Gallic acid acts in the same manner, but yet more feebly than tannin.

An oily, volatile, and very odorous substance, recently discovered, and

to which the name _Creosote_, has been given, has been presented as a

universal panacea, which, among other properties, ought to possess that

of well preserving bodies. In order to assure myself of the truth of

this assertion, on the 18th October, 1835, I injected a subject with

one hundred scruples of creosote, dissolved in seven quarts water. On

the 23d, the abdomen was very much swollen, and of a very strongly

pronounced blue-green colour; on the 26th, the left side of the face,

the right arm, and all of the left leg, were green; on the 30th of

October, putrefaction was so much developed that it became necessary to

bury the body. It may be objected, that the subject should have been

at the same time steeped in a bath saturated with this substance; but

its high price discouraged me from making such an experiment; besides I

think that the odour of the creosote will always prove an obstacle to

its employment.

Alum, the acid sulphate of alumine, and of potash, have given me the

first good results; but, slightly soluble when cold, they will not

suffice when the atmospherical temperature rises above fifteen degrees,

(cent.) A mixture of alum, of chloride of sodium, (common salt,) and

of nitrate of potash, has succeeded better with me. I have tried the

action of sulphate of soda, of chloride of calcium, (muriate of lime,)

of hydrochlorate of ammonia, &c.; they were almost useless.

The mixture of two parts of alum, of two parts of salt, and of one

part of nitre, in a sufficient quantity of water to mark the liquor at

ten degrees, injected, preserves bodies very well bathed in the same

liquor, but only when the temperature is under ten degrees for

a more elevated temperature it is necessary to warm the liquid, and

add the salt mixture until the areometer marks twenty-five or thirty

degrees.

Of all the saline substances which have given me satisfactory results,

the aluminous deliquescent salts are to be preferred. The acetate

and chloride of alumine have perfectly succeeded with me. In fine,

a mixture of equal parts, of chloride of alumine at twenty degrees,

and of the acetate of alumine at ten degrees, may be considered,

employed in injection, as a good method which we now possess for the

preservation of bodies.

Now that I have explained the action of chemical agents upon animal

matters, I shall enter upon the details of experiments.

I presented my work to the Institute on the fourth of March, 1833. The

Academy of Sciences named for its examination, a commission composed

of MM. Savart, Flourens, Chevreuil, and Serres, reporter. A few

days after, M. Serres placed at my disposition, at the Hospital La

Pitié, and in his private cabinet, a corpse, which I bathed in a tub

containing a solution at ten degrees, two parts of alum, two parts of

common salt, and one part of nitre. This subject, repeatedly examined,

appeared to be well preserved. At the end of about six weeks it was

opened; the flesh and the viscera were in a good state of preservation,

but particular circumstances put an end to this examination.

On the twelfth of November, 1834, the administration of Hospitals

presented two subjects to me, which M. Orfila authorized me to place in

one of the grand pavilions of the practical school of the faculty of

medicine. These two subjects were bathed in a liquid of ten degrees.

The second of December the commission of the Academy of Sciences came

to examine these two subjects, which were consigned to dissection. On

the same day another subject was given to me. This was injected with

eight quarts of the saline solution at ten degrees. At the end of

December, these three subjects were in a good state of preservation; it

was remarked, however, that the skin as well as the flesh, had slightly

assumed a decayed consistence and colour; the deep organs, which had

not been in immediate contact with the liquid, remained almost natural.

From this period until the end of April, the commission frequently

assembled and confirmed these results.

A commission constituted by the Academy of Medicine early in March,

examined these same subjects, and demanded new experiments. The first

subject was injected with coloured fat, and then bathed. The corpse

injected on the second of December, was also injected with coloured fat.

Here it may be remarked that it required double the quantity of fatty

matter for this, than for a fresh subject, and that the most delicate

arterial net-work had been prepared by the injection.

These experiments, which lasted for half the month of May, satisfied me

that an injection of ten or twelve degrees of density, and immersion of

the body in a bath of the same liquid, will suffice for a preparation

destined for ordinary anatomical purposes, and will allow of dissection

after several months.

At the end of July, 1835, M. Orfila, placed at my disposition in one

of the grand pavilions of the practical school, all the utensils and

instruments that I might stand in need of; on the 7th of August, I

injected a subject with the liquid at 12 degrees, and afterwards

bathed it in the same liquid. The body, at the end of two days, began

to swell. Eight days after, it disengaged so large a portion of gas,

that I was obliged to withdraw it from the trough, at the bottom of

which it was no longer possible to retain it. Placed upon a table, its

decomposition appeared to be arrested, no more gas being disengaged,

but there escaped a great quantity of liquor coloured by the blood;

the subject, which had assumed a deep brown colour, became completely

dried. During all this time, no putrid odour was remarked; it was that

of smoked ham.

A second subject was injected with the same liquid and abandoned on

a table; it was decomposed at the end of five days; but it must be

remarked that the atmospherical temperature varied from twenty to

thirty degrees.

On the 8th of August, a subject was injected with the liquid at thirty

degrees of density, which was made necessary by the elevation of the

temperature up to fifty degrees. This corpse was well preserved

and was dissected about the end of December.

These various experiments convinced me that the saline solutions

employed with success during the winter, were insufficient for the

operations during summer; that is to say, at a temperature above

fifteen degrees.

The success which I obtained by the injection of a more concentrated

liquid, indicated the route I was to follow.

I have already stated that the alum was decomposed, that the animal

matter, the geline, combined with the alumine, and that the liberated

sulphuric acid produced the alteration of the tissues. It was then

indispensable to seek an aluminous salt, containing more of the base

and a less powerful acid.

On the 16th of August, I injected a subject with eight quarts of

acetate of alumine at twenty degrees. This corpse, placed upon the

table without any other preparation, was preserved perfectly well

for the period of one month; at the end of this period, it might be

perceived that the nostrils, the eyelids, and the extremities of the

ears, commenced drying, as well as the hands and feet. In order to

remedy this inconvenience, I covered one half the subject with a layer

of varnish. At the end of two months, it was easy to remark, that the

part subjected to the action of the air had considerably diminished

in volume, and was less useful for dissection. Finally, at the end of

January, 1836, the varnished parts, not dissected, were still well

preserved, whilst the rest was completely dried, mummified.

Dr. Piory had indicated to the Academy of Medicine a method of

preserving bodies: it consisted, according to him, in enveloping the

body in layers of pewter, and of linen, and then of varnish. This

process perfectly succeeded with me on a subject injected with acetate

of alumine.

Another subject was injected with the chloride of aluminium. This

injection did not succeed well, and with three bodies I met with the

same difficulties, that is to say, the liquid contained in the syringe

having been introduced after the space of time allowed for refilling

it, the circulatory system had become so obliterated that the force of

even two men was not sufficient to introduce an additional quantity.

At twenty degrees the chloride of aluminium has so great an affinity

for water, that it absorbs that of which the organs are constituted.

However, the parts of the body which had been penetrated by the liquid

were well preserved, the muscles in particular had preserved their

colour.

I injected another subject with the chloride at eight degrees, but, at

the end of a month, it was decomposed. Finally, I introduced a quart of

chloride at ten degrees, and six quarts at twenty degrees; this subject

was preserved, but the parts not dissected were dried at the end of

five months.

A mixture of three quarts of the acetate of alumine at ten degrees,

and of three quarts of the chloride of aluminium at twenty degrees,

injected by the aorta, or better still, by the carotid artery, have

afforded the most satisfactory results.

I have already remarked that all these experiments were made under the

inspection of the commission appointed by the Academy of Sciences,

of those of the Academy of Medicine, and of the Monthyon commission,

composed of MM. Dulong, Magendie, Darcet, and Dumas, reporter. The

account which these commissioners have rendered to the two Academies,

renders it unnecessary to present here a summary of my experiments.

These gentlemen requested me to repeat the experiments of Doctor

Tranchini, of Naples, which consists in injecting a solution of two

pounds of arsenic in twenty pounds of clear water, or better, in

spirits of wine.[15] During eight days the corpse remained perfectly

natural; but after this time it gradually dried, although deposited in

a damp situation, and along side of a water cock, kept running.

[15] Arsenic is so little soluble, even in warm water, and, above

all, in alcohol, that I introduced the liquid saturated, holding

in suspension more than one-half of the powder which could not be

dissolved.

It was injected on the ninth of September, and examined on the

twenty-fifth of the same month; but, on the same day, having offered it

to several students for dissection, none of them were willing to accept

of my proposition.

On the sixteenth of October, it was found unfit for any anatomical

purposes; on the thirtieth it was completely dried.

I think that the employment of this method presents real dangers for

the anatomist, of which the following is a proof: Doctor Poirson

declared before the Academy of Medicine, that he had been exceedingly

incommoded, as well as two of his colleagues, in having embalmed two

generals with this substance; he attributed this derangement of his

health to the arsenic absorbed during the preparation.

I drew the attention of the commissioners to the fact, that the table

upon which the body lay, that the windows of the room, and that the

corpse itself, were covered with dead flies; a considerable mass of

them was observed on the opening made in the sternum. I thought that

this effect might be attributed to the evolution of arsenical hydrogen;

this evolution is, at least, probable, and the action of this gas on

the animal economy can well be conceived.

Finally, when we reflect that there are always more than eighty bodies

under dissection at the Practical School, and that, consequently, it

would demand one hundred and sixty pounds of arsenic to be put at the

disposition of each student, it will readily be conceded that this

process would not be applicable.[P]

[P] In the autumn of 1837 I tried this experiment of Tranchini, on

the body of a patient who had died the day before with consumption,

in the wards of the Philadelphia Hospital. A saturated solution of

spirits of wine and arsenic, coloured with carmine, was injected into

the carotid artery--the countenance regained its natural fulness

and complexion, which state continued for about three weeks, with

the exception of some shrinking of the eyes. In about six weeks the

corpse began to mould, and the skin of the legs could be scraped

off,--the body was then buried.--_Tr._

At this period of my labour, I had already proved that the methods

by which I had obtained favourable results in principle, became

insufficient when exterior circumstances changed; that the salt, of

alumine, which I made use of in my injections, was not sufficiently

rich in alumine; that the preservation was not certain above a certain

degree of temperature; finally, I had found in the acetate of alumine a

suitable matter for forming injections eminently preservative.

