The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-09-09
NEW IDEAS IN BURTALs.
Permanent Embalming No Longer ga
Lost Art"
From the Philadelphia Times.

An old German farmer-chemist in West
Virginia has gone back to the ancients in
some recent experiments on embalming.
He has been a laborious student of the
process practiced by the Egyptians and
of all the more modern literature upon
the subject. Modern emtalming as gen
orally practiced IS a mere temporary eX-
pedlelt 10 preserve the body until il can
be Inferred, but this eray-bearded ola man
has addressed himself to evolving a pro
cess for the permanent preservation of
dead bodies. His experiments in pre-
serving or embalming We're long confined
TO lower animals and Vegeta bles and so
successful were his efforts that he deter
mined TO test the process on human bod
les. He secured permission from the au-
thorities of the state hospital for the in
sane to experiment on two bodies. These
were given into his custody. and in one
hour after he had them in his room he
informed the authorities that they were
ready for examination. The bodies were
examined, and it was found that they had
not been mutilated in any way; not a
drop of blood had been drawn, nor an in
cision or puncture made in them.
subsequently the two bodies were con-
tinually exposed TO the air, and all kinds
of climatic changes without affecting
their life-like appearance, the blood ia the
veins standing out in blush black lines
plain to be seen on the surface.
The inventor OF this new process is too
shrewd to give the slightest idea OF his
process. He does not hesitate to say that
the process consists of applying a fluid,
the ingredients of which can be found in
almost any country store, and that the
whole thing is so simple a child could
use it,
The learned doctors in this country
have recognized him and his secret in a
proper way, and the Royal Scientific As
ISOLATION of England several years ago
made him an honorary member, gave him
certificate of mem bership and a solid
gold medal as token of the esteem in
which they held him for making it posi-
bic for the people of this age no longer to
! speak of the lost art of embalming.
DESIGNATING IS A SUCCESS
| Desiccatlon has been seriously cousid-
cred in late years. Two or three years
! ago project was on foot for establishing
a mausoleum for this particular purpose,
! which is considered by scientists to be
| quite procicable. Experiments have been
| made upon animals and also upon human
bodies with complete success. In the
| course Of one experiment, conducted by
a sanitaryengineeri in Washington, in nine
weeks pig was reduced in weight from
| twenty-five to seven and one-half pounds
| dAN ANLAeAA4CN Juob thS pump 1AlI EOulu dS
in life. In laboratory in New york city
the body of man weighing 1854 pounds
was subjected to the process and the
| effect was marvellous.
The projectors of the desiccation mauso-
leum planned an arrangement similar TO
| that of the drawers in safety deposit
vaults with the interior plan of the build
! ing resem bling a well appointed public
library, with main corridor and diVerging
| halls leading to different sections. These
drawers or sepulchers were to be of solid
| concrete four inches thick, without iOint
or seam, of certain sizes, and arranged in
tiers of six on either side of the hallway.
The opening into each sepulcher was
! provided with two doors, the inner one of
| glass Theoretically sealed as soon as ocCu-
| pied, through which the body could be
viewed by those holding the keys. The
space that held the casket in the plans
was cell of concrete permitting neither
the escape nor admission of moisture In
| the erection Of the walls hollow pipes or
conduits were to be formed over molds, 50
that no destructible material, as iron or
! metal, were needed.
Through these cOnduits currents of dry
! air were made to pour into the hermet-
| ically sealed sepulchres and this. passing
rapidly and repeatedly around the body.
would extract therefrom every trace OF
moisture, vapor or fluid, and convey il to
a huge furnace. where, without possibiI-
! ity of escape, all noxious matter would
| be destroyed. Gradually the body be-
comes hard, smooth and dry, with little
/ or no change OF appearance, and that
once done, preservation is secured for
ever. 1t was proposed TO build the maui
soleum OF concrete. Research, ancient
! and modern. establishes the quality OF
| this material for impenetra bility, insolu-
| bility and consequent permanence. even
an earthquake being powerless to de-
stroy buildings made of IT, For some
reason or other this plan was never car
ried out.