The sun., 1888-09-23
SEG47O,S GaISTLY TABLE
It Is Bad Eaough. Really, but by No Means
SO Bad &c has been Described.

Fifty years ago or thereabouts Giuseppe
Segato a Fiorentine physician. announced
that he had discovered way Of petrifying the
human body so as to preserve its form without
change of appearance He submitted speci-
mems Of his work to the Grand Duke Of Tus-
cany who thought well Of the discovery, and
offered to buy it from segato. The physician
refused the offer. and while ne waited for
higher bid died. either suddenly or after very
short illness. He never revealed his process
and his secret was buried with him.
The following description OF Segatos best
known specimen. first published about a year
ago in a medical journal. has since appeared in
utmost every newspaper in the country:
From the Medical Pres and Circular.
In the Piti Palace Florence IS a table which.
for originality in the matte, Of e2ns.ruction and
ghasilines in conception Is probably Without rival II
Of bis life in its To lie casual oGssr yes
s1ens ' n& ea 9 k poed
stone In reality i. Is conpossd 0t human
sitioned FOR the tab is round and about
s bns
The ornaments OF the pedesta! are made from the IN
natural so,os q shss s Pssss5xsd The sass ssp |:
s 1pss1 Of Ss aea
which said TO be highly artistic since they retain all
died aeor. y years ago He obtained al his bodies IRON
mineral salts
Curiosity led the present writer, when in
Florence recently, to obtain view of this
sao5 eSs Of whs bs hs
to sHpss5 that The ne moved to tell the readers
VI In the first % place. III The table is not in the
Pitti Palace but in the anatomical collection Of
the new ST. Mary's HOSPITAL. there the present
ges asd wh pF s,aaao o. l. In
The table" is oval. Of what looks like ma
hogany; 1t Is about eighteen inches long by
twelve wide. and consists OF a top, only;
It has no apnearanee whatever Of ever having
had pedestal The human petrifactions on i
about one-sixtyfourth of an inch thick, which
are velneered upon it., Some are diamond
faces like fine-grained wood, ali arranged in a
symmetrical rectangular oblong design: there
i 5ossT sua s s sn
have become detached; one or two have fallen
these veneers were small bits of organisms Of
the human body such as the loins. kidneys.
and tfat e probaby in order M to set them e1o Of
cadayers. There were. however no human
DIR; Bianchi showed other specimens OF Sc
gato's ,process-a female scalp Of perfectly
. womans breasts, fair and white, perfectly
We're ike medium pasteboard in hekness and
fsh. and separate parts of the human body. all
prepared by SeGeto aud doubtless submitted
by him when he offered TO sell his secret to the
Tuscan Government
1t was difficult 10 get an expression OF opin-
ion from the Doctor about the value OF Segatos
process, and the consequent Importance to
science Of its loss. II has not been discovered
known" was all that the kind and courteous
professor would say on the subject. "segato
knew his own business, doubtless"
The table" Is not seen by many visitors to
FLORENCE. or even by many Florentines: the
custodians OF Se2ato's specimens. even II they
do not discourage sightseers, certainly eyinee
no great enthusiasm for the objects. OF their
care. /. b. b.