San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-11-20
BEATS ENIBALMEDs

was only in rare cases where attempts
were made to keep the remains nicely
preserved, and these attempts were
almost always defective and the re-
suit hideous, SO that the faces of our
beloved dead only vaguely preserved
ther natural features. Embalmipg
at best is, in reality, only vain SIM
ulation, no matter how much care be
taken. Embalming merely delays
the gradual process of decomposition.
Antiseptic substances injected into
the arteries of the cadaver do not pre-
vent the tissues from softening, while
the skin contracts and blackens. In
the majority of instances
THE FEATURES OF THE DEAD
are so changed in q few months as to
be unrecognized by the nearest rela-
tives. Indeed, it is only the bony
skeleton, constituted of mineral sub
stances. that escapes the work of de-
struction for even q reasonable length
of time. Such embalmed bodies are
usually consigned to mother earth
q pasture field for the microbe and
poisonous germ-for, as if by secret
instinct, no one dreams of daring to
open the caskets in which our dead
slice p their eternal sleep. AS regards
embalming, we are far the inferior of
the ancient Egyptians, but our mod
ern DR.. Variot, q young hospital ply
sician we'll known for his daring and
original researches and scientific ex-
periments, now proposes to revolution.
lie the undertaker's business Thanks
to Variot's method, bodies need no
longer be embalmed, but are now
metalized. If We may judge by the
specimens placed in our editorial
hands, and which are taken for met
allie casts of bronzes by experts. Var
lots work in incomparably perfect.
his metaIized bodies, one tragic head
in particular, with grand forehead.
LARGE OPEN EYES.
and finely formed lips equals the
most effective work in artistic bronse
we have ever seen, while newborn
babe seems to sleep like an angel in
glowing metal of rarest gorld. There
Is nothing horrible about this metallic
body preserving. The dead in their
realism resemble chaste and beauti-
full works of art, and so exact is their
resemblance that photographs en- re-
lief bring out the slightest details as
to muscular projections and all the
curves of real anatomical beatty. The
very lustre of nails and the softness
Of skin even seems to be perfectly
preserved. These metallic bodies are
the exact copies of the modern realis-
tic school OF sculpture, so great is
their perfection, and might serve
when preserved in the nude for Orna-
ments for the porches of Gothic cathe-
drals. 1t is hard matter to make
one believe that such artistic produc-
lions, such magnificent statues, are
urns and anthrOpomOrphous
containing in their inte-
rior the organic remains of q human
being whose heart once beat with
million emotions, and whose flesh
once trembled at
THE CONTACT OF PASSION,
a being that once breathed, wept,
loved and suffered. 1t is electricity,
that marvellous agent, which pro-
duces such effects; it Is that miracu-
lous agent that performs this seeming
miracle. We can now metallic bod
les like we plate a spoon, a medal, a
piece of jewelry, a leaf of a tree, a
flower or a butterfly. The body to be
is immersed in chemical
bath, consisting of soluble salts of
copper, nickel, silver, or even gold
when one can afford it, and the cleo.
trie current passed through. Under
the influence of electrolysis, the salts
are decomposed and the metal is de-
posted, layer by layer, on the surface
of the dead body until sufficient
thickness covers the cauaver. All
the contours of the body are thus
brought out, and the remains are
covered from head to foot III
A RIGID METALLIC ENVELOPE.
This is the first step in the process.
In making the anthropoplastic casts,
for that is the name such mummies
are known by, much care must be
taken. Variot, in his Investigations
and experiments, had the assistance
of such savanJ and mechanical ex-
pert as DR.. Charpentier, of the School
of Histology of the Faculty of Medi-
cine" The inquiry may be made,
how Is the liquid con tanned in this
metallic cast removed? how Is the es-
cape of noxious gases and odors of de-
composition prevented? Nothing is
more simple than the second step in
the process. The metallic cast, which
Is a very hard metal, is drilled full of
small holes on its posterior aspect;
these perforations permit the free
discharge of all liquids, vapors and
gases in a few months, or, if haste is
required, the cast ia placed in an oven
heated up to 10000 Fahrenheit.
When the contents Of this metallic
effigy are completely incinerated the
perforations can then be soldered up