CHAPTER II.
EMBALMING FROM EGYPTIANS DOWN TO CIVIL WAR.
Here facts are almost entirely wanting and the history of the art we are studying, can only be followed in the recitals of historians, to control whose veracity we have no longer those monuments which Egypt offers us in such great numbers. Among the Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, and all modern nations, we see the honors of embalming accorded to Kings, Princes and men of distinction, but no tomb that has been opened, has rendered a single mummy so perfect, as those which we admire among the Egyptians.
=Jews.=—The Jewish people, who, like others, testified their respect for the dead, never admit the care of embalming the body as a common usage. Thus Abraham purchased the field where Sarah was buried; Joseph had the body of his father magnificently embalmed; Moses only carried away the bones of Joseph; David praised the people of Gilead, for having buried with pomp Saul and his sons, etc. In most of these examples, no mention is made of embalming; nevertheless, the body of Jesus Christ was embalmed. It is written that Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple, and Nicodemus, ministered unto him, after the crucifixion, and that 100 lbs. of myrrh and aloes were used. In this action the greatest secrecy had been observed, for “when the Sabbath was over, very early on the first day of the next week, came the faithful women who had loved him, with spices and ointment they had prepared where with to annoint him, not knowing that, already, this loving service had been performed by the hand of pious affection.”
The following is nearly the method used by the Jews: Each sex took care of its dead; they first of all, close the mouth and eyes of the exposed person, afterward they washed the body and then rubbed it with perfumes, tied it with bands, and then bandaged it in several cloths of very fine linen or woolen; and finally, they put it into the sepulture. It is thought that the myrrh and aloes which they employed had very little virtue to resist putrefaction, and that the great quantities of aromatics which they consumed, was rather for pomp, than for the long preservation of the subject. They took no pains to dry the body; they did not take away the intestines, and in spite of all these odoriferous drugs, decomposition must have soon revealed itself as was testified by the body of Lazarus when resurrected.
=Persians.=—Neither did the Persians possess a very great knowledge of preservation. Cyrus, King of Persia, said to his children: “when I have ceased to live, place my body neither in silver nor in gold, nor in any other coffin, but return it immediately to the earth, etc.” It will be perceived that Cyrus, in forbidding that any care should be taken with his body, does not allude to embalming, which, of all other means, would have been the most efficient in preventing its elements from returning to the Common Mother.
=Babylonians.=—The Babylonians, anointed the bodies of their dead with honey, after which, they were immersed in the same substance. It is highly improbable that this process was successful for long time preservation, for the preservative power of honey was only equal to its ability to keep the air from the body.
=Scythians.=—The Scythians coated the bodies of their dead with wax. This process could not have been successful excepting to retard decomposition through shutting off all communication between the body and the air.
=Ethiopians.=—The Ethiopians coated the bodies of their dead with waxy covering called parget. The same comment given on the Babylonian and Scythian processes must also be used here.
=Romans.=—The disposition of the dead among the Romans embraced the following treatment: the deceased was first washed with hot water varied with oil, at intervals, for seven days; was dressed and embalmed with the performance of a variety of singular ceremonies. Cremation was then the means of ultimate disposal of the dead, the ashes being gathered and placed in urns and then the urns, in turn, were placed in tombs.
=Greeks.=—Homer describes cremation, as an honorable mode of sepulture practiced in the heroic ages. Later from their many conquests, the Greeks acquired the art of embalming patterned after the Arabian and Assyrian-Persian methods, of which we have no record.
=Norsemen.=—It appears from the sages that a form of cremation was used by the early Norsemen, who used to place the viking in his ship and send him “flaming out to sea.” Later it became the custom to place him, with all his belongings, in his vessel set on an even keel, and entomb him beneath a mound of earth.
=Hindoos.=—Suttee (from Sati-a virtuous wife), an Indian custom, involving the burning of widows on the same funeral pyre as the husband, was the rule until 1829 A. D.
