New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-05-07

there found forty or fifty cofins inclosing
the defunct remains Of embalmed human
ity, among which were those Of Colonel
Bingsman, a celebrated turtle in his time;
OF the father of John Roxborough, q noted
Republican politician; of French lady,
whose relatives caused the body to be en-
balmed, but never called for it, and of
others needless to mention. The tomb has
vault Of five feet in depth in which are
deposited the skulls and bones Of those
whose coffips have become decayed from.
age.
Embalming is derived from the Latin
word balsamun,, balm, and is the art of pre-.
serving dead bodies from decay by means
of arOmatics, antiseptics, or dessicatiOn. 1t
was practiced by the Egyptians from the
earliest times. 1t was associated with their
religious belief, tor they held that the soul,
after completing its cycle of separate exist
eaces of several thousand years, again re-
turned to the body, and if that were found
decayed or wasted, it transmigrated. The
invention of the art was ascribed to Anubis,
the son of Osiris, who was one Of their chief
divinities, and the greatest benefactor of
Egypt. who first performed this Office for
his father. Hence all deceased persons
were supposed to be emballned after the
model of Osiris. There are said to be many
mummies two and three thousand years
old, or 80 estimated, and in the catacombs of
Egypt there are now hundreds Of thousands
of these embalmed remnants Of mortality
The process of embalming is described
by Hirodotus and Di0dorus. The corpse of a
male was at once delivered to the embalm-
ers; if female, it was retained at home
until decomposition had set ia. The pro-
cess by which the operation was then per-
formed would not interest our general
readers, yet to the man of science and re-
search it is of much value. After the en-
balmment the body was put in wooden
coffin and placed in an upright position,
either in sepulchre or in one Of their own
apartments; for many OF the Egyptians
kept their dead at home, as do the Chinese
to this day, and sometimes prod1ced them
at festive entertainments. All classes of
the ancient Egyptians were embalmed, also
the animals which their religion held sacred.
OF these, upward of fifty species have been
found embalmed, among them the croco-
die, ibis, cat, etc. The art was practiced
also by the Jews, Greeks and Romans,
though it never attained such perfection
among them as among the people from
whom it was borrowed. The Persians en-
ployed wax; the Assyrians honey; the Jews
embalmed some of their Kings with spices,
with which, also, the body Of our Lord was
anointed and Alexander the Great was
embalmed with wax and honey. 1t ap-
pears that the early Christians embalmed
their dead, and, according to St. Augustine,
mummies were made in mis- time, at the end
Of the fifth century. The art of embalm.
ing was probably never lost in Europe, but
the mode Of embalmment by injecting into
the veins of the body concentrated solu-
ton of sulphate of alumina, discovered by
Gannal in 1854. has considerably diminished
the cost of embalming. From that time
many substances have been experimental
on and employed as substitutes for sulphate
of alumina for the preservation Of dead
bodies, one OF the most successful, prob
ably, being sulphate of zinc at different de-
grees of strength. We know reputed en-
balmers who make mystery of their pro-
cess, and do not use other substances
With these remarks, we would further
state that Mr.. Casanave showed us o letter
from DR.. Thomas Holmes, of Williamsburg,
New York, in which the doctor desires Mr.
Casanave to return the upper half of a
subject left with him under the following
On March %, 1856, Dr..
Holmes was in the city of New Orleans, and
being very eminent in his profession as en-
balmer, Mr.. Casanave desired to profit by
his instructions. The doctor then left with |
Mr. Casanaye the upper portion Of the
body OF young emigrant girl, fourteen
years OF age, which he had embalmed four
years previously, and having at his own |
,fice the lower portion; he now writes that |
,e desires the upper part cent TO him, that |
le may reunite them, after their twenty |
years separation. We examined the speci- |
nen and found it perfect. Il was as hard |
ind had the same appearance as wood, |
while not even hair was loose, ncr could |
t be plucked ont. We atter1ard saw the |
'mbalmed body of a stil.-born child, which |
vas operated upon by Mr.. Casanave q
core of years ago, and found it thoroughly |
reserved.
MIR. Casanave Uses the process invented
y DR.. Holmes, which consists os making a
light incision il ole Of the arms, laying
are the radial artery and injecting the
mbalming fluid by it through the various
lood vessels. Ii is the work of o few min.
tss. is completed at once, and efectually
reserves the subject from the decomposng
lhuences OF heat, air, and moisture. De
ay Is rendered utterly impossible, and
here is every reason to believe that bodies
bus prepared may be placed in an open
ass, and will remain unaltered for ages.
ersOns DESTROYS Of TRANSPORTING to dis.
ance the remains of their deceased friends.
lay now avail themselves of this ad,nira-
Ia and expeditions process. 1t entirely
lpercedes tine use OF metallic or alright |
Othns, besides preserving every feature |
nd every part OF the body in the image of
he Beauties of Hard Money Illustrated.
The provisions Of the act known as the |
liver bill provide that bonds bearing five
ar cent interest shall be sold, and the pro-
eeds applied to the purchase of silver Qn-
Il forty millions of dollars have been 40 |
urchased and coined into silver quarters.
alf dollars, etc. All this for the privilege
taking uD our y0ry con venianf fractional |