In some instances, when the body is that of a stout, fleshy person, or especially when some length of time has elapsed from the time of death until the undertaker has been called in, and particularly if the body has been reclining in a horizontal position, the face, neck and shoulders, will be found highly congested with blood; the face, in fact, may be swelled and of a purple appearance, owing to the extravasation of blood into the capillary vessels under the skin. In such cases, and after the body has been removed and placed into a proper position on the cooling board, if the blood is not carried to some lower part of the body by its own gravitation, it may be found necessary to cut into the jugular veins on either side of the neck, an incision about one quarter of an inch in length; through this opening the congested blood may be let out, and the face will soon recover its original color. This process, which occupies about twenty minutes, will be found preferable to the use of ice, especially when the corpse is at some distance from the undertaker’s place of business; or when it would be almost impracticable to carry a large and cumbrous ice box, besides the labor and bustle occasioned in the house of mourning by the carrying in and out of the box, ice, etc. It is also well understood that this process can not be applied where the corpse is that of a person who has died of some contagious or infectious disease. Besides the danger to the operator in this case, it is not customary to retain for any length of time the remains of those who may have died from the effects of an epidemic. To the solution for injecting, as given above, must be added one ounce of creosote to the gallon of liquid, when the preparation is to be used in warm weather. STATE OF THE BODY AFTER DEATH. As the object of this book is to give, not only the best modes of preserving and embalming bodies, but also to make comprehensive to our professionals the _modus operandi_, it is a most important matter to them that the different conditions of a body, as influenced by the cause of death, should be made a study of, and fully understood, before proceeding any farther. These different circumstances may so influence the state of the body, that the process of embalming, as given hereafter and as usually practiced, may not be successful. I repeat an assertion already made, that one body having been treated successfully in a certain manner, yet the same method may fail in another case. Although the same chemicals may have been used in both instances, and given full satisfaction in the first, they failed to accomplish their object in the last.