The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1880-03-02

are admitted, was Visited by q News
reporter few days ago. A dim light
illumined the large, gloomy room, on
whose bare stone floor lay three subjects
that had been brought In from the Aims
house few moments before. A large,
brown blanket covered the naked forms,
and only the bare feet with cramped toes
protruded from beneath the cloth, which
on being raised disclosed the emaciated
and rigid forms Of two aged white hair
ed women, and man about 40 years old
with dark hair and full beard. On the
other side of the room stood three bar
rels, filled to the rim with brine, and In
which when the scum of the surface had
been cleared away the uplfted and
ghastly face of one dead man, and the
arms and legs of others beneath him
were seen. The bodies after being satur-
ated with the chloride of lime, are pack
ed away In a strong brine and kept until
they are wanted, when they are taken
out, and after they have been washed
clean and the hair cut of the head placed
In a moose and the body drawn up thro'
the hatchway into the dissecting or an
atomicar room, and to which the report
er next made visit.
About thirty tables were arranged
along the sides and in the centre of the
room, and on which the subjects, each
covered with cloth lay stretched. The
tables are long and narrow, and along
the sides and ends Of the top groove is
cut which catches the liquor that oozes
from the body and conveys 1t to point
where 1t trickles through hole and drops
into pan on the floor Sufficient space
Is left around the tables to enable stu
dents to make their investigations. A
gas pipe, directly over and running par
allel with the horizontal position of the
body, has burIfer on each end, so that
the light is thrown on the entire length
of the figure. Seated on high stools
besides the subjects are the students,
wearing glazed leather aprons, smoking
and laughing while their scalpels are
busy with cutting away the skin of this
one, opening the arm and laying bare
the muscles of another, or otherwise en-
gagged in studying the wonderful anato-
my of the human body as represented
by the subject before them. The skin
of the bodies hangs shriveled over their
shrunken frames, the eyes are gone and
the empty sockets stare, while an express
sion of agony is stamped on every face.
The atmosphere of this room Is impreg-
mated with the sickly odor of the corpses
but the students seemingly oblivious to
the awful sight, relieve the monotony of
their studies with talking and joking
Once in while some deeply-interested
student places his lighted cigar upon the
body before him and gives his entire at
tention to some delicate turn Of the
knife. Then he picks up his cigar again
and unceremoniously places it in his
mouth and pufts away.
"Why do you call them stiffs S'"-
asked the reporter of student, referring
to the bodies.
"Well, the name is derived from the
state of the body about twelve hours af-
ter death takes place and when rigor
mortuis, or the stiffness of death sets in.
In that condition it is impossible to
bend body, hence the name. The rig
or, however, passes off shortly after
ward and the body becomes as limp as
rag.
A gentleman of considerable expert
ence In the medical profession, upon be-
ing asked what became of the remains
of the subjects after the students were
through with them said:
"It would be hard to follow them up
in the various shapes that they finally
appear. When we get through with a
subject the meat is scraped clean from
the bones and thrown into place built
for that purpose, and carted away at fire.
quent intervals and made into fertil-
lizer, which is eventually spread over
somebody's garden, and from which
perhaps, the richly perfumed rose, or the
bright little forget-me-not that your
sweetheart loves to wear, derived their
beauty and enchanting fragrance. The
bones are then boiled until every parti-
Gle of flesh Is gone, whereupon, il the
student desires skeleton, they are
etherized that is placed in ether, which
bleaches them to snowy whiteness,
after which they are laid away some
where to dry. Otherwise they are given
away before they are boiled and reap
pear in the shape of handles for table
cutlery, so-called ivory toothpicks, col
lar-buttons, etc., so that the father of a