It was then that the reports were read to the Institute and Academy

of Medicine. I cite them because they prove, in an authentic manner,

the point which I have attained. It was already possible, with these

data, to dissect during all seasons, without fearing henceforwards the

dangers attached to this employment during the heat of the weather.

INSTITUTE OF FRANCE.--_Academy of Sciences_--_Public sitting of

Monday, 28th of December, 1835_--_Prize relative to the means of

rendering an art or a trade less unhealthy_--_On the preservation

of dead bodies, by_ M. Gannal.

Your commission has followed with interest the experiments of M.

Gannal; it has availed itself of the experience of those of our

confrères whose studies oblige them to practise daily dissections, and

it believes itself authorized to declare to the Academy, that the means

pointed out in the first place by M. Gannal, and that, which is still

better, the simple injections of acetate of alumine, at ten degrees

of the areometer, which he practised at a later period, answers for

preserving bodies for several months, even during the summer. It is

assured that no inconvenience results from it in dissections.

Your commission has thought it proper to wait until this process should

be regularly practised in some amphitheatre of considerable extent,

before pronouncing on it in a definitive manner. It is aware how

difficult it is to introduce the most simple improvement into routine

operations, because, against the employment of them there arises

numerous unforeseen obstacles.

It remains convinced, however, that this process may render, even

now, real services in all countries where dissection meets with

difficulties, either from the scarcity of bodies, or from the

prejudices of the populace.

Taking this circumstance into consideration, together with the

obstacles which M. Gannal has encountered, the disgusts which he has

had to surmount, in order to complete the experiments which he has

made, your commission has the honour to propose to you to award to

him, in anticipation, an encouragement of three thousand francs, (six

hundred dollars.)

_Report of a Commission appointed by the Academy of Medicine, and

composed of MM. Sanson, Roux, Dizè, Guèneau de Mussy, Breschet,

reporter, to examine a process for the preservation of dead bodies,

discovered and proposed by_ M. J. N. Gannal, _chemist_.

MESSIEURS,--If anatomy is the basis of all sound medical study, if

almost all those who have most contributed to the progress of medicine

and surgery have been skilful anatomists, it is rendering a great

service to those same sciences and to humanity, to discover a method of

facilitating the study of anatomy, and obviating its insalubrity. Well,

gentlemen, it is a discovery of this kind that M. Gannal presumes he

has made.

By a letter dated on the 10th of March, 1835, addressed to the Academy

of Medicine, by M. the Minister of Commerce, this learned body is

charged to make known to superior authority its opinion of the real

merit of the process of M. Gannal, for the preservation of dead bodies.

In consequence, the Academy has appointed a commission composed of MM.

Sanson, Roux, Dizè, Guèneau de Mussy, and Breschet; it is in the name

of this commission that I now present myself to make known to you the

result of our labours.

Already two commissions from the Academy of Sciences have been occupied

in the examination of this discovery of M. Gannal; the one, considering

the process as useful to the study of the sciences which concerns the

composition of organized beings; the other, considering it as a means

of rendering less insalubrious an art or a profession, a prize having

been founded for this purpose by M. de Monthyon, whose name will remain

eternally dear to science and to philanthropy.

The reasons which have hindered the ancients from carrying to any great

length a knowledge of the structure of man and animals, was not only

the idea of filthiness attached to the sight and dissection of dead

bodies, or the difficulty of procuring the means of dissection; but

rather the almost absolute impossibility of preserving dead bodies in

part or entire, which has retarded the progress of anatomy. Aristotle,

to whom Philip of Macedon had given every facility for the dissection

of animals, and who must have made collections, does not say, in any

of his known works, how he preserved the animals which he did not

immediately examine, and Galien, in his anatomical administrations,

says very few words of the means of preservation in liquors.

Cuvier, in giving the history of the progress of the natural sciences,

teaches us that one of the circumstances which has the most contributed

to the advancement of these sciences was the discovery of alcohol.

We are, however, astonished at the novelty of our means for the

preservation of animals, for zoological and anatomical collections,

when we reflect that during the time of Rèaumur the art of preserving

animal bodies with their natural forms and colours, was not known.

Thus, in the cabinet of this celebrated naturalist, are seen birds

skinned and suspended by the beak with a thread.

The taxidermic processes have almost all originated among us, for the

formation of zoological collections; but we still are in want of less

expensive methods, of easy transport, and in small space in order to

preserve animals destined to serve for the researches of comparative

anatomy, or for the study of the anatomy of man.

Peron, in the relation of his voyage to Terra Australis, in the

commencement of the present century, laments the embarrassment of

zoologists in long voyages, in preserving animals, without altering any

of their zoological characters, and in a manner that they may serve

finally for anatomical researches. He says, that it would be rendering

great service to natural history and zoology, if the following problem

could be resolved:

“Any species of animal being given, to preserve it the most certainly,

the most perfectly, and with the smallest quantity of an alcoholic

liquid of the least possible strength.”

Alcohol is very costly in this country, where considerable duties are

exacted, nor is it suitable for preserving bodies, except of small

volume. During voyages, this liquor is difficult of export, evaporates

rapidly, particularly in equatorial regions, and often bursting the

vessels which contain it; it alters or dissolves the resins or resinous

mastic which is used to seal the jars or other vessels which contain

the animals.

If an acid be added to alcohol, the bones are acted upon, and softened;

colours are destroyed; the scalpels and other dissecting instruments

are promptly oxidised, when it is desirable to dissect animals

preserved in these liquors.

The same inconveniences exist if alcohol holds arsenic in solution, or

corrosive sublimate, and many other metallic salts.

The essence of turpentine can only serve for small pieces; it is not

easily transported, alters several of the tissues, becomes thick and

clouded.

The oils are suitable only for the preservation of some fishes; their

acquisition is expensive, and it is difficult to obtain them everywhere.

The syrups which have been proposed for the preservation of some animal

parts, such as the brain, spinal marrow, &c., are too dear to be

useful to any great extent; besides, they do not penetrate the tissues

profoundly, preserve only the external surfaces, deposit crystals or a

viscous matter which changes the colour; and, finally, they run readily

into fermentation, especially in hot climates.

Creosote, advised of late, for the preservation of the nerves and

brain, is too costly, but, as we have not made use of it, we cannot

describe its mode of action upon the tissues.

Sea-salt, employed alone and in solution, has a mode of action for a

long time known, and its inefficiency cannot be disputed; we do not

speak however, of saltings, because this method cannot answer for the

preservation of bodies for dissection; or for preserving animals from

putrefaction, that they may be subsequently dissected, or be placed in

zoological collections.

In an English Medical Journal, for the year 1818, we find, that it

is proposed to replace alcohol by _rock-salt_, for the preservation

of anatomical and natural history subjects, which is known to be

nothing more than muriate of soda, purer than that of commerce; this

proposition is inadmissible.

The chlorides of the oxides of calcium of sodium, of potassium, have

been recommended for some pieces of pathological anatomy; but they are

not applicable for the preservation of thick objects, and much less

entire subjects.

Wine to which has been added a nitrous solution of mercury, has been

employed by some navigators, for the preservation of small zoological

collections; its use cannot be employed extensively. Acids, more or

less diluted, alter the tissues, and attack the dissecting instruments.

Aqueous or alcoholic solutions of the salts of mercury, arsenical

solutions, &c., are dangerous, by their emanations, for the anatomist

who constantly handles the objects impregnated with these metallic

salts; and further they harden the tissues, contract them, destroy

their colours, and attack anatomical instruments.

We may repeat of the pyroligneous and acetic acids, what we have

already advanced of the other acids. Nevertheless, it was proposed

about fifteen years ago, to use the pyroligneous acid, as excelling in

its properties for preserving animals, and anatomical subjects.

All acids, not excepting vinegar, attack the colour of organic tissues,

corrode them, and deprive the bones of their earthy salts, rendering

them flexible and transparent, and cover the soft parts with a layer of

gluey matter which conceals the fibres and the structure of the parts.

It is known that alum and nitre are employed separately in aqueous

solution, to preserve anatomical preparations, during the time of

their fabrication. It is known that anatomists employ nitre, or simply

saltpetre of commerce, not only to preserve the fleshy tissues,[Q] but

to give a lively red colour to the flesh.

[Q] Nitre possesses no preservative properties.--_Tr._

We have thus, gentlemen, in a cursory manner, exposed the ordinary

methods proposed or employed for the preservation of animal matters.

In order to respond to the Academy upon the merits of the discovery

of M. Gannal, we will say that his process consists of an aqueous

solution of three salts, already employed separately in the anatomical

laboratory, _nitre_, _common salt_, _and alum_.

We have caused to be repeated under our inspection the experiments of

M. Gannal. In the course of last March, two bodies were placed in a

bathing tub six feet six inches long, sixteen inches wide, and twenty

inches high. A liquor was poured upon these bodies, composed of acid

sulphate of alumine, and of potash, of the chloride of sodium of each

two parts, and one part of nitrate of potash.

The water which contains these salts in solution was in sufficient

quantity to cause the liquor to stand at fifteen degrees of the

areometer; that is to say, and according to the indication of M.

Gannal, that the liquid should mark from seven to eight degrees during

winter, and from twelve to fifteen during summer.

The tub was placed in one of the pavilions of the Practical School; and

in the same room there were a great number of tables covered with dead

bodies for the study of practical anatomy. At the end of two months,

the two bodies were withdrawn from the bath, and dissected; no change

had taken place in their exterior aspect; the tissues and internal

organs were ascertained to be well preserved, and capable of serving

for anatomical demonstrations.

