The Irish standard., 1894-12-15
SALTED SUICIDES.
a Curious judicial Proceeding IN
Old-Time France.
People Who Killed Themselves Were Tried
by Jury and Their Corpses Sem
fenced to IgnonAinlous
Treatment.


The embalming of human bodies Ia
at present done by the undertakers, and
there are few physicians, probably,
who, if called upon to perform the
operation, would be able to do SO with
out consulting their books and reading
up on the subject In olden times
the case was different, and in France
especially, before the revolution, saysa
| writer in the Revue Scientifique, med
ical men were frequently called upon
| to embalm cadavers, although the oper-
alton was applied almost wholly to one
class of subjects, i. e., to suicides. But
! why were the cadavers of suicide en-
! balmed. and what was the process
used?
Suicide says Beccaria sis an Of
Tense which it seems can be submitted
to no punishment properly so called,
| since such punishment could be inflicted
! only upon an insensible or lifeless body,
or upon innocent persons. Now, any
punishment that might be melted out to
| the inanimate remains of the culprit
would produce no other impression
upon the spectators than that which
they would experience in seeing a
statue logged"
| And yet, according to the custom OF
Brittany, which was also general in
| France, if anyone killed himself inten-
| tionally, he was hanged by the feet
and then dragged like a murderer and
I
| wished to purchase them. In some
cases he was tied face downward to a
hurdle, dragged through the streets
behind dung cart driven by the pub
lie executioner, hanged for three hours
by the feet from a gibbet erected in
the public place, and then thrown into
! the sewer 1t was also ordered that
| all remem brance of the deceased should
| be obliterated and suppressed forever.
! But before any such proceeding took
place, the cadaver was accorded fair
trial before a judge, whose duty it was
to begin by making an official inquiry
| into the circumstances attending the
| act of suicide, the place where it oc-
Cured, the life and habits of the de-
| ceased, etc. This having been sub
mitted to the kings procureur, the
nearest of kin and the heirs of the sui
eide were summoned by trumpet to
come forward and provide him with a
defender In case they failed to make
their appearance, the judge appointed
a counsel for him, whose duty it was to
defend his client to the best of his
ability by cross-questioning the wit
nesses for the prosecution and offering
! all the excuses possible in extenuation
of the offense. If the accused was
found guilty, he was punished in the
manner above described; but If he was
adiudged innocent, that is to say, If
| the act of suicide was decided to have
been committed in a moment OF in
sanity, he was buried in consecrated
ground.
| In either case, however, it was neces-
sary to preserve the cadaver for the
entire length of the trial, which some
times lasted for several months, SO that
in case the accused was found guilty
he might not escape punishment. Hence
the necessity Of embalming, or salt
ing as it was called.
| 1t appears from the old records that
the operation and nateria Is used We're
as follows: The viscera Of the cranial,
| thoracic and abdominal cavities were
removed and the spaces stuffed with
! tow that had been soaked in a solution
composed of one ounce of camphor,
two ounces of Socotrine alocs and one
gallon of alcohol. Deep missions were
then made in different parts OF the
body, and the latter was packed in salt
| in wooden box, which, having been
! covered and nailed, was formally deliv-
cred to the jailer for safe keeping.
! This method of preserving cadavers
seems to have been successful except
in few instances in which the case
against the accused, having been put
upon the docket, was not reached for
several years, and not disposed of until
the offensive state Of the remains called
attention TO the necessity Of legal ac-
| tiOn in regard to them.