Transcriber’s notes:
In this transcription, paired _underscores_ denote _italicised text_.
Footnotes are located below the relevant paragraphs.
The text contains typographic characters that will not necessarily
display correctly with all viewing devices. If some of the characters
look abnormal, first ensure that the device’s character encoding is
set to Unicode (UTF-8). The default font might also need to be changed
to a Unicode font such as Arial Unicode MS, DejaVu, Segoe UI Symbol or
FreeSerif.
It should be noted that the book is not a faithful translation of the
original French text. The author/translator excluded sizeable portions
of the original work and also inserted observations and notes of his
own without necessarily identifying them as such. Furthermore, when
compared with the original, the translated matter contains numerous
anomalies of punctuation, use of diacritics and italics, spelling and
paragraphing. Most of these have been left unchanged, but to assist
the reader some punctuation has been corrected silently, including
anomalous quotation marks (after consulting the French text).
Most overt spelling errors have also been corrected silently (and
appended as a list at the end of this transcription), but other
spelling anomalies have not been altered as many represent archaicisms of
the period. The French word ‘enfin’ is inconsistently translated as
‘in fine’ or as ‘finally’.
Some pages were numbered incorrectly as a result of transposition of
digits (89/98, 701/107). An unusual group of characters ‘O|O’ occurred
in three places, two of which were non-existent in the French and have
been deleted, while the third has been correctly rendered as ‘100’
in accordance with the French text. In several locations the author
has changed units of measurement from ‘pints’ to ‘lbs’, and in this
transcription the change has been noted as such by a comment within
curly brackets, i.e. {pint}.
Footnotes added by the translator have been identified by upper-case
letters to distinguish them from the French author’s original
footnotes which are numbered. Some of the latter were significantly
abbreviated/redacted by the translator.
The book cover was adapted from the original by the transcriber, who
added a title to an otherwise featureless cover.
[Illustration: Cover]
HISTORY
OF
EMBALMING,
AND OF
PREPARATIONS IN ANATOMY, PATHOLOGY,
AND NATURAL HISTORY;
INCLUDING
AN ACCOUNT OF A NEW PROCESS FOR EMBALMING.
BY J. N. GANNAL.
PARIS, 1838.
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH, WITH NOTES AND
ADDITIONS.
BY R. HARLAN, M. D.
PHILADELPHIA:
PUBLISHED BY JUDAH DOBSON,
No. 106 Chestnut Street.
·········
1840.
MERRIHEW & THOMPSON, PRINTERS,
7 Carter’s alley.
NOTE OF THE TRANSLATOR.
It will be reasonably anticipated from the title of the present
volume, that it embraces subjects of equal interest to the general
and professional reader, as well as indispensable material for the
researches of the practical anatomist and student of natural history.
The latter class will find in it all the requisite details for a
successful prosecution of its arduous, intricate, but favorite
pursuits; whilst those of its patrons of the former class, cannot fail
to be interested in the various and important facts and discussions
embraced in a general history of embalming from the earliest ages
to the present period, so inseparably connected with the moral and
physical history of our own species.
An additional subject of interest to all classes will be acknowledged
in the facts and observations elicited by the arduous and industrious
researches of the author, whilst investigating _the new process of
embalming_, which has led to such happy results to the students of
anatomy and natural history. The great importance, in all respects, of
M. Gannal’s discovery, has been fully and adequately acknowledged by
the different commissions appointed by the Institute of France, and
the Royal Academy of Medicine, who have awarded to its author both
honour and profit, as a real benefactor to science, to the progress of
which he has so substantially added. The current of the text, together
with the notes and illustrations of the translator, embraces all the
discoveries of the age, of this nature, of value to the practical
anatomist and naturalist, consisting both of original observations,
and of highly important information contained in the standard works of
De Bils, Ruysch, Swammerdam, Clauderus, De Rasière, Dumèril, Hunter,
Breschet, Pole, Margolin, Bell, Cloquet, Swan, Parsons, Horner, &c.
Concerning the nature, extent, and merits of the new discovery of M.
Gannal, the translator, has spoken in the appendix, from a personal
acquaintance with the author and a minute examination of the collection
of embalmed objects contained in his cabinet at Paris.
_Philadelphia, September, 1840._
ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PREFACE, p. 5.
INTRODUCTION, p. 9--Embalming among the Egyptians--Cause and origin
of this custom--Opinion of authors: Cassien, Herodotus, Diodorus
Sicculus, Maillet, Bory de Saint Vincent, Volney, Pariset,
etc.--First idea of embalming offered to the Egyptians by the
mummy of the sands--Opinion of Count de Caylus de Rouelle--Plan
of this work--Natural mummies--Mummies of the Guanches--Of the
Egyptians--Of the Jews--Of the Greeks and Romans--Of modern
nations--Mummies the object of superstitious dread--History of
the Pole, Razevil--Mummy employed as a remedy in disease--Its
marvellous properties--Officinal mummy of Crollius--In what
embalming consisted among the Egyptians and Guanches--What it
has been among the moderns--What my discoveries have made of
it--Motives which have induced me to publish this work.
CHAPTER I.
OF EMBALMING IN GENERAL, p. 21--Tendency of bodies to
decomposition--Variable, according to countries, species, and
individuals--Fact reported by Ammien Marcellin--Consequences
deducible from it, for the natives of hot countries--for temperate
and cold countries--Facts observed by Maillet--Astonishing analogy
observed in the caverns of Saint Michel, at Bordeaux--Various
processes of embalming--With gum--With honey--With wax--The
embalming of Alexander--Of Agesilas--Brine unknown--Fact
of _Tulliola_, reported by Coelius Rodiginus--Another
by Valateron--Embalming with aromatic and astringent
substances--With resinous and bituminous substances--Empyricism
of the moderns--Process of Ruysch, of Swammerdam--Note of
Strader--Appreciation of these methods--Useful deductions to be
drawn from them--Penicher thinks it impossible to embalm without
emptying the large cavities--Fact in support of his opinion--My
experiments to this effect on infants.