Other subjects have been examined by the commission of the Academy

of Sciences; they had remained in the same liquor since the 2d of

December, 1834, and were still sound at the end of April, 1835.

We thought it our duty to exact of M. Gannal some other experiments;

thus, we desired to see injections with this preservative liquor,

of the arterial system; we caused another subject to be injected

with ordinary fatty matter; and at a later period we had injected

into the vessels of the subject which had received the preservative

liquor, a matter composed of suet, and of resin, in equal parts, and

coloured with cinabar, (sulphate of mercury.) This last injection was

successful. The first injection of saline liquid exacted eight quarts

of the liquid, which was introduced through the left ventricle of the

heart.

The subject examined at the end of two months, was well preserved, did

not exhale any fetid odour, and might serve for the common dissection

of students.

The commission were desirous to know whether a body would rapidly

putrefy, if it were withdrawn from the tub and left upon the table

of the amphitheatre, exposed to the air, and to the influence of the

putrid emanations from the other bodies. A subject was accordingly

withdrawn from the preservative saline liquor, and remained fifteen

days exposed to the air; no sensible putrefaction took place during

this time; this was during the last fifteen days of April. The muscles

of the corpse were seen to dry, and, so to speak, to mummify, whilst

the tissues which had not come in contact with the saline liquid, or

which had not been uncovered and exposed to the air, remained still in

a state which permitted an anatomical analysis.

We ought to remark, that the tissues which are bathed by the liquid

lose their natural colours; but the more deeply disposed organs did not

experience the same change; there was no emphysema in the cellular

tissue, although we thought we remarked that there was less resistance

in the fibres of the organs, than in a subject dead for twenty-four or

forty-eight hours.

We may remark, that under no circumstances were long and deep

scarifications made on the trunk or members, in order to allow the

liquid to penetrate the thickness of the tissues. The cranium itself

was not opened, nor was there any application of the trephine, in order

to permit a more ready entrance of the liquor to the meninges, or to

the brain itself. Nevertheless, after more than two months immersion

in the liquor, the brain, extracted from the cranium, if it could no

longer serve for new researches on its structure, might have been

employed for demonstrations.

But, for how much longer time could this preservation be continued?

What temperature is it capable of resisting? And what expense does it

require? In fine, can the discovery be extensively applied? That is to

say, is it possible, by this process, to preserve a great number of

subjects during summer, to deliver them later to the students during

the season of dissection? And if these subjects, thus preserved, exhale

no odour, become in no manner a cause of insalubrity, or of danger to

the students, for the anatomists themselves, or for the persons who

inhabit the houses adjoining the anatomical amphitheatre, might not the

dissections be indefinitely prolonged, in place of permitting them only

during the rigors of winter?

In fine, has this saline liquor of M. Gannal preservative properties

sufficiently pronounced to be employed during long voyages, and in hot

climates, for the purpose of bringing home numerous animals of large

size, to serve for the study of comparative anatomy?

The small volume which saline substances occupy, and the sea water,

which might serve to make the solution of the salts in any quantity as

soon as needed, would be circumstances favourable to the use of this

process.

In order to answer all these questions, it would be requisite to

multiply the experiments, to extend them during a much longer period,

and upon a very great number of subjects.

These experiments, directed in this spirit, would exact expenses which

we thought ought not to be imposed upon the author of the process for

the preservation of dead bodies, who has already been subjected to a

multiplicity of demands, for the reimbursement of which we propose an

indemnity from the Academy, without prejudice to the recompense which

M. Gannal may have a right to claim, when the experiments shall have

received that extension which we wish to be able to give them.

However this may be, we thought, in this provisionary report, that we

ought to call the attention of the Academy, and of superior authority,

to the process of preservation discovered by M. Gannal, and we manifest

the desire that a sum be awarded to him as an indemnification for

expenses already accrued, and in order to facilitate the means of

continuing his experiments on a large scale.

We shall add that this process of preservation may be very

advantageously applied to various cases of legal medicine.

_Paris, 16th June, 1835._

Signed, MM. Gueneau de Mussy,

Dizè,

Roux,

Sanson,

Breschet, Reporter.

_Certified._--The perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Medicine.

Signed, Pariset.

The first report of MM. the members of the commission named by the

Academy of Medicine was only provisionary; new facts were discovered to

enlighten the conscience of the judges; these facts were presented, and

the following report read to the Academy by M. Dizè.

_Definitive report of the commission named by the Academy of

Medicine, to examine the process of preserving dead bodies,

presented by_ M. Gannal.

GENTLEMEN,--The Academy had formed a commission composed of MM.

Sanson, Guèneau de Mussy, Breschet, Roux, and Dizè, to make known the

results of a process presented by M. Gannal, having for its object the

preservation of dead bodies destined for dissection.

Our honourable colleague, M. Breschet, presented, in a provisionary

report, the experiments which had been made, and the success obtained

by M. Gannal.

But the commission having expressed a desire to give more development

to trials which, after the important results already obtained, deserved

to fix the attention of the Academy, it proposed to him to multiply,

to vary the experiments, to extend them a longer time upon a greater

number of subjects.

But trials directed in this spirit, exact expenses; the commission did

not think it just to impose them upon the author of the process, who

had already multiplied expenses; in consequence it proposed to the

Academy to demand an indemnity of government for expenses already made,

and for the continuance of experiments, without any prejudice to the

recompense that M. Gannal would have a right to claim.

The Academy seconded the wishes of the commission; it obtained from

the minister of public instruction the sum necessary for covering all

expenses made, and for those to be made in the continuance of the

experiments.

M Gannal made a series of preliminary experiments, which served him

as so many starting points on the road to the discovery of the means

of preserving animal matters; these labours subsequently conducted to

the research of an antiseptic sufficiently powerful, which unites to

the property of preserving bodies, that of not altering the organic

tissues, and not too much weakening their natural colours, so important

to anatomical demonstrations.

We shall cite the most important experiments, so that you may be able

to appreciate the process which is proposed.

In the first place, acids in general modify the consistence of

animal matters; they produce disorganization in proportion to their

concentration; some diluted acids, for example, nitric acid at five

degrees, may serve when it is necessary to study the nervous system,

but then the bones lose their saline particles and are reduced to their

organic frame; the muscles are discolored and faded, as well as the

viscera; the nerves alone remain of a very remarkable mother-of-pearl

whiteness.

Arsenious acid preserves bodies very well, but a single subject would

require a killogram! Although the medical journals having spoken of a

process discovered by Dr. Tranchini, of Naples, the commission judged

it expedient to invite M. Gannal to repeat this experiment; a subject

was injected with a killogram of arsenious acid and ten quarts of

water; this subject examined by your commission, presented all the

characters of a good preservation; but, on one hand, this process has

been for a long time known, and on the other hand, the employment of it

presents so many dangers, that in case of its success your commission

would feel themselves obliged to proscribe it; effectually, when twenty

subjects were under dissection, there would be twenty killograms of

this poisonous substance at the disposition of the public.

Concentrated acetic acid preserves meats, but dries them. This same

acid diluted retards putrefaction, but softens the bones, as well as

the muscles, which are discolored by its action.

The alkaline salts only preserve meats when they are used dry, or in a

very concentrated solution; it is necessary in this case that the salts

preserve an affinity for the water of composition, so that it may be

said that these salts preserve meats because they dry them; thus, on

this principle, salts more soluble in warm, than in cold water, may,

injected as a warm concentrated solution, be considered as a means of

preservation; this applies particularly to the nitrate of potash.

Creosote, a newly discovered vegetable substance has been recommended

as a preservative of flesh; this fact demanded verification: a corpse

which had been injected on the 18th of October, with one hundred

scruples of creosote and seven quarts of water, was decomposed on the

30th of the same month.[R] But, in order to respond to the objection

which was made, that the body should have been immersed in a bath

saturated with creosote, it is sufficient to say that this bath would

have cost forty dollars; besides the necessity of combatting the odour

of the creosote, which may prove an obstacle to anatomical labours.

[R] To have given the creosote a fair trial it should have been

injected undiluted with water; no one who has tried this curious

product will deny that it possesses the most powerful antiseptic

properties. I have used it formerly very successfully in my

dissecting rooms for purifying subjects dead of mortification, foul

ulcerations, or tainted by decomposition, especially the viscera. A

small quantity of the creosote passed over the surface of these with

a feather, immediately removes the fetid odours.--_Tr._

A solution of alum at eight degrees has succeeded better; but the flesh

becomes hardened, faded, and friable.

The mixture of alum, (acid sulphate of alumine, and potash,) two parts,

the chloride of sodium two parts, and of nitrate of potash one part,

dissolved in water, employed as a bath, has afforded the first good

results.

The acid phosphate of lime is the first substance which has been

employed in injection for subjects; this salt did not oppose the

movement of putrefaction.

The kidnies, injected with this salt, and immersed in the milk of lime,

became hardened at the surface and putrefied in the interior.

After this first part of the experiments of M. Gannal, it results that

the aluminous salts are those alone which succeed well in preserving

animal matters, and which may be used advantageously.

Alum, employed alone, preserves well, but for a short time; this salt,

slightly soluble in cold water, (fifteen degrees,) will not suffice as

an injection for the preservation of a body; it is indispensable to

immerse the body in a bath of the same salt.

The mixture of alum, salt, and nitre, as indicated in the provisionary

report, has not the same inconvenience; a subject injected with this

liquid, at ten or twelve degrees of density, may be preserved for more

than a month; but it is indispensable to immerse it, at least from time

to time, when it is desirable to prolong its preservation; that is to

say, for the entire winter; but at a temperature above fifteen degrees,

it is necessary to inject the liquid at a density of twenty-five or

thirty degrees, and, in order to obtain it, it requires to be heated at

least to forty degrees.

