History of Embalming: and of Preparations in Anatomy, Pathology, and Natural History; Including an Account of a New Process for EmbalmingGannal, J.-N. (Jean-Nicolas)
History
History of Embalming: and of Preparations in Anatomy, Pathology, and Natural History; Including an Account of a New Process for Embalming
Gannal, J.-N. (Jean-Nicolas)
Anatomical specimens -- Collection and preservation; Embalming -- History; Mummies
“Dissolve four pounds of muriate of soda and a pound of alum in ten
pints of water: the articulation, which has been carefully dissected,
must be allowed to macerate fifteen or twenty days in this lie; paying
attention to move it frequently in the solution, to press and twist
its ligaments, and, above all, to strike it lightly with a little mace
of light wood. These manœuvres are intended to render them pliable, to
separate the fibres, which permits the salts to penetrate more easily.
Withdraw the articulation from the solution, dry it for four or five
days, taking care to move it occasionally, and still to strike it with
the little mace; then put the articulation into a very concentrated
solution of soap, (a pound to three pints of water,) handle, and strike
it again for seven or eight days, the time necessary for divesting it
of salt, and permitting the soap to penetrate the ligamentous fibres,
to take the place of the salts. At the end of this time, that is to
say, thirty-six or forty days after the commencement of the operation,
wash the articulation in a weak lie of carbonate of soda, (an ounce to
two pounds of water,) after which it is to be dried.
“By this process, which may be modified in various ways, ligament
may be obtained perfectly supple, of a yellowish or grayish colour,
resembling chamois leather, very resisting, and permitting the joints
to execute their ordinary movements.
“I have prepared, in this manner, the articulations of the shoulder, of
the knee, of the fingers, and of the vertebral column. I repeated my
experiments with the intention of obtaining a more expeditious method.
“The articulations may also be preserved perfectly supple, by keeping
them immersed in a mixture of equal parts of olive oil and essence of
turpentine.
“2. _Osseous tissue._--The different preparations to which bones are
subjected in order to preserve them, are maceration or ebullition, and
then bleaching.
“_Maceration._--When it is desired to obtain the bones very white,
it is necessary to choose, as far as possible, a thin or infiltrated
corpse, of an individual of from thirty to forty-five years, or
thereabouts, dead of some chronic disease which has not altered the
structure of the bones. Consumptive bodies are the most proper for
this kind of preparation. The subject being chosen, it is roughly
stripped of its muscles and periosteum; the sternum is to be detached
by dividing the costal cartilages where they join the ribs; the members
are to be separated from the trunk, in order that these various parts
may be more conveniently placed in a trough, which is to be filled with
water, and disposed in some place where the putrid emanations cannot
produce any inconvenience; the bones must be constantly kept covered
with water, which must be renewed every four or five days in the
commencement, and at more prolonged intervals towards the end of the
maceration.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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