=French and Belgians.=—Paleolithic cave dwellers of France and Belgium buried their dead in natural caves or crevices, like those in which they lived. Later stone-age people throughout Europe buried in chambered barrows or cairns. Bronze age people buried in unchambered barrows or in cemeteries of stone cists set in the ground often on a natural eminence, and surrounded by circles of standing stones. The cist was formed of a double row of stones covered with rude stone slabs.
=Britains.=—Neolithic tribes in Britain buried either in caves or in chambered tombs, probably representing the huts of the living. Some of these barrows are very elaborate and massive; that of West Kennett is said to be 350 feet long. The dead were buried in the British tombs as they died, or in a contracted posture, probably due to their habit of sleeping in this position, and not at full length on a bed. Many cleft skulls are found in these tombs, suggesting human sacrifice, which as Caesar tells us, was prevalent among the Gauls. The bronze age usages were divided between burying and cremation. In burying, the contracted posture was followed. In cremation, the body was placed in a coffin made of the hollow trunk of an oak, split in two. In cremation, the ashes were collected in a funeral urn, twelve to eighteen inches high and were placed in a chamber. Articles of daily use were thrown into the fire.
=Peruvians.=—The aborigines of the western continent were familiar with embalming. Prescott's “Conquest of Peru” tells that the royal “Incas” of Peru, were preserved by some process which did not give evidence of an external application. These bodies were then secreted under mounds of earth and in the interior of the temples. Prescott presents highly interesting pictures of these embalmed Peruvian monarchs sitting “natural as life,” in the chairs of the temples of the sun, at Cusco. They were clothed as in life, the raven black hair on their heads was still unchanged, and their hands were crossed upon their bosoms in the grim dignity of death.
=Aztecs.=—The Aztecs, who were highly civilized, and were one of the most interesting and powerful tribes of early America, inhabited Mexico. The Aztecs were conquered by Cortez in 1519. Their history has been traced back to the twelfth century. The bodies of their dead, especially of those who could claim royal descent, were embalmed. It is related in Aztec legends how, after the deluge, seven persons came forth from the tomb to which their mummified bodies had been committed, and, in renewed existence, repeopled the earth.
=North American Indians.=—Even our own North American Indians knew the art of embalming. Mummies remarkably well preserved have been found among the Flat Heads, Dakotas and Chinooks; and the Florida and Virginia Indians preserved the bodies of their Kings in the same way. The Kentucky caves have given up some remarkable specimens of this kind. The bodies of a woman and child were, in 1899, found in a cave in the Yosemite valley, and which, on account of its size (six feet and eight inches), some authorities believe to be a relic of the lost tribe of the stone age, possibly antedating the Christian era 3,000 years.
=Early Christians.=—For a time the early Christians embalmed the bodies of their dead, using these forms with which they were familiar in Palestine. After a time, however, they gave up the practice. It has been said that they feared by the continuation of the process to cast discredit upon the power of God to call together the scattered dust of the body which had returned to its native element, and present it, like unto Christ's own glorious body, on the morning of the resurrection. No word spoken by Jesus, would indicate that he disapproved of methods, with which he as a Jew was familiar, to preserve the body from decay. During the first four centuries of the Christian era, the catacombs at Rome were used for burial. These catacombs consist of subterranean excavations, long horizontal passages with recesses on either side, arrayed in tiers for the reception of bodies, closed in by slabs bearing inscriptions and emblems of the faith.
=Later European Embalming.=—After the previous discussion of the care of the dead affecting prehistoric as well as the earliest historic usages, we are brought forward to the seventeenth century. All embalming processes of the earlier days having been forgotten during the dark ages. The slow but sure development of the medical profession having manifested a dire necessity for the preservation of anatomical material, this necessity was first met by Dr. Frederick Ruysch, who occupied the chair of anatomy at Amsterdam, Holland, during the close of the seventeenth and early years of the eighteenth century (1665-1717).