Several bodies injected with this liquid at ten degrees, on the 2d

of December, 1834, were well preserved until the end of April; other

subjects, injected on the 7th of August, but with the liquid at

twenty-five degrees of density, and at ten degrees of the thermometer,

were still, on the 10th of December, in good condition, whilst those

that were injected with a liquor of inferior density, did not resist

a temperature of twenty or twenty-five degrees, although they were

immersed in a bath denoting fifteen degrees. The bath of salted liquid

has, independently of the inconvenience of expense for the necessary

salts and the embarrassment of the tubes, which require frequent

renewal, the objection of hardening the skin, considerably.

On these motives new efforts have been made, which have conducted to

the following results: to demonstrate that all the salts with a soluble

aluminous base, are decomposed; that those which are very soluble offer

all the advantages of alum employed in very concentrated solution, and

have not the same inconveniences.

For example, a solution of acetate of alumine at twenty degrees,

injected the 16th of August, 1835, perfectly preserved a subject

abandoned to the table without any other preparation; only, at the

end of a month it was remarked that desiccation had commenced; when

a part of it was covered with a layer of varnish, which preserved it

from further evaporation. At the present day, 25th January, 1836, the

varnished part may be dissected as easily as a fresh subject, whilst

the other part offers resistance to dissection.

During the first days of September, another subject was injected with

acetate of alumine at fifteen degrees; although this was the corpse of

a woman who had died from abortion, it was very well preserved.

On the 12th of December, a subject was injected with the chloride

of alumine at twenty degrees; this injection did not succeed well,

and only three quarts could be introduced. Nevertheless, the body

was perfectly well preserved. This want of success in introducing

the liquid led to the following observation; that the chloride of

aluminium at twenty degrees acts so powerfully on the arterial tubes

and obliterates them to such a degree, that it prevents the passage

of the liquid; but in order to remedy this inconvenience, it suffices

to inject a first quart of the liquid at ten degrees, and the rest at

twenty degrees. The chloride of aluminium has all the advantages of the

acetate of alumine, and has further that of preserving the muscles of a

bright red.

A mixture of acetate of alumine at ten degrees, and the chloride of the

same base at twenty degrees, forms a good preservative injection. The

use of one of these salts, or the mixture that has just been indicated,

offers the advantage of preserving bodies, without its being necessary

to subject them to any other preparation.

The density of the solutions of the acetate and chloride of aluminium

must be graduated by the state of the atmosphere. When it is required

to prolong indefinitely the preservation of the subject, it is

essential to employ it at twenty degrees; it is equally necessary,

in this case, to cover the subject with a layer of varnish, the sole

object of which is to prevent the too prompt desiccation, which would

prove an obstacle to dissection.

The first injections were made through the aorta. Subsequently, in

order to avoid the laceration of the pectoral parts, the subject was

injected through the carotid artery, which always succeeded very well

when the liquid was forced both upward and downward.

After the saline injection, at the end of forty-eight hours, coloured

grease may be injected; even after two months the same operation may be

performed with the same success.

From the series of experiments which we have just exposed, it results:

1. That a solution of alum, of salt, and of nitrate of potash, injected

at ten degrees, answers for preserving bodies at a temperature below

ten degrees of the thermometer; that, for a more elevated temperature,

it is necessary to carry the density to twenty-five or thirty degrees,

and immerse the subject in a liquid of ten or twelve degrees.

2. That it is preferable to employ the acetate of alumine, because it

preserves better; as the skin experiences no alteration, and as the

central organs remain _natural_, excepting the colour of the muscles

which become bleached.

3. That the chloride of aluminium offers the same advantages.

4. That, in order to preserve parts of bodies which have not been

injected, it is necessary to immerse them in a mixture of water, and of

the acetate or chloride, marking five or six degrees.

But this part of the operation is transferred to the experiments which

are to be undertaken on the preservation of objects of pathological

anatomy.

Gentlemen, such are the series of experiments made by M. Gannal, since

the first provisionary report was presented to you.

The commission has attentively followed the new experiments; the

results obtained, demonstrate that by M. Gannal’s process bodies for

dissection may be preserved, and the preservation prolonged beyond the

term exacted by the most minute investigations.

As we have already stated, the soluble salts with an aluminous base,

offer this preservative method without any danger in their use, and

they can also be procured at a low price.

Their antiseptic properties are founded on their chemical action, which

modifies animal substances either by depriving them of their water

of composition, which determines their putrefaction, or in opposing

themselves to its immediate action.

It is, then, only an act of justice rendered to M. Gannal, in

considering his labour as an important service rendered to science

and to humanity, and which may prove of great utility in anatomical

explorations, and in legal medicine.

Consequently, your commission has the honour to propose to you the

transmission of the present report--

1. To the Minister of Public Instruction, as an object of improvement

in anatomical researches, and to reclaim the continuation of his good

offices, in affording extension to the experiments for preserving

objects of pathological anatomy.

2. To the Minister of Commerce and of Public Works, as an object of

public salubrity. On the proposition of a member of the Academy, it

was unanimously decided to send the present report to the committee of

publication.

Signed, MM. Gueneau de Mussy,

Sanson,

Breschet,

Roux,

Dize, Reporter.

_Certified._--The perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Medicine.

Signed, Pariset.

_Reflections._--The mixture of the acid sulphate of alumine and potash,

of the nitrate of potash, and the chloride of sodium, furnished me,

at first, with some favourable results. But when new experiments were

attempted at a temperature above 10° of centigrade, this liquid, which

I only employed as a bath, did not answer my expectations. I then tried

to inject bodies with concentrated solution, which were afterwards

consigned to a bath of the same nature. The preservation was thus

rendered more durable; but still it did not balance the influence of an

atmosphere very warm and very humid, prolonged for any length of time.

I observed that after twenty-four hours of immersion of the bodies in

the bath, all the alumine was absorbed: this fact, well established,

was a gleam of light to me.

Since the preservation is produced by the combination of geline with

alumine, and as the alumine furnished by the acid sulphate does not

inherit enough of the preservative element, let us have recourse to

the salts of alum, richer in alumine, and more soluble in water.

The following are the data on which I rely:

_To find a salt of alum capable of effectually preserving bodies, and

which, by the moderation of its price, may be extensively employed in

amphitheatres._ I abandoned my trials with the nitrate of alumine,

this being excluded by its _high price_. The chloride of alumine, with

which I had experimented, is liable to equal objections: 1. Because,

owing to its excessive affinity for water, it instantaneously dries the

internal membrane of the artery, and obliterates the canal, rendering

it impossible to finish the injection. 2. Besides, admitting the

injection to have been completed by the introduction, in the first

place, of a little oil of turpentine, the hydrochloric acid contained

in the flesh injures the instruments, and impedes dissection. Further,

the chloride of aluminium, like all the soluble chlorides, is a bad

agent in dissections, being hygrometric.

The acetate of alumine is an excellent preservative of animal matters,

as will be seen by referring to the observation cited at the end of the

last chapter; but it is costly, and on this account cannot be employed

in amphitheatres.

It was necessary, then, to search for a more economical method; this

I have found in the _simple sulphate_ of alumine. This salt, but

indifferently known, no one having thought of it before me, is of a

simple preparation and moderate price.

_A killogram of this salt, costing about twenty cents, dissolved in two

quarts of water, is sufficient in winter to preserve a body fresh, by

injection, for three months._

In order to preserve a body for a month or six weeks, it is not even

necessary to inject the blood-vessels--_a glyster of one quart, and the

same quantity injected into the œsophagus, suffices for this limited

preservation_. This process is adopted at Clamart for all the dead

bodies destined for dissection. The preservative power of this salt

will be easily understood, if its analysis be compared with that of the

double sulphate given above.

One hundred parts of _simple sulphate of alumine_, are composed of

_alumine_ 30, of _sulphuric acid_ 70. This salt properly prepared,

exempt from iron, commonly contains from thirty-six to forty for 100 of

water.

The following is a table of the different densities of this salt,

according to the quantity of water in which it is dissolved.

A killogram dissolved in five hundred scruples of water gives a quart

of liquid which marks 32° on the areometer of Baumè.

This same quantity in a quart of water

Marks, 20°

In two quarts, 17°

In four quarts, 8°

In five quarts, 6°

This table is important, as it gives the composition of the different

liquids of which we shall see the application.

The liquid of injection, of which we have indicated the preparation and

the quantity, is sufficient during winter, and moderate temperatures;

but when it passes 20° it ought to be more abundant, or the solution

more concentrated.

When it is intended to preserve the body for a longer period, it is

necessary to neutralize the sulphuric acid, which is taken up by

the addition of acetate of lead. Two hundred and fifty scruples of

this salt for one killogram of the dry sulphate produces the desired

effect. If the preservation is to be indefinitely prolonged, the use

of the acetate of lead will have a tendency at length to blacken

the epidermis. Indeed, as it is impossible to cause all the lead to

disappear, the small quantity of this salt remaining in the liquid

will be then decomposed by the hydro-sulphuric acid disengaged by the

corpse, or rather by the sulphur which it contains, and the salt of

lead is changed into sulphuret, a black insoluble powder, giving to the

body all the exterior aspect of the negro.

I preserved in my cabinet an infant treated after this method; its

skin, after the lapse of a year, became black, not of that colour

assumed by animal matters in drying, but of the finest negro colour

that could be conceived.

I finish with these details; for the facts of prolonged preservation

of which we have just spoken are derived from the wants of the

anatomists; and, previous to proceeding to other considerations, it is

best to exhaust all that we have to make known concerning my processes

of preservation applied in amphitheatres to subjects intended to be

dissected. The preservation of these subjects, it is known, would

be prolonged without any advantage beyond two or three months at all

seasons.

I shall therefore terminate all that is relative to this first portion

of my labour, by the report of the committee of the members of the

Institute. They have admitted the result of my labours to be of great

utility, and that it merits the encouragement of the grand Monthyon

prize, founded on the discovery of any means calculated to remedy the

insalubrity of any art or profession.

