Part 10

Some parties will consider it a mark of good taste to have but a few elegant and well chosen gold or silver trimmings, while others would consider a superfluity of these as needful to the complete decoration of the casket. This part of the business must be well understood by the undertaker, and it requires a certain amount of tact to pamper successfully to the taste of the different parties he may be called upon to serve.

The remains, after being placed in the coffin a few hours previous to the time of the funeral, do not require much of his attention, but he is expected to be on hand at the specified time. As the hearse and carriages arrive at the house of mourning and take the places allotted to them without confusion or unnecessary noise, the undertaker will see that each carriage driver has his place assigned in the _cortège_ and observes the directions given him.

The assistant stands ready to receive the casket and help the pall bearers in placing it properly in the hearse; he will also see that each carriage approaches in time and receives the occupants, as his employer may direct. Should the religious ceremonies be performed in the house of the deceased, his duties will end there until the cemetery is reached; should, however, the services be performed at some public place of worship, it will be his duty to precede the arrival of the procession, to see that everything is in readiness, to give timely warning to the sexton, and to assist in removing the casket from the hearse; also in preserving order in the loading and unloading of carriages; while the undertaker takes the lead in the carrying of the remains into the church, and will see that the casket is laid up with proper care at the place appointed.

The undertaker is expected to occupy a position not far remote from the officiating clergyman, so as to be within hearing of the latter should it be necessary for him to request some service or make some inquiries.

The funeral services over, the undertaker is expected to lead the march out of the church, preceding the casket bearers, but following the minister, who, in many instances, will walk at the head as far as the door.

The assistant will be found ready to assist in placing the casket in the hearse, as before mentioned, and will also have the carriages move up in the right order, open and close the carriage doors, while the undertaker ushers the occupants into the vehicles.

The undertaker may also require the services of an assistant at the grave, but this will depend in great measure upon the nature of the funeral itself, whether it be of a certain magnitude, or if it be one of less importance.

This brief elucidation of the duties of an undertaker in the discharge of his functions is not given as a general rule to be strictly adhered to without any exception, but merely as a ground plan to work upon, and to be subject to different modifications, as circumstances may require.

One undisputable fact is, that in the general management of a funeral pageant, and for the better and more systematic working of the details, especially if the funeral is one on a large scale, the services of a well trained assistant will be found almost indispensable to the undertaker, and will be conducive of the happiest results in securing perfect system, dispatch; and also in preventing delays and mistakes, which might otherwise happen where the responsibility and the smooth working of the whole rests upon one man.

The laying out, washing, dressing, etc., of a corpse, under any and every circumstance, ought to be so systematized and arranged, that either the undertaker or his assistant may be able to perform these duties alone and singly, with ease and promptness, should circumstances so require.

As the undertaker is supposed to understand the wants required by different cases, it will be his duty, so soon as he is acquainted with the nature of the cause of death, to take such steps as his experience will suggest, as regards the safety of those who may trust him with the care of properly disposing of the remains.

Should the disease be of a contagious or infectious character, it will be incumbent upon the undertaker to see that perfect ventilation be established in the chamber where the body lies; that all cloths which are removed from the corpse be disposed of in a cautious manner; that the bed-clothes be either carried immediately out of the room and exposed outside to the light and heat of the sun, or be burned up, if the character of the disease be so dangerous as to require it.

He will see that proper means of disinfecting the house be used, so as to a great extent neutralize, if not completely destroy, the germ of the epidemic.

A good preparation to combat noxious and poisonous miasma, besides the other disinfecting liquids which have been enumerated in previous chapters, consists of the following:

Nitrate of potash (saltpetre), 6 ounces. Water, 2 quarts. Sulphuric acid, 4 ounces.

Dissolve the nitrate of potash in the water. If the water be moderately warm it will dissolve quicker. For this purpose use a large _china_ wash bowl (no metallic vessel), which must hold at least twice the amount of the solution, or about one gallon. When the solution is completed, gradually pour into it the sulphuric acid; it will effervesce, and care must be taken not to let any of it fall on the carpet, as it will not only destroy the color but also the texture of the fabric; the effervescence will, however, soon subside, and the foul effluvia of the room will soon lose its offensive odor.

This fumigation has been successfully employed in Southern cities, in times of severe epidemics.

