Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-10-16
The Art Of En- alnling.

N. rs. Sun. tzs
55 Two men sat silent in q Handsomely
furnished store on . leading New. & ork
sthoroughfare. a small portion 81. the
furniture and ornaments pertained to-
the living. the remainder to the dead
il was an undertaker's establishment,
and the Younger but more solemn per-
son was o. professional embalmer. In
answer to the reporter quest: ons, he
Saiu:t E5 i#M: sI@ !, 81; 81 ~. S:z #
u ''Gen. Grants embalming was work
OF the finest kind something to be
proud of. 1t was done by the leader
OF our profession, and with the best
material in the market. There are
many mortuary directors who profess
to be embalmers, and who, know a
smattering of the art; but they are I'M
worthy of the name. Real embalmers
are few in number, there not being
more than ten in the entire country.
TO be one, an undertaken must have
sufficient knowledge of surgery, med
lcine and chemistry, and must also
have considerable artistic sense. This
makes a rare combination.
THE chief element in embalming
consists in removing large portion Of
the blood from the body and substitute
ing therefore some powerful antiseptic
fluid. Many experiments have been
made in respect to these fluids. can
hardly recall how many Preparations
have been tired. Brine. salicylic acid,
diluted creoso e, solut ons of sulphate
of zinc, and the iodide aud chloride of
me al, You see, the fluid used must
be nearly colorless. or else verging on
blood coier, and must not cause dis
celebration. This precludes the use of
salts of copper, iron, manganese. and
chromium, and also compounds of sui
phur.
"A solution of chl5ride of zinc was
at one time in vogue, but in several
ms ances it produced a CHASTITY blush
tinge. and SO went entirely ont of fash
ion. The so~ca]led Egypt an fluid was
a standard preparation for years. 1t
was SO named by its manufa cturer,
who claimed that it was the same liquid
as was used in preparing the mu,nmies
OF Egypt 1t Was improved upon, how
ever, by some American chemists, who
now have Il pr. c ica} monopoly in sup
plying emba :mers with the fluid Their
manufacture is styled the Oriental flu
id, and is made in Boston.
I'm embalmipg. a large vein and
large artery and small force pump,
connected with a vessel containing the
antiseptlc fluid, is applied. The lro-
cess requires from two to four hours.
The natural movement of the circula-
ton is followed. AS the fluid enters
the vessels the blood s TO ced ont. The
longer the time he better the result.
A short tine enables the operator 10
remove the blood only from the larger
vessels. In a longer period the fluid
passes from the larger to the smaller
vessels and into the capillaries. This
d:stends the skin and produces life
like appearance.
The cost of tie process is from So
upward. Embalm ng grows more
common every yea. In the past
thirty months our establishment has
embalmed about 200 sui. ec:s. We are
still behind the ancients in our work.
In the man. subject we'll treated
lasts three yea S. This is far aver
age. 1t would lie longer if it were not
for occas onal cases in which the an
tisept liquids seem to lose Their eff
cacy. There is however, DIST ngu;shed
chemist in Italy who claims to pc rify
8 subject by us ng some silica pre-
parat:on. Though have not seen the
process emplo.. ed. yet I have been
shown specimens which resembled pet
rifactions.
"A second duty of the embalmer is
the same as that of an und, rtaker, to
make the sub ect as lie like ard nat
ural as poss BILE. There is dvis on
in the profession at this point. Some
endeavor by art to restore almost all
the characteristics of life; others merely
endcavor to remove the disagreeable
insignia of death. As for myself [
think it proper to conceal the marks
of wounds, accidents or disease. No
art can take away horror of death.
Its excess makes death thu more terri
bic by contrast.
THE embalmer runs the risk OF dis
ease and blood poisoning. A subject
once preserve and treated is innoc
nous; but in the process the germs of
the disease from wh'ch he d ed are ex-
PEELED in vast numbers in the bloods
The perator in such cases always run
the + SIX OF contagion and inf ion.
Blood pc son ng is as apt to occar to
the embalmer as 10 the surgeon. The
danger in all these cases. however, can
be- guarded against. Those wno are
attacked are nine mes out of ten jg.
norant funeral d rectors. who call
themselves embalmers when they are
not
The Conductors Story.