The following is the report:

_Upon the preservation of the dead body, by_ M. Gannal.

The Academy is well aware, having recommended an encouragement to

the author, that M. Gannal has made numerous experiments on the

preservation of dead bodies, either with the view of making dissecting

amphitheatres more healthful, or to obtain a method of embalming at the

same time economical and certain.

As far as concerns embalming of dead bodies, it will be conceded that

before advancing an opinion, it would be necessary to prolong the

proofs for several years, which has not yet been accomplished for the

process under consideration. Besides, as this investigation would be

without the bounds of the duties of your commission on noxious arts,

even when it shall have attained perfection, we were only disposed

to examine it under the head of instruction. The judgment which we

are about to give should then be considered as applying exclusively

to processes concerning the amphitheatres of dissection. In this

latter case, the experiments being less tedious, could be varied and

multiplied sufficiently to demonstrate that we actually possess a

process capable of preserving dead bodies, during the longest period

that the most minute dissection could exact.

This process is of an easy and economical execution; it consists in the

employment of matters which have nothing poisonous in them. In fine,

after many trials, the author has fixed upon the following method; he

injects an aluminous salt dissolved in water, by one of the carotids; a

few quarts of the liquid is sufficient, and the body abandoned to the

open air is preserved for a long time from putrefaction; sometimes it

even ends in becoming dry or mummified.

The author made use of the acetate of alumine, prepared by the acetate

of lead and the sulphate of alumine and potash. This acetate of alumine

at 18° of the areometer of Baumè, and in the quantity of five or six

quarts, is sufficient to preserve a body for five or six months.

He has also used the simple sulphate of alumine in order to procure

the acetate of this base. With one killogram of the simple sulphate of

alumine in mass, two hundred and ten grains of acetate of lead, and two

quarts of water, may be obtained, the necessary quantity of the mixture

to preserve a body for two months.

By the employment of these processes, the preservation of bodies

without odour may be calculated upon, for twenty days, a month, six

weeks, more or less, according to the circumstances of temperature,

state of the body, and quantity of the liquor actually injected into

the vessels.

Your commissioners have assured themselves of this by the examination

of bodies prepared by M. Gannal, but not wishing to report on their own

judgment, and in order to obtain a full conviction of the practical

utility of the process, it determined to consult those persons who were

continually occupied in dissection. Their opinion was unanimous.

Among the experiments or applications of which the process of M.

Gannal, has been the object, we shall place in the first rank the

series of facts observed by our honourable associate M. Serres. The

following are the details which he has transmitted to use on this

subject.

“In the month of June, 1836, in the amphitheatre of the hospital, the

body of a man twenty-two years of age was injected. Abandoned to the

open air, in a cabinet exposed to the south, and upon a wooden table,

it was preserved until the month of September, and it ended in becoming

mummified.

“In the month of July, eight bodies were injected for dissection, each

during fifteen days.

“During the months of August and September, sixty subjects were

injected; these were preserved for twenty days.

“From these experiments, adds M. Serres, it results that the liquid

furnished by M. Gannal preserves bodies to a certain extent:

“1. Permitting their dissection during summer, a thing which has not

been accomplished heretofore in the anatomical school of the hospitals.

2. Permitting to give to the instruction of operative medicine a

development which, up to the present period, it had not enjoyed;

for, during the months of August and September, we were enabled to

preserve, as in the middle of winter, thirty bodies at a time on the

tables, enabling us to repeat to seventy pupils all the operations, in

following a regular course, previously impossible.”

To this series of observations, already so decisive, we shall add the

intelligence furnished us by different anatomists well known to science.

Thus M. Dubreuil, the honourable dean of the faculty of Medicine of

Montpelier, hastened, in the interest of anatomical studies, to make

the necessary trials to assure himself of the efficacy of the process

in question. During the spring of last year, the first body on which

he operated was preserved for forty-one days, and the experiment was

terminated without any thing announcing putrefaction. On a second

body the result was the same, although it was chosen under the most

unfavourable conditions.

M. Bougery, who, it is known, is occupied in the publication of a great

work on anatomy, declares that this process has very well succeeded

in his hands, and that it has been very useful to him. In summer he

injected two subjects which were preserved for three weeks; in winter,

he injected a third, and this, although kept in a room heated to 15°,

was preserved for seven weeks.

M. Azoux, who, at a distance from Paris, has formed an establishment

for the manufacture of his artificial anatomical preparations, employs

the process of M. Gannal, in order to place before the eyes of his

workmen the preparations which they are to reproduce. This process has

rendered him great service.

MM. Velpeau and Amussat, who have had occasion to put it to the proof,

have been equally well satisfied with it.

Your commission was further enlightened by a report made to the Academy

of Medicine, which includes circumstantial details of the successive

trials through which M. Gannal had to pass before attaining the simple

and easy method which he employs at present.

After the whole of the intelligence which it has collected, your

commission feels itself authorized to say, that the process of M.

Gannal, as it now exists, may render the greatest service to anatomical

studies; that it divests them, in great part, of what is repulsive, and

deprives them almost entirely, perhaps, of what is insalubrious.

We have just seen that M. Bougery, M. Amussat, and, in general, all

who consign themselves to continued anatomical researches, follow

this process, and have found benefit from it. It is desirable that it

should have been adopted in some grand amphitheatre of anatomy, and

that its use should have been subjected to the chances of an extensive

practice. It appears that the additional expense which its application

would occasion, has opposed its introduction, thus far, into such an

establishment.

Nevertheless, it is incontestible, that the use of the injections of

M. Gannal deprives subjects of all putrid odour, and it is to be hoped

that it will diminish, if not altogether put an end to the serious

accidents which happen too often to anatomists who are so unfortunate

as to be wounded in dissecting. This is yet only a presumption;

extended experience can only determine the fact.

Your commission thinks, then, that it has reason to recommend

the adoption of this process in the amphitheatres of dissection,

notwithstanding it may occasion a slight increase of expense. How

trifling, indeed, is this consideration, when it is proposed to render

anatomical studies more easy, and more healthful; when it is calculated

to render them more fruitful, since each subject could be made to

serve a greater number of students, who, working without disgust or

repugnance, would much better preserve the free exercise of their

faculties!

All things considered, the expense, already inconsiderable, and which

will become still less hereafter, is then equivalent to real economy,

if, for example, the cost of an anatomical education to a student be

calculated. By the aid of the new process, fewer subjects are necessary

for the same number of students; or rather, with the same number of

subjects, the education of a much greater number of students may be

completed.

Your commission has been strongly impressed with these considerations;

it has thought that the process under consideration was sufficiently

proved; that it might, even now, be practised habitually in dissecting

amphitheatres; and that this has not already been effected, is

evidently due to administrative circumstances.

Consequently, it has the honour to propose to you to award to M. Gannal

a prize of $1600.

The members of the commission agreed that it was expedient to

recommend my process to the dissecting amphitheatres: their wish is in

part accomplished, since, by decision of the central administration

of hospitals, the _subjects are henceforward to be subjected, in

the capacious chambers of Clamart, to one of the injections, the

compositions of which I have given_. This decision will not astonish

those of our readers who are aware that M. Serres is charged with the

direction of the anatomical arrangements at Clamart; this gentleman,

whose works have elevated him to so distinguished a rank, has been long

known for the zeal and noble disinterestedness with which he advances

all useful discoveries.

2.--_Preservation of subjects of normal anatomy, of pathological

anatomy, and of natural history._

As it is my intention to publish hereafter a complete work on the

preservation of pieces of pathological anatomy, and of objects of

natural history, which, besides the details into which I might enter,

would lead me beyond the proper limits of this work, I shall confine

myself here to some results obtained during the last three years, and

the composition of the liquids derived therefrom.

1. In 1833, I took the thigh and all the organs contained in the

abdominal cavity of an infant at full term, and treated them after

the manner to be hereafter indicated, and at the present moment, 8th

December, 1837, I preserve the pieces in two jars. They display no

sensible alteration, and are as fit for study as when first separated

from the subject.

2. In 1835, Dr. Beniquet having to pursue some investigations on the

brain, he made use of my liquor in order to preserve entire heads,

for which he had occasion. After his experiments were finished, he

presented to me a head which remained, and which I preserve in my

cabinet. It is impossible to detect the slightest trace of change in it.

3. I have preserved unaltered for three months, the head of a Bar, (a

species of Silurus,) weighing several pounds; this head has served for

dissection.

4. I have preserved leeches and other worms for several years, without

perceiving that they had lost any of the characters necessary for the

naturalist to know.

5. The same observation applies to the different organs of birds and

mammalia: the heads of pheasants plunged, feathers and all, into the

preservative liquor, after fifteen days of maceration, present the

red colour around the eye of as lively a shade as at the moment of

immersion.

I might multiply these examples, and produce several hundred trials

equally conclusive, made during the course of my experiments; but

as it could not result in any advantage to the reader, I forbear.

Besides, the use that Captain Durville has made of my liquor during his

scientific voyage, and the thousand proofs to which it is every day

subjected on the part of men, whom the study of natural history induces

to have recourse to it, will be the most faithful and sure confirmation.

In fine, I shall always be most happy to receive the observations,

remarks, and criticisms of those, who, with an interest for science,

may have occasion to point out to me any circumstances calculated

to modify the applications. Many, without doubt, may have escaped

me, and as I desire, above all things, to bring my processes to the

highest degree of perfection, I shall be thankful for any aid that

may contribute to this end. The following is the composition of the

liquids[S] which I employ for preserving the different pieces of normal

anatomy, pathological anatomy, and natural history.

[S] These liquids, which may be employed for the limited preservation

of fish destined to dissection, will not answer for their indefinite

preservation, but I shall have occasion, in my work on the

preservation of pathological anatomy, to indicate another process.

1. A solution of the simple sulphate of alumine, at six degrees; that

is to say, the solution of a killogram of this salt in six quarts of

water.

