The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1890-06-20

A West Virginia Mans Wonderful Dis
ooyery Of Bmbalming.

PnrLIPPI, w. VA. Three miles
over the mountains is the house of q.
w. Uamrick. IL is @ fve-room log
house, the exterior wea'her-boarded
but not painted. The front windows
face narrow valley that is bounded
by bill so high that they shut out the
sun after four o'clock. There is moth
ing about the house and its unpreten.
tious yard To attract more than a pas
sing glance fer any one who may
chance to travel the unfr, quented
country road that winds lis way lone
somely into the hills beyond. yet it is
full of curiosities that have puzzled the
nations and set some Of the brightest
minds in the country TO thinking
| The plain old house is iu | of num-
mics, both OF brutes and hrman be.
ings. Here are mummi,s that out
rival any Egypt ever knew. The
| Egyptian embalmers removed brains
and blood and viscera and wrapped
the clay shell that was left in bandag.
ing, saturated with oils and ointments.
| In this house lie the bodies of two
adults, natural almost as in life, every
particle of the skin exposed to the air,
blood, brains and viscera remaining.
In the veins and arteries the blue aud
black blood stands out as clear and
natural as when these people lived and
knew the passions and emotions of be-
ings
The finger and toe nails show the
pink flesh of life, and ON the cheek
of one who died of consumption the
scarlet mark of that disease remained
clear and distinct. + r two years ex
posed TO the air, without decay or
odor, these bodies have lain in this
mans house just above his bedroom
His process is discovery of his own,
but it is so simple, he says, that boy
of fifteen, after single lesson, can do
tbs work as effectually as the inventor
himself The rooms Of Mr.. Hamrick
are miniLure museums. In the door
that leads to bis bed room a hugh
white cat sits guard, its tongue, unde-
cayed, lolling out as if it were about
TO lap milk. Four years that cat has
been the sole guard of that lonesome
door. On a mantel, in an attitude of
listening is young deer.
Rabbits, pigs, squirrels, chickens
and even calf are seen, all as natural
as in life and all preserved by this
wonderful secret. Mr.. Hamrick claims
that in an hour he can prepare body
without making an incision of any
sort or removing any part of it, SO that
it may be taken around the world
without ice or arsenical fluids. These
two bodies which lie in modest state
in this humble house have turned
parchment color with the hurrying of
time, and the eyes have become Uuch
sunken. There is no odor, no puffing
up of the flesh. The ghastly is want
ing, and one almost feels that it is not
the soiidifed clay of some lone one,
but wonderful likeness caused by a
divine sculptor from some rare wood.
Think Of sleeping with these dead and
petrifed bodies!
But this is not all that this old work
er of the mountains does. He can
stop decay at any point. Cures ulcers
of long standing by external applica-
ton of this discovery. BY the same
process he keeps fresh, without ice,
salt or brine, all his meat. butter aud
eggs, and does the same for his neigh.
bors. Fruit of all sorts, vegetable /,
&C., are kept just as easily without de-
cay, and watermelons, Strawberries and
peaches and cream are now assured
for the Christmas dinner. Mr.. Ham
rick has made little or no effort to put
his process, which such learned men as
Drs. Cilley and Freeman, of this city;
White, of Washington; Doremus, of
New York, and Hordesley, of Wheel
ing. w. Va, pronounced one of the
greatest discoveries of this age, far
ahead of what the Egyptians knew.
Indeed, Hsmrick seems to regard 1t
rather as curious experiment than
otherwise - Cincinnati Commercial
Gazette.