The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-05-03
SALTED SUICIDES.
a Curious Judicial Proceeding in
Old-Time France.
People Who Killed Themselves werc Tried
by Jury and Their Corpses Sem
fenced to IgnominIous
Treatment.

u Hc SiludlIuluB Oh human DOQ1cS Is
ut present done by the undertalsers, 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, SAYS
writer i'll 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, / e., to suicides. But
why were the cadavers of suicide en-
balmed, and what was the process
used?
Suicide" says Beccaria, sis an Of
fense which it seems can be submitted
to no punishment properly so called,
since such punishment could be inflicted
only upon an insensibie or lifeless body,
or upon innocent persons. Now, any
punishment that might be meted out to
the inanimate remains of the culprit
would produce no other impression
upon the spectators than that which
they would experience in seeing q
statue logged"
And yet, according to the custom of
Brittany, which was also general in
France, if anyone killed himself iuten-
tionally, he was hanged by the feet
and then dragged like n murderer and
his personal effects sold to whomsoever
wished to purchase them. In some
cases he was tied face downward to q
hurdle, dragged through the streets
behind dung cart driven by the pub
lie executioner, hanged for three hours
by the feet from n gibbet erected in
the public place, and then thrown into
the sewer. It was also ordered that
all remembrance of the deceased should
be obliterated and suppressed forever
But before any such proceeding took
place, the cadaver was accorded fair
trial before q 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
adjudged innocent, that is to say, if
the act of suicide was decided to have
been committed in n moment of in
sanity, he was buried in consecreted
ground.
In either case, however, it was neces-
sary to preserve the cadavcr 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 materials used were
as follows: The visccra of the cranial,
thoracic- and abdominal cavities were
removed and the spaces stuffed with
tow that had been soaked in n solution
composed of one ounce of camphor,
two ounces of Socotrine nlocs and one
gallon of alcohol. Deep incisions were
then made in different parts of the
body, and the latter was packed in salt
in n 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
ton in regard to them.