalpel with its edge upwards, the back resting along the extended forefinger, introduce both into opening, and cut from downward upwards into the fascia of the abdomen in a straight line across from the stomach to the liver in a similar way to that above described for cutting through the skin. This last incision is to follow the same course as the one cut in the epidermis, and will extend from one to the other lateral angles of the diamond shaped opening in the skin. This opening will reveal the stomach on the left, the liver on the right, and the transverse arch of the colon immediately beneath.
Then another cleaving of the fascia is to be performed, downwards and in a similar manner, from the middle of the transverse opening to within two inches of the navel; this last opening exposes the small intestines.
The reason why the cutting of the fascia of the abdomen should be performed in this manner, that is, with the scalpel being held edge upwards along the extended forefinger, is obvious; the forefinger in this case acts as a guide to the scalpel in dividing the tissues, and also protects the viscera from being wounded by the sharp point of the knife.
The abdominal viscera being thus exposed, the lungs, heart and other parts of the thoracic viscera must also be uncovered. For this purpose, and with the cartilage knife separate the ribs from the sternum about two inches on either side of the latter; commencing from the second rib down to the last one, and extending to the transverse opening made in the abdomen, it will be found that the ribs at that distance from the sternum are attached to it by a cartilage, which it is very easy to cut in children, harder in adults, and it may sometimes be indispensable to use a saw on old persons. This cutting through the ribs must be carefully performed, for fear of wounding some of the organs which lay immediately beneath and against the ribs.
The sternum being thus freed from the ribs, it can be turned back over and against the face, and will reveal through the opening thus made, the lungs, the heart, the arch of the aorta, etc.
The operator should use extreme caution whilst performing this operation, as the jagged and sharp edges of the ribs might cut through the skin and inflict a wound, should the hand be suddenly broughtin contact with them. It is also necessary to enjoin again forcibly, the recommendation made before, of keeping the body well saturated with the lotion while the work is progressing.
The bowels must then be carefully displaced, and all fluid or serum found between or under the intestines be completely sponged out; the intestines must also be emptied of their contents by the process which has already been given in the first method of embalming; also the stomach, the gall bladder, all the organs, in fact, which contain foreign elements prone to putrefy. The bladder can be emptied of the urine by means of a catheter, introduced into the urinary canal.
All the organs which shall have been emptied of their contents, as also the intestines, the bladder, and the others, must be injected with the following solution, or embalming liquid:
Dissolve the corrosive sublimate and the chloride of zinc into the alcohol; then after the salts are completely dissolved, add
Stir briskly with either a glass or wooden rod and the liquid is ready for use. The above solution, which ought always to be prepared in advance andkept on hand, must be enclosed in green glass bottles, well stoppered, and kept in a dark and cool place. Metallic vessels should never be used to hold the embalming liquid; neither the solution employed to bathe the body. A glass or china vessel must be used in either case.
As to puncturing the different organs for the purpose of emptying their contents, the manner for doing so has clearly been given in the first process for embalming bodies, but great care must always be used so as not to perforate any of the vessels of the circulatory system.
The next step is to inject the arterial system. For this purpose a different point for injecting the system is selected from the one pointed out in the former process. By removing the small intestines out, and on the right side of the body the descending branch of the aorta is exposed to view. In its course downwards, the aorta lies on the vertebral column to the left of the middle line, and terminates on the fourth lumbar vertebra, by dividing into the two common iliac arteries. The descending branch of the aorta is then punctured so as to admit the nozzle of the injector; this is introduced into the opening in an upward direction, and the walls of the artery are then tied firmly, but not so as to cut through, around the nozzle. After the artery has been thus prepared, and before injecting, the vena cava must be perforated at a point corresponding with the incision practiced in the descending portion of the aorta where the nozzle of the injector is inserted.
The inferior vena cava ascendsalong the front of the vertebral column, and to the right of the abdominal aorta. The object of severing this vein is to give the blood in the upper portions of the body a means of escape, as the fluid is forced through and up the arteries of that part and returning through the veins forces the blood through the opening.
After the upper portion of the body has been injected with about half a gallon of the embalming liquid, the nozzle of the injector must be reversed and the lower parts injected in a similar manner with about the same amount of liquid; the injection must then be stopped for the space of about three hours, and all the blood which may have escaped from the opening made in the vena cava into the cavity of the intestines must be sponged out as it fills up the space left.
The mode of injecting is also of extreme importance. The injection should be done slowly and steadily, as a strong, sudden forcing up of the liquid into the arteries might occasion a rupture of their walls should some point be weakened from some cause arising from previous sickness, or from lesions as described in a previous chapter.
The injection may then be renewed and more liquid be injected, until a sufficient quantity has been used. As there are no rules laid down for the amount of liquid to be injected, it is left altogether to the discrimination and good judgment of the operator.
The bodies of children and old persons will require less liquid than adults up to the age of forty. The bodies of persons killed by accident or some sudden cause, will require a larger amount of liquid than those of persons who are emaciated by long illness, as, for instance, consumption.
After the arterial and venous system have been thus completely injected, the intestines must be replaced in the abdominal cavity.
The brains must next be removed, and this operation is one which requires extreme caution, as will be seen by the following explanation of the process.
The body is turned on the right side, and, by means of a trephine, a round hole is cut into the back of the skull, about two inches above the cerebellum; the piece of bone thus taken out is preserved so as to be replaced into the opening after the operation is finished. Previous to cutting through the skull, a small incision in the shape of a cross, about two inches in length, each way, must be cut in the skin. The object of this is to leave the bone denuded after the skin has been detached from the bone, and also to bring the parts together by sewing, after the brain has been removed.
