AN IMPROVED MODE OF EMBALMING OR PRESERVING DEAD BODIES AND CARCASSES
Year: 1867

page_text: Middlesex, Consulting Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
MODE OF EMBALMING OR PRESERVING DEAD BODIES AND CARCASSES."-A
communication from abroad by George Washington Scollay, of St. Louis,
Missouri, United States of America.
Sealed the 17th September 1867, and dated the 6th April 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th April 1867.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8,
Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Con-
sulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED MODE OF EMBALMING OR PRESERVING DEAD BODIES OR CARCASSES,"
a communication, to be as follows:-
The said Invention consists in subjecting the body or carcass to the influence
of an antiseptic gas or gases in such manner as to thoroughly incorporate the
gas with or diffuse it through the body so as to preserve the same.
In practicing the said Invention I first generate or make in any suitable
receiver or retort one or more of the antiseptic gases, of which there are
a great variety, such as chlorine, sulphurous, muriatic, or carbonic acid
gas; I then take the body, either before or after it has been placed in the

page_text: coffin, and make an incision in..the arterial or vascular system, preferring the
tibial or radial arteries; in this incision I introduce the beak of a flexible
tube connected to a receiver or reservoir in which the gas is generated or
contained, the said tube being fitted with a cock or valve to regulate the flow
of the gas. The connection having been thus made between the body and the
gas receiver, generator, or holder, I open the stop-cock or valve, when the
gas by the pressure obtained in generating it in the receiver forces itself
through the entire vascular system and thoroughly incorporates itself with the
tissue or substance of the body so as to preserve it from putrefaction. This
I think the best internal application of the gas or gases, but they may be
applied through the rectum into the bowels, or through the nose or mouth
into the stomach or lungs; but this method of applying the gases will not be
found so effectual in suspending or hindering the decomposition of the entire
body. In warn weather an injection of the gases into the bowels will be
found a valuable auxiliary in embalming, but to effectually preserve the body
in all its parts from putrefaction the introduction of the gases into the vascular
system will be found most efficient. A receiver or chamber may be made in
the coffin, or in connection with it, and fitted with a tube which should be
flexible, as described above, to make the connection between the body and the
chamber before generating the gas, and the said tube may be left without a
stop-cock or valve so as to allow the gas to flow into the body as fast as
generated. This plan may be pursued in embalming the body before it is
put in the coffin, but my purpose is to make a chamber in the coffin, or in
close connection therewith, in which to generate the gases, so that the body
can be put into the coffin, embalmed, closed up, and left without further
molestation.
In practicing this Invention it may be found that the amount of gas which
the body will hold at one time in either the stomach, bowels, or lungs, or in
the arterial or vascular system, will not be sufficient to preserve it in warm
weather, that is to say, the antiseptic elements contained in that amount of
gas may not be sufficient to thoroughly embalm the body; in this case it will
be necessary to continue the flow of the gas through or into the vascular or
arterial system until enough of the antiseptic element has been incorporated
with the tissue to preserve it. This continual flow of gas through the vascular
system is maintained by making an incision in the lower extremity of each of
the tibial arteries, and by inserting the beak of the tube in one of the said
incisions to introduce the gas to the arterial system, leaving the other incision
open for the said gas to escape after it has passed through the body. In this
application of my Invention an air and gas tight coffin is necessary to hold the

page_text: gas in contact with the body after it has passed through the same. This is
especially necessary when it is desired to subject the body to the influence of
the gases externally as well as internally; but when the body is to be em-
balmed before it is put into the coffin, or in an open coffin, by the internal
application of the gas merely, a receiver must be used to catch the gas as it
issues from the body. In some cases, after the body has been embalmed by
the introduction of the gas into the vascular system as above stated, it may
be well to surround it with an atmosphere of the embalming gas by placing
it in a tight coffin, and introducing the gases as above stated, as an auxiliary
to preserve the body a very long time.
The essential feature of this Invention is the preservation of the body or
carcass from putrefaction by the internal application of antiseptic gases instead
of antiseptic fluids, and the application may be extended to all sorts of animal
carcasses to which the gas or gases may or can be applied.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 5th October 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Robert Lake, Her special licence that I, the said William Robert
Lake, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Robert Lake, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN
IMPROVED MODE OF EMBALMING OR PRESERVING DEAD BODIES AND CARCASSES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Robert Lake, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain

