The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-03
MODERN
Can Giants Body BE Preserved for Two
Weeks-Cases of Lincoln and Garfield.

IA eA0
st. Louis Globe Democrat.
General Grants body is to be buried on the 9Th
of August He died on the 23i of July. Be-
tween the time of death and the time of burial
there will elapse two weeks and two days.
For this long period, during the most ~unfavor-
able season of the year for the purpose, the
forces of decomposition must be fought off and
the body kept in good color and condition in
order that thousands of the public may view it.
Is it possible for this to be done? Has the
science of embalming been brought to such a
point az to warrant the statement that the body
can be thoroughly preserved for that length of
time in the present torrid state of the weather.
Four years ago Garfield died. His body was
embalmed. The funeral took place In a much
cooler season than the present, and within ten
days after his death. Yet those who viewed the
remains as they lay in the public square of
Cleveland were sickened with the odor that
arose therefrom. It is an undisputed fact that
the embalmment of Garfield's body was a fail
ure.
After Lincolr's death his body was embalmed.
The funeral took place in the spring of the year,
but thousands were prevented from viewing the
body by the fact that it was rapidly decomposing.
In that case the science of embalming was IN
~effectual.
In pursuit of information on the subject a
reporter visited Lynchs undertaking establish
ment.
when anybody asks US to embalm a body
said Mr.. Thomas Lynch, I'VE explain our ice
system, and tell them we cannot afford to make
experiments in patent emballning fluids. We
don't believe in embalming. Packing in ice is
the only way to keepa body intact. l never knew
a successful case of embalming Garfelds case
was a failure. LincOln's was a failure also. l
was one of the undertakers at Lincoln's funeral,
and [ know whereof | speak. When we opened
the box that held the remains heface of Lincoln
| was as black AS my hat. The New York under
takers who accompanied the remains were dis
| mayed. They did not know what to do. 1t
would be impossible to allow the public to
view the body under those conditions. There
was only one thing to do, it seemed to me, and
taking charge of the body l carried out my plan.
| went down to a drug store and bought a
camels hair brush, some rouge, whitening and
lamp-black. Imade a sort of paint of the whiten-
ing and went over the face with the brush.
Then | put on some rouge. | colored the
cheeks and the lips, aud taking the lampblack
fixed up the eyebrows and whiskers. Then
the body was placed on view, and thousands
Of people looked at it. Of course it was an I'M
slightly object, but the paint was detected BY
few"
SHOW do you think it will result in Grants
case?'
Il don't think they'll succeed in preserving
the body to any extent as far as New York"
THE Egyptians knew a thing or two, them
"Well. as far as e%mbalming goes, they didn't
know a great deal more than We do. People say
that embalming is a lost art. That isn't so.
There are men in France and Italy who CAP
embalm a body so well that it will keep for hun
dreds of years. | contend that if embalmers are
allowed to pursue the same method in vogue
with the ancient Egyptians they could accom-
plish the same results"
What is to prevent them from doing so?'
THE American people wouldn't stand it. The
Egyptians used 70 strip their dead to a naked
state and then disembowel it. In place of the
bowels were put so much myrrh, spices and
drugs. The blood was taken out of the veins
and embalming fluid injected. Then the
bodies were wrapped IN muslin. The
muslin was in strips of an inch or two wide, and
was wound around every part Of the body an
inch thick. Thousands of yards of strips were
used on one body. Well. that sort of thing
would never be tolerated now. If there was no
objection to turning over the body of a lady, for
instance, to the embalmers there would be to
the evisceratios of it. And it is impossible to
preserve a body in which the bowels are allowed
to remain. The lungs and internal organs retain
the heat for a long time. They begin to decom-
pose Immediately after death, and their forces
rapidly permeate the rest Of the body, so that an
injection Of any f1uidinto the veins cannot result
in the preservation of a corpse for any length of
time"
Then you have no hope of the success of
experimentalists'
Il won't say that. 1t is impossible to prove
that the thing can not be done. 1t may be that
in three or five years from now a fluid will have
been concocted which will thoroughly arrest all
decomposition, and satisfactorily preserve a body
for months. You know that the body Of Pope
Plus TX was preserved for three months, in a
perfectly natural state. This science, like 9th
ers, is improving constantly. When it is dem
onstrated that the secret Of preserving bodies
has been discovered. then we will take to en-
balming, but just at present we prefer ice"
This is q somewhat modified form of the an
cient methods of embalming. Herodotus, in his
interesting account of the habits and customs
of the ancient Egyptians, gives three of their
methods of embalming. The first was for the
the upper class. The latter, which
cost a talent of silver lover 81, O00h was as
follows: The brains were in part removed
through the nostrils by means Of a bent iron
implement and in part by the injection of drugs.
The intestines having been drawn out through
an lncision in the left side. the abdomen was
cleansed with palm wine and filled with myrrh,
cassia, and other materials and the opening was
sewed up. This done, the body was stepped
seventy days in a solution of litron or natron
neutral carbonate Of sodium After the
sleeping the body was washed and handed
over to the swathers, by whom it was bandaged
in gummed cloth. 1t was then ready for
the coffin. In another method of embalming.
costing % min@ (about $3.50. the abdo-
men was injected with cedar tree pitch,
After the injection the body was stepped a GER
tain number of days in %natron, the contents of
the abdomen were allowed to escape, and the
| process was then complete. In some cases en-
balming seems to have been effected by MINERS
ing the body in a bath of molten bitumen. Tan
ming was resorted to also. The Philippians.
Herodotus states. dried the body, rubbed it with
sy pSum, anu ndVInS pelnteu ~. IldceO IL III d
block of some transparent substance.
The modern embalmers use arsenic, camphor.
corrosive sublimate, chloride and sulphate of
zine, the acetate and sulphate of aluminium,
chloride, creosote and carbolic acid. William
Hunter used essential oils, alcohol, cinnabar,
camphor and s~altpeter and pitch or rosin. Bou-
Diet embalmed with tan, salt, asphalt and Peru
Wan bark, camphor, cinnamon and other arc
MATES, and corrosive sublimate.
How Grant Loved His Family.