Anatomy and Embalming: A Treatise on the Science and Art of Embalming, the Latest and Most Successful Methods of Treatment and the General Anatomy Relating to this SubjectNunnamaker, Albert John
Science
Anatomy and Embalming: A Treatise on the Science and Art of Embalming, the Latest and Most Successful Methods of Treatment and the General Anatomy Relating to this Subject
Nunnamaker, Albert John
Embalming
Discoloration of the skin and conjunctiva occurs. The yellow tinge
begins in the eyes, forehead, and neck, gradually extending over
the body, the color being the deepest in the wrinkles and folds of
the skin. The color is generally of a lemon hue, becoming darker and
assuming a bronze or greenish tint as the hepatic lesion assumes a
graver character.
=Infantile Jaundice.=—_Etiology._—It is not known positively what
causes give rise to temporary jaundice in the new-born. Some say it
is due to a reduction of blood pressure in the hepatic capillaries,
while others say it is due to a stasis in the smaller bile ducts,
which are compressed by the distended radicles of the portal vein. The
severe form may be due to congenital closure or absence of the common
or hepatic duct, to hepatic syphilis of congenital form, or to septic
infection due to phlebitis of the umbilical vein.
In the child the skin becomes a yellowish hue of various shades. In the
severe form the hue increases in intensity, the skin assuming a bronze
or yellowish-green color. The abdomen becomes full and tumid, owing to
the congestion of the liver and spleen. When due to syphilis, there is
usually skin eruption.
=Malignant Jaundice.=—_Synonyms._—Acute Yellow Atrophy of the Liver.
_Definition._—A grave form of jaundice characterized by neurosis of the
hepatic cells and atrophy of the liver.
_Pathology._—The liver shows marked atrophy, being not more than
two-thirds or one-half of the normal size, is thin, flabby. On making a
section a yellow or a reddish yellow surface is presented. The hepatic
cells are found in every stage of necrosis. Most of the organs are bile
stained, as well as the skin, and hemorrhages are frequent.
_Treatment for Jaundice._—Since the conditions are similar and since
the conditions after death are identical in reference to pigmentation,
we will consider the treatment of infantile, malignant, and catarrhal
jaundice under one head.
The pigmentation of the skin, no matter how small, is the condition
which presents itself most forcefully, and is the most annoying to the
embalmer. Much study has been given to the subject, but with little
success. It is claimed by some that certain fluids will bleach and
bring out the natural color.
A small amount of bile is sufficient to tint the surface of the body.
Bile is composed of salts, fats, organic matter, acids, and also
coloring matter, called the bile pigments. Bilirubin is the principal
coloring matter, and when dissolved in alkali, forms, when coming in
contact with the air and also in the dead body, a green precipitate
known as biliverdin. The bile pigments in the blood are carried with
the serum from the capillaries to the tissues, being deposited in the
internal coat or deep layer of the epidermis as well as the papillary
of the dermis. The amount deposited regulates the extent of the
pigmentation.
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