Through the opening thus made in the skull, the brain, or the portion of it which can be reached, is easily removed by means of a small, slender spoon, with a long handle, made for the purpose. The cavity thus made in the head is to be filled with the following:
Take two gallons or more of water, and saturatewith alum, as much as it will dissolve; then mix with plaster of paris to the consistency ofvery thin paste, and fill the cavity of the brain; some cotton may then be introduced to keep the mixture inside; the round piece of bone cut from the skull is then replaced, the flaps of the cut in the skin brought together and neatly sewed up; if this operation is carefully performed, the cuts thus made cannot be perceived under the hair.
Great caution should be exercised while removing the brain, in not wounding any of the veins and arteries which are inside that part of the skull, and with a little care this can be easily avoided.
The body is then turned again on the back, in the former position, and all the cavities in the thorax and the abdomen, between and under the intestines, the liver, the lungs and the heart, must be well cleaned and dried with a sponge of all liquid or serum that might be found; pulverize some tannic acid into fine powder, and sprinkle heavily around and between the organs of the thorax and the abdomen; the sternum is then replaced over the thoracic opening, the flaps of the skin temporarily brought back over the abdomen, and the body, being enveloped in a sheet or some linen cloth, well saturated with thelotion for the faceas given in the first part of this chapter.
The face, hands, feet, in fact every inch of the surface of the body, above and under, is to be covered with the cloth, tightly wrapped around it and well saturated as above directed.
The body must be kept in this condition for about twelve hours, when the cloth is to be removed; the sternum is then raised again and the skin over the abdomen thrown back; a mixture of plaster of paris and alum, prepared as described above, is then poured over the whole of the thoracic and abdominal viscera, being careful to fill completely all the interstices existing between and under the different organs and the intestines.
This composition, or cement, must be brought up to a level with the ribs in the thorax, and cover the viscera in the abdomen; after the cement is set, or nearly so, sprinkle a plentiful quantity of powdered tannic acid on the top of it.
Then bring the sternum down to its proper place between the ribs, and also the internal fascia of the abdomen over the viscera; and last, the flaps of the skin are brought together and neatly sewed up, taking a stitch alternately under and above the skin. Should the mouth have a tendency to remain open, or the lips be too far apart, sew the lips together with surgeon silk, passing the needle up inside of the lip, near the gums, also through the nether lip in a similar manner, from one corner of the mouth to the other, where the last stitch can be tied up in a slip knot.
Before the mouth is sewed up it is always necessary to fill the inside of the mouth with cotton, well saturated with embalming fluid. In case a great number or all the back teeth be missing, which might cause a sinking of the cheeks, and thereby to a great extentdisfigure the body, introduce some cotton, prepared as above, between the gums and the cheeks; it will give the body an appearance more natural, and less emaciated. This rule ought to be applied not only in embalming, but also at ordinary times. When laying out a corpse, the mourners and friends of the family will always appreciate anything of the kind, which tends to beautify the remains and divest death of its hideousness.
The nostrils must also be filled with the same composition of alum and plaster of paris; let the cement be thin enough in this case, so it may be injected into thenasal fosseaby means of an India rubber syringe, until the nostrils are completely full; then hold it in place with some cotton wads saturated with embalming fluid.
After the body has been so far prepared, it remains to encase it into a transparent and elastic covering, which will prevent the attacks from the atmosphere, and, at the same time, render the body impervious to moisture. For this purpose, procure from some first-class druggist some Canada balsam (it must be fresh and perfectly colorless, as it is prone to grow thick and yellow in time); then procure a vessel—a glass jar with large mouth should be preferred; this jar should be large enough to hold twice the amount of Canada balsam on hand; bring the jar near the fire, if it is in winter, and submit the balsam to a gentle heat until it is liquefied; so soon as the balsam has attained the consistency of thin honey, add to it thesame amount of the best spirits of turpentine that can be obtained, and stir with a glass rod until the balsam and turpentine have been thoroughly mixed; then apply the mixture on the body by means of a camels-hair brush, very wide, and similar in shape to the brushes generally employed for moistening the paper used in copying letters.
A single thin layer of this mixture is quite sufficient, and should be evenly applied to any part of the body, where the growth of hair is not sufficient to exclude the approach of the atmosphere.
It will require but a very short time for this varnish to dry, and then the body will be ready for either burial in a crypt, easy of access, or for transportation to some foreign country.
In the course of time the organic tissues will dry and desiccate, the bony prominent parts of the joints may become more angulous, the skin may assume a slightly yellow tinge, but the features will always be natural and recognizable; the skin will never shrivel up and shrink back, exposing the teeth, as is generally the case with the Egyptian mummies; and, above all, putrefaction with all its repulsive hideous accessories, will never take place; nor will noxious gases or offensive odors be emitted.
A wooden casket will also be found preferable to a metallic one, as the free admission of air will favor the drying up of the tissues and the absorption of whatever little moisture which might find its way out of the only opening not hermetically sealed—the mouth.
Undertakers will find this process to be, without any exception, the best method of embalming ever employed; bodies prepared as above can be shipped to the most distant points across the seas; or, can be preserved for an indefinite period of time in some family vault, where the surviving members can at any time obtain a vision of the body without having their sensibilities shocked by the horrible picture of slowly decomposing animal matter.
It must not be forgotten, that, if the above process is slow, long and tedious, requiring a good deal of labor and delicate handling, the results obtained are equally important, and the compensation commensurate with the magnitude of the undertaking.