2. A solution of simple sulphate with water saturated with arsenious

acid:--five hundred scruples of arsenic to forty quarts of water;--six

quarts of this solution to one killogram of the simple sulphate.

3. Of the acetate of alumine at five degrees, saturated with arsenious

acid.

_Usage._--For fifteen days I cause the pieces to disgorge in the first

liquid; at the end of this period they are withdrawn and placed in the

bath of a second liquid, where they may remain for from three to five

months; finally, they are withdrawn and placed in a third liquid. It is

thus that I have preserved preparations for three or four years, which

the public is welcome to come and see.

It would be useless to recur here to dried preparations, having given

an example of them in the seventh chapter; nevertheless, as I then only

indicated the injection of acetate of alumine, without making any

observation, one of the results which I have attained by the simple

sulphate, reported now, will be a useful confirmation of the process

which I have given before. Distinguished men have examined the viscera

and vessels of a subject injected for six months, and we shall see how

satisfactory was the state of the organs after so long a period.

M. Professor Dumas, treating of the acetate of alumine in the lectures

which he gives in the Polytechnic School, was led to refer to the

application which I had successfully made of this salt, for the

preservation of bodies. He requested me to lend him some preparations

to show to the students of the school. I lost no time in sending him

several specimens; I added the first body which I had injected with the

solution of the simple sulphate at thirty degrees; it was the corpse

of a fœtus that had only lived fifteen days. Injected six months ago,

and abandoned to the air of my laboratory, this body had lost about

one-half of its water of composition; the feet, the hands, the ears,

were dried;--the face was covered with _byssus_,[16] but no trace of

decomposition evinced an approaching dissolution of the organs.

[16] These productions on the surface of dried preparations, not

covered with varnish, do not produce, it is true, putrid decomposition,

but they change, and tend to destroy them. I have experienced all the

inconvenience of this fact in embalming; after numerous trials I have

discovered a method of preventing it.

On the next lecture, Cazalis asked me in what state the vessels ought

to be found in this stage of the preservation. The subject, I remarked,

is at your disposal, and you can satisfy yourself. He then opened the

chest, placed the syphon in the aorta, and a fatty injection of about

three hundred scruples was forced into the arterial system.

The injection having cooled, the subject was opened; the intestines

were in a remarkable state of preservation, and the injection had

penetrated them, as well as the brain, which was found in a healthy

state. Finally, the brachial artery, followed in its divisions and

subdivisions to the palm of the hand, was seen to be injected. Since

this period, I often show this subject to persons who visit my

laboratory; it is immersed in the preservative liquor, and I can submit

it to the examination of anatomists, for whom facts only are important.

Observations of this nature prove that I have given to anatomists the

means of preservation which respond loudly to all the wants of the

science; and it ought further to be remarked, that my experiments have

been conducted under the most unfavourable circumstances. Indeed,

for the trial of all the substances which I supposed possessed of

preservative properties, I have chosen, as in the preceding case,

fœtuses, as subjects the most disposed to fall into putrefaction, as

in them animal matter is not completely formed, and they include a

considerable quantity of water of composition, much geline, and very

little muscular flesh. This method of proceeding has enabled me to

dispense with numerous attempts, and to avoid deception. The aspect of

fœtuses, and the intimate structure of their tissues vary little from

each other; but the difference, very trifling for these subjects, is

immense in men of advanced age; the temperament, and idiosyncrasy,

which display themselves later, establish a thousand degrees, a

thousand shades in the tendency to decomposition, and the subject which

cedes most rapidly to dissolving causes, is scarcely on a par with

new-born infants. This opinion, which can be established by facts, if

necessary, convinces me, independently of my experiments, that all

means proper for the preservation of infants, may, _a priori_, be

supposed an excellent process for the preservation of all animal bodies.

I possess in my cabinet a dozen of fœtuses, injected at different

periods with the acetate of alumine, or the simple sulphate, some

preserved in the liquid, others abandoned to the air: on these pieces

may be perceived the different phases, the various transformations

produced by time and chemical agents on animal matters. Some of these

subjects, prepared for more than a year, are in as favourable a state

for anatomical study as on the day of their death; others, submitted to

the action of the air, have become dried, and offer the appearance of

the mummy of the sands.

3.--_Embalming._

I have presented a history of embalming as complete as the nature of

the case would admit; as a historian, I have investigated those sources

most worthy of credit; I have collected all the documents of interest,

and have used them as occasion required; observations and criticisms

have lent their aid, either to enlighten or correct information, and

admitted opinions: I have, above all, endeavoured to confine myself to

scientific data. From the mummy of the sands to that obtained from the

deuto-chloride of mercury, these two extreme points of my endeavours,

this was the idea which prevailed, and directed the exposition of my

subject. I shall not depart from this method in order to make known my

work; I shall abstain from all conjecture on the duration of bodies

embalmed by my process; here, too, I confine myself to facts, and to

the deductions which are naturally derived from them.

I refer to the end of the sixth chapter for the advantages resulting

from my processes compared with all others, and I resume the subject

where I left it in the preceding chapter.

The acetate of alumine, and the simple sulphate, ought to be chosen

in preference to all other dried substances for the preservation

of bodies; these two salts can render to anatomists all desirable

services; but the study of their action ought to be extended further

for the purposes of the embalmer.

What happens, then, when a subject is injected with one of these

two salts? They remain exposed to the thermometric and hygrometric

variations of the air, and should undergo one of the following

transformations; or rather, submitted to the action of a dry and free

air, they rapidly dry; or preserved in a close and humid place, they

become emaciated, blackened, and covered with mouldiness, without,

however, experiencing putrid fermentation; they decompose like skin or

tanned leather enclosed in a humid place, or beneath the earth. These

transformations experienced by bodies thus prepared, were an obstacle

to the application of my process to embalming.

There remained for me, then, an ulterior series of observations in

order to prevent these unfavourable results.

_It was necessary to discover a method of preserving bodies always

fresh, with the appearance of sleep, in the state in which they exist

immediately after death. It was necessary that the preservation

should be indefinitely prolonged; that is to say, that the embalming

be such a one that it would allow a dead body to be preserved in all

its integrity, without mutilation, without incisions, and fit for

dissection at will at all possible epochs._

Have I fulfilled these conditions? Let the facts answer.

_First observation._--In the month of February, 1836, at the request of

Dr. Petigard, I embalmed the body of the son of M. Dupré, architect,

living in Cerisarie street, No. 13.

This child, aged about twelve years, was interred in the cemetery

of Père la Chaise. During the construction of the monument, which

the father caused to be erected to him, some of his friends excited

doubts as to the efficacy of my method of preservation. Wounded in his

affections, M. Dupré conceived suspicions which he communicated to Dr.

Petigard, expressing the desire for the exhumation of the body. He

advised me of this, but numerous occupations prevented me giving it

immediate attention; he attributed my delay to hesitation, to the fear

I had of seeing my promises made to the relatives contradicted, and,

as he has since avowed, expressed himself without reserve on my account.

Finally, the opening of the coffin was made in the month of July,

1837; when the unfortunate father, feeling revive all his grief at the

sight of his son, whom he found exactly in the state in which he was

at the moment of inhumation, regretting, besides, his suspicions of

me, embraced me with effusion, and gave me every proof of his lively

gratitude.

“Your hesitation,” he remarked, “made me fear that I had been deceived,

under which persuasion I have undoubtedly prejudiced several persons

against you, but I will repair the fault in telling the truth.” Here is

one fact which may appear of some value, and that which follows is none

the less conclusive.

_Second observation._--Dr. Oudet, surgeon dentist, died at Paris,

Dauphine street, was embalmed sixth March, 1837, after my process; his

body was deposited in a coffin of oak, without a lining of lead, and

placed, thus enclosed, in a clayey, humid soil. Three months after,

the exhumation was made, in presence of M. Prunier, commissary of

police for the quarter of the observatory, and of Dr. Petit. The body

was found in such a perfect state of preservation, that it astonished

the numerous persons present at the exhumation; all admitting that

the aspect of the defunct was exactly that of a man asleep: a

“procès-verbal” was drawn up on the spot, to prove the state of the

body. The following is a copy of it:

“I, the undersigned, Doctor of Medicine of the faculty of Paris,

certify, that on the sixth of March, 1837, M. Gannal embalmed, by his

process, the body of Oudet, senior, Doctor in Medicine, who lived No.

24 Dauphine street. This operation was performed in my presence, no

other opening being necessary than that in the carotid artery, and was

finished in less than half an hour.

“On the twenty-eighth of May following, the exhumation of the body was

made in my presence, that of M. Prunier, commissary of police, the

persons attached to the cemetery, and some spectators. The body, which

had remained three months in the earth, and in a coffin not lined with

lead, was in such a perfect state of preservation, that all present

declared that it resembled a man asleep.

Signed, H. Petit.”

It is, perhaps, unnecessary to refer here to the embalming which I

made at the request of Dr. Husson. I had to preserve the body of the

nephew of General Guilleminot, who died at the hotel de Bade, Helder

street. The mother requested that her son should be dressed in his

usual manner, and placed on a bed of repose as if asleep. He remained

fifteen days in this position before being enclosed in a coffin, to be

transported to the family sepulchre. I abstain from mentioning many

instances of exhumation made at my own request, because they need the

authenticity of character necessary to facts, from which are to be

drawn scientific results. Besides, it will always be easy, when any

scientific body or the authorities desire to assure themselves of the

efficacy of the means which I employ, to obtain an exhumation and

prove the state of the subjects thus prepared.

I preserve in my cabinet the body of an infant of ten years, embalmed

for more than eight months; the countenance of this subject, which

remains uncovered, has not experienced any alteration; his open eyes[T]

give his physiognomy the expression of astonishment often observed on

first awakening.

[T] The eyes have been replaced by artificial ones.--_Tr._

If such results can offer any consolation to families who lament a

painful loss, I have received my reward.

