The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-14
TIE ART OF EMBALMING.
The Modern Process Inferior to That Used In
Ancient Egypt.
New York Sun.

Two men sat silent in handsomely furnished
store on leading New York thoroughfare. A
small portion of the furniture and ornaments
pertalned to the living, the remainder to the
DEAD II was an undertakerS establishment, and
the younger but more solemn, person was pro
fesslonal embalmer. In answer to the reporters
questions, he said:
General Grants embaIminc was work OF the
hnest klnd-something to be proud Of 1T was
done by the leader Of our profession and with
the best materials in the market There are
many mortuary directors who profess to be
einoalmers, and who know a smattering of the
the art but they aye unworthy of the name.
Heal embalmers are faw in number. there not
being more than ten II the entire country To
De one, an undertaken must have sufficient
knowledge of surgery medicine and chemistry.
and must also have considerable artistic sense.
&hls makes combination.
The chief element in EN- Obtaining consists in
removing a large portion of the blood from the
body and substituting therefor some powerful
antiseptic fluid. Many experiments have been
made IN respect to these liquids. | can hardly
recall now many preparations have been tried.
Brlne salicylic acid, diluted creosote. solutions
OF sulphate of zinc, and the ioGide and chloride
OF that metal You see the fluid used must
be nearly colorless or else verging on blood
color, and must not cause discooration. This
precudes the use of salts Of copper, iron, man
ganese and chromium, and also compounds OF
sulphur.
"A solution ofchlorde of zinc was at one time
IN vogue, but in several instances it produced a
ghastIy blush tinge, and so went entirely out of
fashion. The so-called Egyptian fluid was a
standard preparation. 1t was so named by it's
manufacturer who claimed that it was the same
liquid as was used in preparing the mummies of
Egypt 1t was improved upon, however, by
some American chemists. who now have a
practical monopoly III supplying embalmers with
the fluid Their manufacture is styled the
Oriental fluid, and is made in Boston.
I'm embamlng large vein and large artery
are opened, and small force pump, connected
with avessel containing the antiseptc fluid, is
applied The process requires from two to four
hours The natural movement of the circu.a-
ton is followed. AS the fluid enters the vessels,
the blood is forced out The longer the time the
better the result A short time enables the
operator to remove the blood from only the
larger vessels. In longer period the fluid
passes from the larger to the smaller vessels and
into the capillaries. This distends the skin and
produces life-like appearance
The cost of the process is from $15 upward
Fmbalming grows more common every year In
the past thirty months our establishment has
EN- balmed about two hundred subjects We are
still behind the apcents in our work. In the
main, subject we'll treated lasts three years.
This is a fair average 1t would be larger if it
were not for occasional cases in which the anti
septic fluids seem to lose their efficiency There
is, however, distinguished chemist in Italy who
claims to petrlfy subject by using some silicate
preparation. Though l have not seen the
mems which resemble6 petrlfactions
"A second duty Of an embalmer is the same
as that of an undertaken, to make the subject as
Ite-like and natural as possible. There is q
division in the profession at this point Some
endeavor by art to restore almost all the cnarac-
teristics of life; others merely endeavor to re-
move the disagreeable gnia of death. AS for
myself, think 1t proper to conceal the marks Of
wounds accidents 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 preserved and
treated is innocuous; but in the process the
germs of the disease from which he died are
expelled IN vast numbers in the blood. The
operator in such cases always runs the risk of
contagion and infection. Blood poisoning is as
apt to occur to the embalmer as to the surgeon.
The danger in all these cases, however, can be
guarded against. Those who are attacked are,
nine times out Of ten gnorar: funeral directors,
who call themselves embamers when they are
not