Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-08-11

in Ancient Egypt, but Gaining In Favor.
" XSgR
Two men sat silently in q handsomely
furnished store on a leading New York
,~horoughiare. A small portion OF the tdr-
uirure and ornaments pertained to the llv-
inc. the remainder 70 the dead. Ii WAS an
uLdertaker's establishment. and the younger
but more solemn person was q professional
embalmer. In answer 10 the reporters
questions, he said:
ten. Grant embalming was work OF the
finest kind something to De proud OF. 1t
Was done by the leader Of our profession,
and with the best materials in the market.
There are many mortusry directors who
profess 10 be e~mbalmers, and who know a
smattering of the art, but they are unworthy
the name. Real em6almers are few in
number, there not being more than ten IN
the entire country. To be one an under
taker must have a sufficient knowledge OF
of surgery, medicine and chemistry, and
must also have considerable artistic sense.
This makes a rare combination.
THE chief elements in embalmlng con
sists in removing a large portion o blood
from the body and substituting therefor
some powerful antiseptlc fluid. Many ex-
uerinents have been made in respect TO
these fluids. | can hardly recall how many
PREPARATIONS have been tried. Brine
s~alicylic acid, diluted creosote, solut ons o,
sulphate Of zinc, and the iodids and chLor
ide Of that metal. You see the fluid used
must be nearly colorless, or else verging on
blood color, and must not cause discolora-
ton This precludes the use Of salts Of
copper. iron, manganese, and chromium,
and also of compounds Of sulphur.
4 solution of chloride of zinc was at
one time in vogue, bu' in several instances
it produced q ghastly blush tiuge, and so
went entirely out Of fashion. The so-called
Egyptian fluid was q standard preparation
for a Ii was so named by its manu-
E~acturer who claimed that il WAS the same
LIQUID as was used in preparing the mum
mics OF Egypt. It vas improved upon,
however, by some American chemists, who
now have q practical monopoly In supply.
ing embalmers With the haid. Their man
ufacture is STYLED the Oriental find, and is
made in Boston.
IN embalming, a large vein and large
artery arr opened, and a small force pump,
connected with a vessel containing the
antiseptic fluid, is applied. The process
REQUIRES from two 10 four hours. The
natural movement Of the circulation is fol-
lowed. As the fluid enters the blood vessels
the blood is forced out. The longer the
time the better the result. A shorttime en-
sbIes the operator to remove the blood from
ONLY the larger vessels. In a longer period
the fluid passes from the larger to the
smaller vessels. and into the capllaries.
This disteuds the skin and produces a life
ike appearance.
The cost of the process is from SO up
ward. Embalming grows more common
every year. In the past thirty months our
firm has embalmed about 200 subjects. We
are still behind the sncients in our work.
In the main. q subject well treated Iasts
three years. This is a fair average. II
would De larger if it were not tor occasional
cases in which the sntiseptic liquids seem
10 lose their efficiency. There is, however,
a distinguished chemist in Italy who claims
10 pctritv o subject By using some silicate
preuarstion. Though have not seen the
process employed yet | have been shown
specimens which resembled petrifactions.
"A second dury OF the emoalmer is the
same as that Of the undertake., to make the
subject as life ike and natural as possible.
| There is q division in the profession at this
point. Some endeavor by arr to restore al,
most all the characteristics OF life; Others
merely endeavor to remove the disagreesble
| insignia of death. As for myself, l think ii
proper to conceal the marks Of wounds. &C
cidents or disease, No art can take away
the horror of death. Its excess makes death
the more terrible By contrast.
The embalmer runs the risk Of disease
and blood poisoning. A subject once pre-
| served and treated is innocuous; but in the
process the germs of the disease from which
he died sre expelled in vast numbers in the
blood. The operator IN such cases always
runs the risk of contsgion and infection,
Blood poisoning is as apt to occur TO the
embslmer IS 10 the surgeon. The danger
in all these cases, however, can be guarded
against. Those who are attacked are, nine
times out Of ten, ignorant funeral directors,
who csll themselves embslmers when they
are not"