APPENDIX.

We propose to make a few general observations on the process of M.

Gannal, and add some remarks on anatomical preparations, in order to

make the present work more complete.

The perusal of this volume must convince any one that we are indebted

to M. Gannal for a real improvement in the progress of anatomical

science. But, as is generally the case with authors who urge a research

into any particular department of science with equal enthusiasm,

M. Gannal has, perhaps, overrated the extent and importance of his

discovery. The commissioners appointed by the Academy of Sciences, and

the Royal Academy of Medicine, have satisfactorily demonstrated the

great utility and novelty of M. G.’s process, in preserving bodies for

dissection without materially altering the organic tissues, or offering

any injury to the instruments of the dissector. And the museum of the

author contains numerous specimens, to show that subjects injected

by his process and dried, are capable of resisting destruction for

ages; but we did not observe any specimens during our examination of

them, which retained so close a resemblance to living nature, as his

accounts would lead us to believe, with the exception of those which

had been recently injected, and previous to the process of desiccation;

a process which always results unless the object is enveloped by a

preservative liquor, and thus adding considerably to the labour and

expense. Whilst the process of desiccation produces such contraction

and distortion in the subject, as to render the new method of embalming

ever inapplicable as a general means of accurately preserving birds and

quadrupeds as objects of zoological collections. But it might be made

an economical and expeditious method of preparing objects of natural

history during long voyages, as such objects could be subsequently

moistened and subjected to dissection. But desiccation does not

immediately follow preservation by this process; as was satisfactorily

exemplified in the person of the late Archbishop Quelin, who died

during our residence in Paris, and who was thus embalmed at his own

dying request, and whose body retained its natural appearance after

several weeks exposure to public view in the church of Notre Dame.

A more useful application of the process has also been made by the

police of Paris, in preserving bodies for many weeks in the morgue,

where suspicions of murder exacted an unusual retention of the body.

The specimens of pathological anatomy, preserved in the same liquid of

injection, were not exempt from the usual inconvenience attached to

similar preparations in a solution of muriate of soda and other salts,

being equally liable to incrustations, requiring a change or renewal of

the solution.

In the preservation of _birds_ by this process it was found sufficient

to inject the body by the trachea, subsequently suspending the animal

by the feet in order to drain it of the superabundant fluid, and then

giving it a fixed position by means of wires; such preparations retain

their flexibility and natural appearance for some weeks, or until

desiccation commences.

The powerful preservative properties of aluminous salts have been long

known, and were not unfrequently resorted to by the ancients. Some

remarkable instances of preservation by such a medium have accidentally

occurred in our own country, among which the following may be here

noticed. That distinguished officer of the American revolution,

General Wayne, died thirty or forty years ago at Erie, Pennsylvania,

and was buried in the vicinity of the lake; the body was not long

since disinterred and removed by his son, who was astonished to find

it in so perfect a state of preservation--and on examination it was

discovered to have been deposited in an argillaceous soil strongly

impregnated with a solution of alum.

Another interesting instance occurred many years since in the State

of Maine, where the body of a person, missing for several months, was

discovered in a clay pit, into which it had fallen, face downwards,

enveloped in moist clay; the features were recognisable, although the

parts of the body exposed to the air had long decayed to a skeleton.

Tho interesting and important subject of embalming, and of preserving

and preparing anatomical objects, though much improved of late, is by

no means exhausted. It has long been our desire to turn our attention

in a special manner to such researches, and to have instituted numerous

experiments, but imperative duties, and unexpected events, have

interfered with such views for the present--we are not without a hope,

however, that some one of our countrymen, more fortunately situated,

will push his discoveries in a direction which affords so admirable a

field for distinction.

The investigator might even be so fortunate as to discover the lost

secret of the Florentine Physician, _Segato_, for _petrifying_ animal

substances! The problem is by no means an unphilosophical one, nor yet

a chemical anomaly--it is only perfectly to saturate, by injection or

otherwise, animal substance with the silicate of potash, or liquor

of flints,--(_Verre Soluble, of Fuchs_,) and subsequently to immerse

it in a weak acid solution:--the “methodus operandi,” remains to be

discovered. (Consult _Dumas_, Traitè de Chimie, Vol. 2. p. 577, for an

interesting chapter on “Verre Soluble.”)

Bodies of men, horses, &c., have been preserved for centuries in the

bogs of Scotland and Ireland; it is to be presumed that these must have

been immersed when the temperature was low, as we have always failed

in attempting to preserve bodies in a saturated solution of gall nuts,

during warm weather but an injection of the vessels with the tincture

of galls has proved more successful.

We have already demonstrated by experiment that Tranchini’s arsenical

solution is inadequate as a means of embalming, (vide _Note_, p. 211 of

this volume.)

The mercurial corrosive sublimate, as a means of preserving from

corruption, in addition to the palpable objections to its use

designated by our author, exacts much time, labour, and expense,

and not unfrequently fails altogether, whether applied to animal or

vegetable substances.

The sulphate of copper, has more recently been proposed as a

preservative of vegetable matter, especially as applicable to the

blocks for paving streets; its properties as a preservative of animal

matters have long been recognised. We have read of human bodies found

in some parts of Germany, preserved entire for many years, by being

deposited in a soil strongly impregnated with this salt.

About the close of the year 1839, we read in the Medical Gazette, an

account of some experiments performed by Drs. Babington and Rees, with

the view of preserving human bodies, for the purposes of dissection.

After numerous unsuccessful trials with various antiseptic substances,

they succeeded to their entire satisfaction by simply injecting the

arteries of an adult with one gallon of pyroxilic spirits; of which

substance, (which must not be confounded with pyroligneous acid, or

pyro-acetic spirits,) a full account may be found in the “Annals of

Philosophy,” N. S. VIII, 69. According to the authors, the advantage

of employing Pyroxilic Spirits are--1. Its extreme fluidity. 2. Its

freedom from colour. 3. Its cheapness, being only one half the price of

alcohol. 4. Its innoccuous nature, and its freedom from any corrosive

action on dissecting instruments.

In the London Medical Gazette, for December, 1839, there is a memoir of

Dr. Thomas Marshall, on the same subject, who thinks he has discovered

a much cheaper and more effectual method--which consists in puncturing

the surface of the body very generally with needles or scissors, &c.,

and brushing over the body with acetic acid, specific gravity 1.048,

which must be brushed into it slowly and repeatedly, the same acid

slightly diluted with water, to be introduced into the great cavities.

This process, the author asserts, has not only preserved bodies

perfectly sweet for months; but is capable of restoring the natural

colour to parts already gangrenous.

To use the author’s own words, “two days’ application in this way,

will beautify any subject.” The face of a corpse thus punctured, and

supplied with compresses moistened with this acid, would be preserved,

or even restored to its natural appearance, when discoloured by

incipient putrefaction. John Hunter and other contemporaneous surgeons

were in the habit of using diluted nitric acid for this purpose, but

we have frequently seen this application fail, in our climate, when

puncturation was omitted.

Most beautiful specimens of _natural skeletons_ may be obtained by

employing _tadpoles_; the animal must be divested of its skin, and the

bones roughly cleaned of their flesh, and then suspended in water,

exposed to the depredations of the tadpoles, who delicately remove,

atom by atom, the softened flesh still adhering to the skeleton, by

means of their suction mouths, in the course of a few hours, during

warm weather; when the preparation is to be placed in position and

dried. The aid of the ant has also been successfully invoked for a

similar purpose. A small quadruped prepared as above, is placed in a

box, and deposited in the vicinity of an ant’s nest; these industrious

operatives rapidly remove the flesh from the bones.

As approaching the nearest to natural objects, we can securely

recommend the accurate anatomical preparations in _Carton_, of Dr.

Azoux, of Paris: the annual course of popular anatomy which he

delivers, and which we have had the satisfaction of attending, are

admirably and accurately illustrated by this means.

These preparations consist not only of every part of the human body,

but of entire subjects, both male and female, including the gravid

uterus. The only objection that can be urged against them, is the high

price, say six hundred dollars for the entire adult subject.

Equally valuable is the more recent invention of another Parisian

artist, of a material which he denominates “Carton pierreuse,” which

appears to be a composition of “papier maché” and ground plaster of

Paris, with which he executes anatomical models of great beauty and

accuracy, including innumerable pieces of morbid anatomy, coloured to

nature. Either of the above preparations are vastly superior to those

in wax; they are more durable and more natural.

The study of minute anatomy has been yet further essentially aided,

by the representations of the nerves, arteries, and veins of the head

and face, by means of wires enveloped in wax, coloured after nature;

these constitute very accurate and handsome preparations, and are the

ornament of anatomical museums, as manufactured by M. Guy, adjoining

the School of Medicine in Paris.

Preparations of the nerves and blood vessels of the entire subject,

distinct from the body, are made in a similar manner; fine specimens of

which are contained in the Museum of Comparative Anatomy in the Garden

of Plants. The endless variety and perfection of the preparations,

models, &c., as a means of prosecuting anatomical studies at the

present time, are strongly contrasted with those at the command of

the student in the days of Harvey; when the vessels and nerves were

imperfectly displayed with great labour and expense by the tedious

process of dissecting them from the body and drying them on a board.

Valuable specimens of these kinds of preparations from the cabinet of

Harvey, are still scrupulously preserved in the cabinet of the Royal

College of Physicians of London.

It will only be necessary to add here, a few formulæ for the various

kinds of injections used in the preparations of the blood vessels

by the American and English anatomists, which will be observed to

differ considerably from those used on the Continent, by reference

to chapter seventh of this volume, where will also be found formulæ

for the composition of varnishes: as regards the various methods of

manipulation requisite for the preparation of each particular part

of the body, these will be best obtained by the student’s personal

application to the anatomical instructor or assistant connected with

medical schools and teachers of practical anatomy.

