Arizona silver belt., 1895-03-02
SALTED SUICIDES.
A Curious Judicial Proceeding in
 Old-Time France.
People Who Killed rhemscives were Tried by Jury and Their Corpses Sem tenced to lgnominious
 Treatment,

The embalming of human bodies is at present done by the undertalters, 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 mp on the subject. In olden times the case was different, and in France especially, before the revolution, saysa writer in the Revue Scicntifque, med ieal men were frequently called upon to cmbalm cadavers, although the oper- ation was applied almost wholly to one class of subjects, i C., to suicides. But why were the cadayers of suicide em- balmed, and what was the process used?
 Suicide" says Beccarin, "is an of fenSe which it seems can be submitted to no punishment properly so called, since such punishment could be inflicted only upon an inscnsibie or lifcleSs body, or upon innocent persons. Now, any punishment that might be mcted out to the inanimatc remains of the culprit would produce no other impression upon the spectators than that which they would experience in seeing a statue iloggcd
 And yet according to the custom of Brittany, which was also general in France, if anyone killed himself intelI- tiuually he was hanged by the feet and then dragged like Q murderer and his personal effects sold to whousccvcr wished to purchase them, In some gg $ he was tied face downward to a He. dragged through the streets
 lind dung cart driven by the pub .4c cxccutioucr, hanged for three hours by the feet from a gihbct erected in the public place, and then thrown into the sewer. It was also ordered that all remembrance of the deceased should be oblitcratcd and suppressed forever.
 Hut before any such proceeding took place, the cadaycr 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 mittcd to the kings procurcur, the nearest of kin and thc heirs of the sui eide were summoned by trumpet to come forward and provide lim with defender. In case they failed Co make their appearance, the judge appointed a counsel for him. whose duty 1t was Co defend his client 70 the best of his ability by ross-QuCs,ioning the wit ucsscs Tor the prosecution and offering ali the excuses possible in cNteHuatiUu uG the uHcnse. If the accused was found guilty, he was punished in the manner above described; but il he was adidGged innocent, that iS Co say, ii the act uf suicide was decided to have been committed iu moment of in sanity, he was buried m consecratcd ground
 In either ease, however, it was neccs- sary to preserve the cadaycr for the entire length of the trial, which some Gmes lasted for several months, so that in case the accused was found guilty he might not escape punishment. Hence the necessity of cmbalmIng, or salt. ing, !" as it was called.
 IL appears from the old records that the operation and materials used were as follows: The visgera ol the cranial, thCracic 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 uf SOcotrinc alocs and one gallon of alcohol Deep incisions were then made in different parts of the body. and the latter was packed Tn salt in a wooden box, which, having been covered and nailed was formally deliy- cred to the jaileT for safe keeping.
 This method of preserving cadayers seems Co have been successful except in a 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 tho necessity of legal ac- ton in regard to them.