page_text: the nature of the said Invention, and in what. manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
The said Invention consists in subjecting the body or carcass to the influence
of an antiseptic gas or gases in such manner as to thoroughly incorporate the
gas with or diffuse it through the body so as to preserve the same.
In practising the said Invention I first generate or make in any suitable
receiver or retort one or more of the antiseptic gases, of which there are a
great variety, such as chlorine, sulphurous, muriatic, or carbonic acid gas.
I then take the body, either before or after it has been placed in the coffin,
and make an incision in the arterial or vascular system, preferring the tibial or
radial arteries. In this incision I introduce the beak of a flexible tube con-
nected to a receiver or reservoir in which the gas is generated or contained,
the said tube being fitted with a cock or valve to regulate the flow of the gas.
The connection having been thus made between the body and the gas receiver,
generator, or holder, I open the stop-cock or valve, when the gas, by the
pressure obtained in generating it in. the receiver forces itself through the
entire vascular system and thoroughly incorporates itself with the tissue or
substance of the body so as to preserve it from putrefaction. This I believe
to be the best mode of effecting the internal application of the gas or gases,
but they may also be introduced through the rectum into the bowels, or
through the nose or mouth into the stomach or lungs, though this last-named
method of applying the gases will not be found so effectual in suspending or
hindering the decomposition of the entire body. In warm weather an injection
of the gases into the bowels will be found a valuable auxiliary in embalming ;
but to effectually preserve the body in all its parts from putrefaction the
introduction of the gases into the vascular system will be found most efficient.
A receiver or chamber may be made in the coffin, or in connection with it,
and fitted with a tube which should be flexible, as above described, to make
the connection between the body and the chamber before generating the gas.
The said tube may be left without a stop-cock or valve so as to allow the gas
to flow into the body as fast as generated. This plan may be pursued in
embalming a body before it is put in the coffin, but my purpose is to make a
chamber 'n the coffin, or in close connection therewith, in which to generate

page_text: the gases, so that the body can be put into the coffin, embalmed, closed up,
and left without further molestation.
It may be found that the amount of gas which the body will hold at one
time in cither the stomach, bowels, or lungs, or in the arterial or vascular
system, will not be sufficient to preserve it in warm weather, that is to say,
the antiseptic elements contained in that amount of gas may not be sufficient
to thoroughly embalm the body; in this case it will be necessary to continue
the flow of the gas through or into the vascular or arterial system until
enough of the antiseptic element has been incorporated with the tissue to
preserve it. This continual flow of gas through the vascular system is main-
tained by making an incision in the lower extremity of each of the tibial
arteries, and by inserting the beak of the tube in one of the said incisions to
introduce the gases into the arterial system, leaving the other incision open for
the gas to escape from after it has passed through the body. In this appli-
cation of my Invention an air and gas tight coffin is necessary to hold the
gas in contact with the body after it has passed through the same. This is
especially necessary when it is desired to subject the body to the influence of
the gases externally as well as internally; but when the body is to be em-
balmed before it is put in the coffin, or in an open coffin by the internal
application of the gas alone, a receiver must be used to catch the gas as it
issues from the body. In some cases, after the body has been embalmed by
the introduction of the gas into the vascular system as above described, it may
be well to surround the body with an atmosphere of the embalming gas by
placing it in a tight coffin and introducing the gases as an auxiliary means for
preserving the body a very long time.
The essential feature of the said Invention, however, is the preservation of
the body or carcass from putrefaction by the internal application of antiseptic
gases instead of other antiseptic fluids, and the application may be extended
to all sorts of animal carcasses to which the gas or gases can be applied,
substantially as above set forth.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, and shown how the same may be conveniently and
successfully carried into practice, I wish it understood that I do not intend to
confine myself to the preservation of any particular kind of animal bodies, or
to the use of any particular kind of antiseptic gas or gases, but I claim,-
First, embalming dead bodies and carcasses, or preserving them from
putrefaction, by introducing antiseptic gas or gases into the arterial or vascular
system, substantially as set forth.
Second, embalming dead bodies and carcasses, or preserving them from

page_text: putrefaction, by the introduction of antiseptic gas or gases into the bowels,
stomach, or lungs, substantially as set forth.
Third, embalming dead bodies and carcasses, or preserving them from
putrefaction, by the combined internal and external application of the gases
thereto, substantially in the manner set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robort Lake, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
GEORGE HASELTINE.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)