The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1898-12-24
STRIPS OF HUMAN SKIN.
Converted Into Razor 9trops by
Medical Students
A Gruesomo Tranic Carried On by Inn
pecunious Operators in the Dissect-
Ing Room-HOw the Strops
Are Made. .xxS:sd

The razor strop of human skin ex-
emplifes the fin de steele indifference OF
the age to means and ends. 1t need
scarcely be said that it was in the brain
of q heartless medical student, steeleu
to insensibility of the sacredness OF the
corporal body by constant contact with
it in the dissecting- room, 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 profana-
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 it sstitf Pas mere
lv feshly 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.
It 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 living.
It 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.
It is also we'll known that razor can
be nicely finished" on the palm of the
hand. This fact led to the use 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
l1et 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 prized
as it is from this that the most desir-
able strips of flesh for razor strops arc
secured. The epidermis and the der
mis- are carefully removed together in a
strip 1s inches by five inches. All fa'
is cut away and the strip is then put ir
strong solution of arsenic and water
where it is allowed to remain for abour
five hours. It is now changed to a
weaker solution of arsenic and left for
1H days.
Next it is placed in secret solution
which imparts additional irmness to
It, and is then stretched ard tackled on
board to dry. Two days in the sur
is required for the driving, and it is then
trimmed and cut to the required size. A
niece of flesh of the size described will
shrink in the process of curing to four
teen by three and half inches.
Next it is thoroughly saturated with
linseed oil to soften it, and after being
rubbed hard with smooth. round
stick, it is rendered remarkably fexi-
BILE and ready for mounting. A 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 in
the same manner as that of white
mans skin, but it is more difficult to
treat. @
The two strips of human flesh are
pasted together back to back, and make
a 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 s'fnish" the razor. The
advantages claimed are that it is softer
and more flexible, and that the pores
being closer together than in leather.
it offers greater resistance to the razor
and gives the blade a better and more
lasting edge.-N. Y. Journal.