The following are very good antiseptics and deodorizing agents:
Chloride of zinc, corrosive sublimate, hyposulphite, oxymuriate of
mercury, carbolic acid, bicarbonate of potassa, aqueous solution of
alumina. The two latter may be rendered more subservient by combining
them with the higher oxides. The metallic salts are much the best for
chemical embalming, if properly used. The remains of drowned persons
may be prepared in the manner as above, with no small degree of
success, as giving vent to the gases and freely applying antiseptics
and deodorizing agents will readily correct, to a great extent, the
difficulties thus encountered by this process. We have removed the
most destructive fluids, or effected a combination with them, thus
preventing the fermenting process and dispersing the gases, rendering
the body absolutely free from those disagreeable and noxious
odors which are termed phosphuretted and sulphuretted hydrogen
gases, as well as low types or germs of disease, while the life’s
characteristics in this state of preservation invariably present a
most pleasant appearance, allaying all natural repugnance to the
dead, as they seem so natural and life-like, and remain in this
state of preservation for a great length of time, either in transit
or various changes of atmosphere, while this manner of operation is
simple and without complication, affording appropriate means that
undertakers may apply successfully and save themselves annoyance,
time, labor and expense, by a little practice and observing closely
the directions herein given.
The enlightenment of the public demands more attention to these
important matters, as there is no necessity for the untimely and
indecent burial of the loved but unfortunate victims of mortality,
when due observance is given to the progress of art in modern
science. To successfully retain the dead for such a period of time as
will enable the bereaved friends to make such arrangements for burial
as the occasion may require, without the necessity of mutilating
or eviscerating in the horrible manner that has been practised in
many instances, has been the design of the writer, who has devoted
much time in the work, and hopes, with the aid of others, in the no
distant future, to make such additional suggestions and contributions
as will practically apply to the wants of the profession, as well as
meet the approbation of a grateful public.
Scientific research has defined and established those fixed laws of
nature with that precision whereby organic matters may be traced
to their simple elements. We will herein endeavor to very briefly
trace, as far as possible, the chemical changes that are observed
in dead animal matter. We assert that in the majority of cases
(with a given temperature maintained), the first described subject
will be the first to become an uncontrollable mass from the agents
of putrefaction; first, simply by the abundance of those fluids
contained in subjects that immediately become active agents of
dissolution, while such agents have been completely exhausted by the
disease of the second.
The apparent healthy condition of the flesh after death is produced
by the favorable temperature that is maintained, dryness of the
atmosphere, etc., together with the general favorable conditions
of the subject, which will render the preservation of such remains
quite perfect, in some instances for a surprisingly long time. It is
shown that disease of long standing completely exhausts the vital
fluids before death, especially when the functions of the body have
failed to produce the necessary nutrition. Thus it will be observed
that the process of decomposition is very different than when the
system is full of albumenoids and watery fluids, notwithstanding the
tissues may have been seized upon by putridity before death. With
consumptives, the disease reduces the flesh to dry parchment, or
nearly so, leaving but a very small portion of water in the system.
Hence, as putrefaction is impossible in the absence of moisture,
and the active agent, albumen, equally reduced, decomposition of
such substances that remain ensues only by a process of decay,
slow combustion or oxidation, the slowly uniting of oxygen with
the substance. In this the constituent parts of the animal tissues
break up into simpler compounds by the chemical changes that nature
produces, and differs from other forms of putrefaction only by the
length of time employed. In cases like typhoid fever, the flesh,
after death, assumes more of a putrid and sloughing condition, as
the fluids are not so completely exhausted as in the former disease,
thus leaving more of the active agents in the body for its immediate
destruction.
When death is the result of a putrid malady, putrefaction begins
almost immediately when the body grows cold; its effects are
noticeable much sooner when the atmosphere is warm. In general, in
our climate, the work of decomposition becomes evident after from
thirty-five to forty hours. Its first effects are noticeable on the
skin of the stomach; this takes on a greenish discoloration, which
soon spreads and covers the whole surface of the body; at the same
time everything is seized upon by what is termed putridity; the moist
parts soften and decay; little by little the flesh sinks and grows
watery, and is thus carried away or burned up by the air’s oxygen.
And now, dear reader, we would impress your mind with the fact that
the moment of the appearance of putrefaction absolutely varies with
the degree of outward temperature, the causes of death, and the
general condition of the remains, and just in accordance to the
quantity of fluids remaining in the system. The degree of difficulty
in retaining the life’s characteristics are encountered, first,
because of the albumenoids, the active agents of putrefaction;
second, the large per cent. of water they contain; hence we have
the necessary mobility of putrefaction, and the very substances
that are most prone to the active ferments, united with the agents
of disorganization, vibrois and bacteria, or rather the germs of
those thread-like corpuscles which penetrate the skin and wind their
way through the ducts into the vessels of circulation, which seem
to conduct the rabid element to every structure. The living germs
that collect on the surface of the body and in the digestive canal,
develope, multiply, pierce into all the points of the organism, and
produce in it a complete separation of all the tissues and humors.
When persons have been killed suddenly, there being no disease to
tamper with the functions of the body, the process of nutrition would
be complete until the very moment the vitality is removed; hence
the supply of fuel for this fire of dissolution. The corruption of
these animal matters is not more possible than the fermentive action
of gluten in grape juice, and precisely the same. When these animal
matters maintain a high temperature, the products formed are said to
be destructive distillation.
Many cases are recorded of similar stages of decomposition, which is
an apparent spontaneous combustion, renewing the normal temperature
of life, many times giving flushness to the cheeks, and thus
appearing to have life renewed, notwithstanding the body had been
cold for many hours previous to this phenomenon taking place, the
result of a peculiar chemical action. But these instances seldom
or never occur, while the difficulty encountered is in completely
reducing the heat from the bodies of those persons killed by
accident, which fact renders the successful preservation of such
remains for any length of time utterly impossible, as the fetid gases
are evolved in such great abundance as to literally cook the flesh
and escape into the air. Developed in the cadaverous odor, a pungent
and ammoniacal stench, except there be prompt application of some
powerful chemical reagent, with which the organized material may
enter into combination and thus overcome the delivellant tendencies
of the affinities of its elements. If ice is used and the temperature
of the body reduced below 32°, the water in the system is frozen,
which acts as if the tissues had been dried, and putrefaction is thus
arrested for such time as the proper temperature is maintained.