The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1896-12-18
STRIPS OF HUMAN SKIN.
Converted Into Razor Strops by
Medical Students
A Gruesome Traffic Carried On by Inn
pecunious Operators i'm the Disscct-
ing Room-How the Strops
Are Made.

emplifieS the lin de steele Ind .lcTcHce OF
the age to means and ends. 1t need
scarcely be sand that il was in the BRAN
of a heartless medical student, steclcu
10 insensibility of the Sacredness OF the
corporeal body by constant contact with
it in the diSsecting-room,t that this razor
strop had its origin.
You never can tell to what heights of
audacity the average medical student
will reach in his professional profan"-
ton of the corpses upon which he is
called to operate. This is proverbial the
world over, and it has come to pass that
he looks upon human cadaver-it was
he who first called il n ''stitf''-as mere
" a fieshly commodity, which, the vital
spark once gone from it, becomes so
much clay to be worked over and ma
nipulated in any way he sees fit.
Now. YOU do not believe, possibly
enough, that the razor strop of human
skin is an actuality. You are far wrong
1t is in existence in New York,
but the traffic in them is carried on sur
reptitiously and as an occasional
means of helping some poverty-stricken
med to exc out n living.
1t is well known that in dissecting the
most delicate and finest of steel instru-
ments are used. 1t is necessary to keep
these Instruments extremely sharp.
The ordinary coarse stone or strop
would utterly destroy the delicate
blades.
1t is also well known that a razor can
he nicely finished" on the palm of the
hand. This fact led to the of small
crude strops made of bits of flesh. Sc
cured in the dissecting-room. The pos
sibilities of this human flesh strop APP
pealed so forcibly to the practical mind
of one of the students that he began
experiments which have resulted in the
introduction very quietly on the mar
llet of a razor strop made of human
flesh.
One side of these strops is made of
black flesh and the other side of white
flesh. The skin for these Strops is Sc
cured in this way: When students are
given parts of the human body to dis
sect. the skin is usually removed and
thrown away. This waste skin is now
in great demand.
The leg skin is the part most priced,
rs IT is from this that the most desir-
able strips of flesh for razor strops are
secured. The epidermis and the der
mis- are carefully removed together in a
strip Is inches by five inches. All fat
is cut away and the strip is then put in
strong solution of arsenic and water.
where it is allowed to remain for about
five hours. 1t is now changed to n
weaker solution of arsenic and left for
~ days.
Next it is placed in a secret solution,
which imparts additional firmness to
it. and is then stretched ard tackled on
4 board to dry. Two davs in the sun
is required for the drying. and il is then
trimmed and cut to the required size. 4
piece of flesh of the size described will
shrink in the process of curing to- four
teen by three and a half inches.
Next it is thoroughly saturated with
IDseed oil to soften it, and after being
rubbed hard with smooth, round
stick, il is rendered remarkably flexf-
hle and ready for mounting. piece
of white linen duck is used for backing
and the strip of flesh is pasted to IT
with thin solution of furniture glue
The two sides of the strop are made one
of black flesh and the other of white
flesh. The black flesh is prepared i'm
the same manner as that of a white
mans skin, but it is more difficult to
treat.
The two strips of human flesh are
pasted together back to back, and make
razor strop which is said by those
who have used them to be far superior
TO the ordinary razor strop Of leather
The dark side is used to ''start" and
the white side to finish the razor. The
advantages claimed are that it is softer
and more flexible, and that the pores
Being closer together than in leather
1T offers greater resistance to the razor
and gives the blade a better and more
lasting edge.-N Y. Journal.