The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1867-10-04
A Great Secret Divulged---The New Process
Of Petrifying Human Flesh.
Paris Correspondence of the New York Times.

Paris Correspondence of the New York Times.
Not long ago spoke of the lost secret for
petrifying human flesh, of the persevering
attempts made in Italy to rediscover it, and
of the discovery, while making these re-
searches, of another method of preserving
flesh, perhaps quite as valuable as the lost
one. At the Great Exposition. DR.. Brunei
ii, of Padua, the finder of the new method,
was honored with a gold medal, and with the
true spirit of a man of science he came fol-.
ward, the other evening, at one of the meet
ings of the international Medical Congress,
now in session at the School of Medicine of
Paris, and divulged his secret. The great
amphitheatre of the school was crowded with
distinguished medical men from all parts of
the world, and when the Italian sauant had
concluded his speech he was rewarded with
an ovation which must have been a full COM
pensation for any losses he may suffer from
having his secret pass into the public do
main. The following details are sufficient
to enable any anatomist to avail himself of
this important discovery
The process of DR.. Burnett, which he ex-
planned in French with method, and in a
pure and elegant diction, comprises several
operations, viz l. the washing of the piece
to be preserved 2, the degrdissnge, or eat
ing away of the fatty matter; 3,.the tanning;
4. the desiccation.
l. To wash the piece, NJ. Burnett pass
es current ofpure water through the blood
vessels and various eXcretory canals, and
then he washes the water out by a current of
alcohol.
2. For destroying the fat he follows the
course, through the same blood vessels and
A. al. Il r.,
lasts some hours. The ether penetrates the
iuterstices of the flesh, and dissolves all the
fat. The piece, at this point of the process,
may be preserved any length of time desired,
plunging in ether, before proceeding to the
final operation. srr
8. For the tanning process Mr.. Brunetti
dissolves tannin In boiled distilled water,
and then, after washing the ether out of the
vessels with distilled water, he throws this
solution in. - a
4. For the drying process DIR. BRUNETTE
places the pieces in vase with double
bottom, filed with boiling water, and he fills
the places Of the preceding liquids with
warm, dry air. BY the aid of a reservoir, in
which air is compressed to about two atmos-
pheres, and which communicates by stop
cock and system of tubes, first to vase
containing chloride of calcium, then with
arother heated, then with the vessels and ex-
cretory ducts of-the anatomical piece in
course of preparation, he establishes a gas
eeus current which expels in a very little
time all the fluids. The operation is now
finished.
The piece remains supple, light, preserves
its size, its normal relations, its solid histo-
logical elements, for there are no longer any
fluids in it. 1t may be handled without fear,
and will last indefinitely. The discovery is
. magnificent one, and the sooner medical
schools ere provided with full cabinets of
natural and pathological pieces, the better.