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._