Dr. Ruysch was probably the first to practice a successful system of arterial injection, in order that his anatomical specimens might resist the processes of decay. The reader should understand that embalming as a convenient process for preserving human dead bodies for funeral purposes had not been thought of at this time, and the principal interest in embalming was for its successful preservation of anatomical specimens. The method followed by Dr. Ruysch, was first an arterial injection, then allowing the diffusion of the fluid for some hours, after which, he proceeded to open the body as in making a postmortem examination, removing the viscera, cleaning them and replacing them surrounded with a preservative solution. Dr. Ruysch died, leaving his secrets buried with him, and they were lost to science.
Dr. William Hunter, an eminent Scottish physician, anatomist and physiologist of the eighteenth century (1718-1783) is given credit by many as being the original inventor of the injection system, for he published his plan of injection in minute detail, so that science might benefit thereby. The artery usually selected by Dr. Hunter was the femoral and his solution was composed of oil of turpentine five pints; Venice turpentine, one pint; oil of lavender, two fluid ounces; oil of rosemary, two fluid ounces; and vermillion. This was forced into the vessel until it reached over the whole body, giving the skin a general reddish appearance. As in Dr. Ruysch's method, the body was left untouched for a time, and was then opened, the viscera being treated and placed back again. After treating the exterior of the body in some cases, a coffin was prepared and the body was placed on a bed of dry plaster of paris in order that desiccation might set in. The body was then left for four years and if dryness had not set in by that time, was placed upon another bed of plaster of paris. Some of Hunter's specimens are to be seen today in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, London.
Dr. John Hunter, a younger brother of William, was also very active in experimentation along these lines, and his work was little less renowned along the same lines. The Hunterian method was used for years by English anatomists with little if any alteration.
M. Boudet, attempted to use the Egyptian form of procedure in embalming, using as preservative agents corrosive sublimate, tan, salt, asphalt, Peruvian bark, camphor, cinnamon, and other aromatics. He completely enveloped the body in bandages, varnish being coated over the body and cavities and outer bandages.
M. Franchini, injected the common carotid artery with a solution made up of eight decigrams of arsenious acid, combined with a small quantity of cinnabar, dissolved in nine kilograms of spirits of wine. By this method bodies could be kept odorless and natural in color for sixty days, after which desiccation set in.
Jean Nicholas Gannal, and his son Dr. Gannal of Paris, injected chloride of alumina with success, J. N. Gannal, had previously, a formula containing arsenic, which the French Government compelled him to discontinue by prohibiting the sale of the arsenic. In addition to the above treatment the body was placed in a lead coffin and four or five litres of various essences were poured over the body and the casket was soldered. In this way preservation was said to be indefinite.
M. Sucquet, injected a solution of chloride of zinc arterially, and in one body which was taken up after being buried 14 months achieved remarkable success, the incident being the result of a contest between M. Gannal, M. Dupre, and M. Sucquet. This led to the use of the zinc salts in fluid, not only in Europe but in this country as well.
M. Falcony, desiccated the body in a mixture which was composed of saw dust and powdered zinc sulphate. Bodies so preserved remained flexible for about forty days, after which they dried up, although still retaining their natural color.
Franciolli, used arsenic acid, four ounces; carbonate of potash, two ounces; powdered alum, eight ounces. He completely eviscerated the body and then injected it in all directions, afterwards replacing the organs and surrounding them with liquid preparation composed of corn starch, water, alcohol, and corrosive sublimate, which after hardening, would prevent the sinking of the parts.
Many processes are noted in the various histories of the art, all using the arterial injection, which by this time had become universally accepted as the only true way of reaching the body tissues completely. The reader has noted absolutely nothing as to embalming being the most convenient process for funeral purposes. This is left to the following matter which begins with the embalming done by Dr. Thomas Holmes during the civil war (1861-1865 A. D.)