We have found, by experience, that the great secret of success in

anatomical injections, consists in first heating the part, or subject,

thoroughly in hot water, the temperature of which, for an entire

subject must be continued for ten or twelve hours, or until the deepest

parts are equally heated; secondly, to take the precaution to reduce

the colouring matters to an impalpable powder, and use the injection at

as high a temperature as possible without injury to the tissues.

_Formulæ for coarse Injections._

_Red._--Yellow bees-wax, 16 ℥.

White resin, 9 ℥.

Turpentine varnish, 6 ℥.

Vermilion, or carmine, 3 ℥.

_Yellow._--The same materials, substituting for the

red colouring matter, King’s yellow, 2-1/2 ℥.

_Black._--Substituting lamp-black, 1 ℥.

_Green._--Substituting crystallized verdigris, 4-1/2 ℥.

Best flake white, 1-1/2 ℥.

Gamboge, 1 ℥.

_White._--Substituting fine white bees-wax, and

best flake white, 5-1/2 ℥.

_Pale blue._--The same, substituting fine blue smalt, 3-1/2 ℥.

_Dark blue._--Substituting blue verditer, 10-1/2 ℥.

First liquify the wax, resin, and turpentine varnish, over a slow

fire, in an earthen pot, then add the colouring matter, previously

mixing it in another pot, with a very small quantity of the liquified

composition, and stirring it well with a wooden pestle, so that the

colouring ingredients may be intimately and smoothly blended; then add,

by degrees, the whole of the ingredients, and when they have acquired

their due heat, by being placed again over the fire, the injection

will be ready for immediate use. A quantity of the ingredients of

these injections may be kept prepared without the colouring matters,

which may be added in their proper proportions, _pro re nata_. The

ingredients become brittle by frequent melting, and turpentine varnish

must be occasionally added. The same rules apply to the mixture of the

following:

_Formulæ for fine Injections._

_Red._--Brown spirit varnish, white spirit varnish, _a.a._ 4 ℥.

Turpentine varnish,* 1 ℥.

Vermilion, 1 ℥.

_Yellow._--The same, substituting King’s yellow, 1-1/4 ℥.

_White._--Substituting best flake white, 2 ℥.

_Light blue._--Substituting fine blue smalt, 1-1/2 ℥.

Best flake white, 1-1/4 ℥.

_Dark blue._--Substituting blue verditer, 4 ℥.

_Black._--Lamp-black, 1/2 ℥.

* The varnishes go by measure.

_Formulæ for Minute Injections._

The size which constitutes the principal part of these formulæ, is made

in the following manner:

Take the finest and most transparent glue, one pound, break it into

pieces about the size of a nutmeg; put it into an earthen pot, and

pour on it three pints of cold water, let it stand twenty-four hours,

stirring occasionally with a stick; then set it over a slow fire for

half an hour, or until the glue is perfectly dissolved; skim off the

froth from the surface and strain it through flannel; then add the

colouring ingredients.

_Red._--Size, one pint--Vermilion, 3-1/2 ℥.

_Yellow._ " " King’s yellow, 2-1/2 ℥.

_White._ " " Best flake white, 3-1/2 ℥.

_Blue._ " " Fine blue smalt, 6 ℥.

_Green._ " " Crystallized verdigris, 2 ℥.

" " Best flake white, gamboge, _a.a._ 8 ℈.

_Black._ " " Lamp-black, 1 ℥.

_Cold Injections._

Whilst pursuing practical anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania,

in the year 1814, under the direction of Professor Wistar, I became

acquainted with a material for many years known in that institution

under the denomination of “_Spalding’s Cold Injection_,”[U] used for

the purpose of filling the bloodvessels, without the preparatory

measure of heating the subject or the injection ingredients--its use

exacted great care on the part of the manipulator, and frequently

failed; although, when successful, it surpassed all other coarse

injections in minuteness. It was composed by grinding white lead and

red lead, of each 4 ℥, in a sufficient quantity of boiled linseed oil

to form a thick paste, adding, just previously to injecting, turpentine

varnish 8 ℥.

[U] Dr. Spalding was a native of Massachusetts, and a student of the

late Professor Rush, some thirty or forty years ago.

Dr. Parsons gives the following formulæ for cold injections. (_Vide

Parson’s Anatomical Preparations_, p. 2.)

“_Cold coarse Injections._--This kind consists of colouring matter

ground in boiled linseed oil upon a painter’s marble, and made of the

consistence of white lead, ground in oil. After being finely levigated,

a little lime water, in proportion of two table spoonsful to a pint, is

to be incorporated by stirring. At the moment of filling the syringe

with the injection, there should be added to it about one-third of its

measure of Venice turpentine, which should be stirred quickly, and used

immediately, as it very soon hardens. The use of the lime water is

to harden the injection; but when white lead (which is almost always

adulterated with carbonate of lime) is used, lime water is unnecessary.

“_Cold fine Injections._--The same materials will answer, only adding

to the Venice turpentine an equal quantity of spirits of turpentine.

This is generally thrown in the vessel in small quantities at first,

and followed by the above coarse injection.

“_Cold minute Injection._--This may be the same as the warm minute

injection; or it may consist of vermilion ground very fine in spirits

of turpentine, adding a small portion of Venice turpentine, the whole

being as fluid as milk, and when thrown in, should be followed by the

cold coarse injection.”

_Swan’s cold Injection._

This consists of plaster of Paris, to which some colouring matter has

been added, and water gradually poured on it until reduced to the

consistence of cream--taking care to cleanse the syringe immediately

after injecting. For making corroded preparations of the kidney, &c.,

the _fusible metal_ may be thrown into the artery, after heating the

organ (but not the artery) until it acquires the temperature of boiling

water--to be afterwards treated as directed in this volume.

A simple injection, adequate to all useful purposes, where it is only

intended to illustrate the bloodvessels, consists of tallow, melted and

coloured. Or the following, which is in general use in the Parisian

dissecting rooms: Lamp-black, ground in oil, adding the lime water and

turpentine as above mentioned in the cold coarse injection.

It is difficult, at the present time, to ascertain to whom anatomy is

justly indebted for the discovery and first introduction of arterial

injections, &c. The first use of wax injections has been attributed to

Swammerdam, in 1672, although it is probable that De Bils and Ruysch

preceded him. The Sieur Disenclosses possessed a cabinet furnished

with over one hundred pieces, many consisting of injected vessels, a

description of which was _published_ in 1727, but the collection must

have existed many years previously.

Corroded preparations have been attributed to Francis Nichols,

Professor of Anatomy, at Oxford, about the beginning of last century;

size injections to Rouhaut, surgeon to the King of Sardinia; the

fusible metal, to Homberg, of Paris, (this metal is composed of an

equal proportion of tin, bismuth, and brass,) who used a pneumatic

apparatus for forcing it into the vessels; the origin of Spalding’s

cold injections has more recently been attributed to Mr. Allan Ramsay,

a Scotch anatomist. (_Vide Horner’s Practical Anatomy_, p. xviii,

_Introduction_.)

_Mercurial Injections._

These exact great skill and care in the operator. It requires an

iron tube with a finely drawn glass pipe attached, supplied with a

stop-cock--they are chiefly used for filling the lymphatics: the pipe

must be introduced into these vessels at numerous points most distant

from the heart, and these successively charged with the quicksilver.

The lymphatic vessels of the liver, the parotid glands, the vesiculæ

seminales, the testicles, the mesentery of the tortoise, the

lactiferous ducts of the mammæ, the kidneys of a cat, &c., form the

best objects for a successful display of this kind of injection.

The hand of an emaciated individual may be readily injected, both

arteries and veins, by fixing the pipe in the radial artery. The

vessels are very apt to rupture during this operation, when it had been

the custom to throw away the preparation as spoiled. But this accident

we have found very readily remedied, by simply touching the ruptured

vessel with a red hot wire, when, by the contraction of tonicity, the

effusion of the quicksilver is suppressed. After the injection has been

completed, the hand must be macerated in water, frequently changed,

until the blood and cuticle are removed, when it may be dried and

varnished, or suspended in spirits of turpentine.

We have seen admirable preparations in possession of Professor

Flourens, in the Museum of the Jardin des Plantes, illustrating

the vascular connection between mother and fœtus, by means of both

quicksilver and size injections, passed both from the fœtal vessels

to those of the uterus, and _vice versa_; a species of connection

said to exist in all animals possessed of a simple placenta, and not

cotyledinous.

Various other minute particulars connected with anatomical preparations

in all its branches, will be found fully detailed in the present volume.

Spelling corrections:

advantagous —> advantageous

alcholic —> alcoholic

ammmoniac —> ammoniac

particulary —> particularly

amomum —> ammomum

areometre —> areometer

bitument —> bitumen

Bucherie —> Boucherie

cemetry —> cemetery

commisioners —> commissioners

concieved —> conceived

decended —> descended

develope —> develop

developes —> develops

disssect —> dissect

eight —> eighth

forgotton —> forgotten

form —> from

futher —> further

Gentain —> Gentian

genuis —> genius

have —> has

hydrometric —> hygrometric

imputresible —> imputrescible

inteterest —> inteterest

Marcellni —> Marcellini

metalic —> metallic

Michle —> Michel

necsssary —> necessary

no —> not

pavillions —> pavilions

peice —> piece

perservation —> preservation

perserve —> preserve

preservaiion —> preservation

principle —> principal

processess —> processes

puberized —> pulverized

putred —> putrid

quanity —> quantity

recal —> recall

recepticle —> receptacle

regoine —> regione

retured —> returned

roposed —> proposed

servicable —> serviceable

temparature —> temperature

themometer —> thermometer

trupentine —> turpentine

visable —> visible

32° —> 42°

Some spelling variations:

&c./etc.

anything/any thing

bloodvessels/blood-vessels/blood vessels

everything/every thing

juniperberry/juniper-berry

kommi/commi

sepultures/sepulchres

sowed/sewed

sown/sewn

verdegris/verdigris

vermillion/vermilion