Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-10-08
EMBALNuNG THE DEAD.
THE ANCIENT AND MODERN NgTuoDS-REcEN1
APPLICATION or TIE ART.

! THE ANCIENT AND MODERN NETuoDS-REcEN1
APPLICATION or TIE Art.
| From the New York Evening Mail.
The office discharged toward the slain ruler
to the end of securing the hleless form against
natural chemical changes Is known as having
been, under the circumstances. an extremely
difficult as well as important one. Yet. the
young man called To act in this capacity at the
fraacklyn Cottage. and who is familiarly
known at the University Medical college as
Jimmy Walsh" very resolutcly and success
iuis eVaded the weii-niwh invincible reporters.
HaNing been fairly caught. however by one OF
lile class; he iairiy faced the situation. When
1 asked what persons We're present during the
| process of embalming. he REPLIED frankly enough
ana with due polteness that Drs Agnew Bliss
ana hamilton and the District Attorney General
/ were there and no Others LIN what condition
did you find the body of the PRESIDENT" the
J reporter further questioned. He was dead
laconically answered Jimmy Walsh. Wbcrenpon
the interview was closed 10y the withdrawal OF
the investigator, promptly approaching the
cue.
The unreseryed confidence of the emhalmer
was last week received on the part Of n repre-
sentative of the EU,7si5lg Mail who has Withheld
/ any narrative on the subject until more suit
/ able time for public reference to views of NOR
! tuary science. The first noted experiments in
/ this country in the science OF embalming were
made by Or. Agnew several years since. At that
! time and being engaged a. professor ofanatomy
/ In Philadelphia. he discovered the clements of
! a preseryative fuid of valuable quality. and he
! Is SAID TO understand very thoroughly the prin-
clples OF embalming. He nevertheless assumed
no direction IN the case of the deceased Prcs-
Gent except so far to object to an incsion be-
ing made in the neck. so ptifully marked already
ana 10 suggest instead the femoral artery The
present process equally with its purpose is alto
gether different from any known funeral custom
among the people by whom the art was prac-
| md
when, as sentimentally viewed i'm Fuypt the
act of opening the body and filling il with
odoriferous spices and drugs was held TO be
such dissertation as to render the professional
embalmer subject TO being pursued by the
1 friends of the deceased with stones and curses
| Embalming there signified cleansings with palm
wines or with syrm9a and like substances with
subsequent steepings of seventy days duration
IN cltron or natron and with other multiplied
variations OF indictments. In some cases
We are told. there were Injections of cedar-tree
pitch, and in costly modes of embalming much
use was made of asphalt wax; sometimes bodies
were immersed I'm molten bitumen. and I'm some
| instances tanning was practiced. variety of
devices again We're resoTted TO for corporal
preservation among the Greeks. where. as every
one has heard. the corpse of Alexander the
Great was embamed in honey
For all purposes considered requisite with us.
a lew hours suffice for the embamng of the
dead.
The telegram summoning him to this lamenta-
J
at o'clock of the night when the President
died. But the necessary preparations. includ-
ING that of securing a new set of Instruments
| required several hours. SO that the Journey OF
the embaimer with his two carboys of acids
was delayed until O'Clock the next morning
He, however, reached the Francklyn cottage
and was in readiness for his task as soon as its
performance was needed. When the work OF
emDalmlng was about to begin the room WAS
cleared of undertaken, assistants and all per-
sons excluded from il except those who were
| rightly privileged to be present at this sad
scene The first part Of the operation was pre-
Elous 10 the autopsy. which il was intended to
facilitate This consisted of injecting an arsenic
solution which causes no discoloration but fills
and cleanses the blood-yessels. leaving all
| the tissue structure clear. To further this
object the eXtremties of the fingers and toes
are punctured so that any shreds Of blood re-
naming in the circulatory vessels may be thence
washed out 10y the injected acid. The body re-
mains thus for several hours. with the pran-
nary absorption In progress after which the
nuld designed for preservation is introduced
which consists of several ingredients OF ma
| ture kept to some degree secret i'm the art Its
Injection is repeated until the blood vessels are
We'll hiled as by the natural fluid in life.
The means of embalming employed at this day
have been considered with some care on the parf
OF medical men of our universities whose eXlleri-
| ments result unfavOraby to the employment of
| carbolic acid. which is used with much more
/ satisfaction among the French The practice of
the art appears TO have greatly increased here on
\ account ofthe medical colleges During the winter
season, when the students are assembled a great
| number of bodies are needed for the disSectng-
room, and were not as many secured as posi-
4 bic the year round from the unclaimed dead Of
| the moTgue or the hospital the number would
| be wholly insufficient for this purpose. OF the
extent of the matter numerically, something ia
suggested 10y single instance. Last year three
| hundred men attended the clinical lectures OF
the University Medical College. During the six
months course it is intended to give each stu
dent four parts for dissection. specified as a
mead and neck TO the cayicle, trunk an
arm in its upper extremity. and leg taking it's
lower extremity. The bodies from the morgue
are allotted to the different colleges proportion
ately to the number of students the distribu-
ton being under the control Of a regular COM
mittce. The college named is said to obtain on
| an average fifteen bodies a month, which are
embalmed to a degree allowing of their reten-
| ton for some months, as the case may require.
| Formerly and when the necessity had not be-
come what 1t now appears, the preservation was
limited TO few days at the most.
This service was for many years performed fin
Bellevue Hospital by an old man. who at last
had the boy-janitor. James Walsh, to assist him.
The old man becoming extremely old the young
assistant succeeded to his lugubrious office. It
was while simply the hospital janitor that young
Walsh embalmed body which accidentally es-
| capped dissection, and has remained there
| several years in remarkable preservation.
The case was that of a colOred man
with a shoulder dislocated in some manner
believed interesting, and the youth of all
work was directed TO try his hand on the dead
negro in order TO prepare him for the use of the
doctors. The latter not reaching the case and
the jantor finding his embalmed negro a bur-
den, and constantly i'm the way, gave him to the
keeper Of Woods museum, where he stands yet
in perfect state. This embalmer appears to pos
sess peculiar skill Of hand and insight quite
apart certainly from any manner of learning
and to have very greatly prided himself on his
success in preparing nice bodies for the medical
students. At present he has no less than sew
enty or eighty harvested from the summer
and in readiness for service Of the coming ses-
sion.