IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL SUBSTANCES FROM DECAY BY MEANS OF A COMPOSITION APPLICABLE TO THE CURE OF CERTAIN DISEASES
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street, Finsbury, in the
County of Middlesex, and 24, Boulevard Poissonniere, Paris, in the Republic
of France, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourth day of September,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, in the fifteenth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Pierre
Armand Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Ier
especial license, full power, sole privilege, and authority, that I, the said Pierre
Armand Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Pierre Armand Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my
exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others. from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, usc, exercise, and vend within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey,
Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Planta-
tions abroad, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL SUBSTANCES
FROM DECAY BY MEANS OF A COMPOSITION APPLICABLE TO THE CURE OF CERTAIN
DISEASES,"
," communicated to me from abroad; in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said Pierre Armand Le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention,

page_text: and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, the said
Pierre Armand Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, do hereby declare that the
nature of the said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be
performed, are fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, that is to say :-
The Invention communicated to me consists in the employment of metallic
salts, but preferably of sulphate of zinc in a state of aqueous solution at certain
degrees of strength, for the preservation of corpses or anatomic parts and
animal substances in general from decay, which said metallic solution, when
combined with certain emollient substances, is applicable to the cure of external
diseases.
To obtain the above effects I operate as follows:-
The salts of zinc, as they are found in commerce, may be used, but I employ
by preference the metal itself, on account of its superior state of purity. I
dissolve a portion of zinc previously granulated in water mixed with sulphuric
acid, which I cause to combine immediately and form a solution of the strength
of thirty or forty degrees of Beaume's acrometer. I filter the solution and
Icave it at rest several days, in order to allow it to deposit all the heterogenous
particles it may hold in suspension. When the deposit is formed I decant the
liquid part with care, and I employ it for injections, by introducing it through
one of the arteries of the corpse. If the subject is intended to be exposed to
the open air, or in a naked condition, I add to my solution during the operation
of injection one third of its weight of oil of turpentine, so that it may form a
complete amalgamation. According to discretion, I give any desired odour by
means of an essence, and I also give it a red colour.
If I have to preserve anatomic parts by immersion, then I employ my
solution in a pure state, and concentrate it only to twenty or twenty-five
degrees. I prepare this solution in a similar manner to the first.
When the said principle is applied to the cure of gangreous wounds and other
similar external diseases, I employ the liquid in the highest concentrated condition,
and weaken it in a decoction of linseed, marsh mallow, or other emollient
plants, and I reduce it to the strength of four to ten degrees. I make use of
it by imbibing lint or compress with it, which I apply on the wound, taking
care to change it each time until a complete cure has been effected. When it

page_text: is required to disinfect places rendered offensive by the presence of organic or
animal substances in a state of putrefaction, I dissolve the liquid in water and
reduce it to the strength of ten degrees.
Finally, when it is desirable to employ it for washing the hands and other
parts of the body, I reduce the solution to two or three degrees.
And having now described the Invention communicated to me, and the
means of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do
not claim as the Invention communicated to me the mode of operating herein
laid down, but what I do claim as of the said Invention and intended to be
protected by the said Letters Patent is,―
Firstly, the application of metallic salts, but principally of sulphate of zinc,
at the degrees herein laid down, or thereabouts, for the preservation of corpses
or anatomic parts and animal substances in general from decay, as herein-before
mentioned.
Secondly, the application of the said solution, combined with emollient sub-
stances, for the cure of wounds or other similar external diseases of the human
body, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Armand Le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of
March, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-two