Although it may be questioned by some whether or no these measures come within the sphere of the undertaker’s duties, it is by no means a reason why they should be discarded by our professionals, or why undertakers should not be familiar with all the means that will tend to enhance the success of the profession, as well as to promote the comfort and safety of those whom they may be called upon to serve; besides the credit they will receive from the family for their well directed efforts in securing their approval.

CHLORIDE OF LEAD AS A DEODORIZER AND DISINFECTANT.

Dr. R. H. Goolden calls attention in the _Lancet_ to the value of chloride of lead, which he says is the most powerful deodorizer and disinfectant. To prepare it for use, he directs to take half a drachm of nitrate of lead, dissolve in a pint or more of boiling water; then dissolve two drachms of common salt in a bucket of water, and mix the two solutions together; allow the sediment to subside.

The clear supernatant fluid will be a solution of chloride of lead. A cloth dipped in this solution and hung up in a room will sweeten a fetid atmosphere instantaneously; or if the solution be sprinkled over the bed-clothes or clothing of a fast decomposing body, it will produce a like result.

Even the tarnishing of gold and silver ornaments may be prevented, by a rag dipped in the solution being hung up in the room or window where they are exposed.

He relates some striking instances of the instantaneous and efficient action of this preparation.

DANGERS OF ABSORPTION OF CARBOLIC ACID.

Undertakers and others using carbolic acid to some extent should always use extreme caution in the handling of it.

The carelessness with which certain papers take up some popular recipe is not always without its dangers. For instance, there appeared lately in some public print an article upon the poison of vipers, which is very similar to that of the virus from a putrefying corpse; the article recommended that carbolic acid should be immediately introduced into the wound, the acid to be mixed with alcohol in the proportion of two to one. Observe the off-hand manner with which a toxic agent is spoken of, as if it were the most inoffensive thing in the world.

In order to try the experiment, a cat was selected, upon whose skin, denuded of hair alone, a saturated solution of carbolic acid in alcohol, with an equal quantity of water, was rubbed; this produced no effect; but when the same solution was rubbed into a scratch upon the end of the nose two or three times, the animal fell immediately into convulsions and very shortly succumbed. Prussic acid could not have acted more promptly. The moral of this experiment is obvious.

DISINFECTANTS.

Dr. Baxter has executed a great number of very careful experiments, with a view to testing the different disinfecting properties of the so-called disinfectants commonly used. Evidence was adduced to show that carbolic acid, sulphur, permanganate of potash and chlorine are all endowed with true disinfectant properties, though in very varying degrees. The effectual disinfectant operation of chlorine and permanganate of potash appeared to depend far more on the nature of the medium through which the particles of infective matter are distributed than on the specific character of the particles themselves.

A virulent liquid cannot be regarded as certainly and completely disinfected by sulphur, unless it has been rendered permanently and thoroughly acid. No virulent liquid can be considered disinfected by carbolic acid, unless it contains at least two per cent., by weight, of the pure acid.

When disinfectants are mixed with a liquid, it is very important to make sure that they are thoroughly incorporated with it, and that no solid matters capable of shielding contagion from immediate contact with its destroyer be overlooked.

Aerial disinfection, as commonly practised in the sick room, is either useless or positively objectionable, owing to the false sense of security it is calculated to produce.

To make the air of a room smell strongly of carbolic acid, by scattering carbolic powder about the floor, or of chlorine, by placing a tray of chloride of lime in a corner, is, so far as the specific destruction of contagion is concerned, an utterly futile proceeding.

The practical result of these experiments goes to prove, first, that dry heat, when it can be applied, is probably the most perfect of all disinfectants; second, that the old plan of stopping up crevices and fumigating with sulphur and charcoal is more efficacious than any other proceeding with more modern disinfectants; third, that the use of carbolic vapor for disinfecting purposes should be abandoned, owing to the relative feebleness and uncertainty of its action.

A RELIABLE SIGN OF DEATH.

This sign consists in the absence of contraction of the pupil, after puncture of the cornea and evacuation of the aqueous humor. When the pupil contracts, life is still present; when it remains immovable, it is a certain sign of death. The puncture of the cornea may be made with a cataract knife, or even an ordinary lancet. It is a harmless operation.

RAPID DECAY OF THE HUMAN STRUCTURE.

Under this heading, we will present to our readers an essay upon the causes of the dissolution of the human body. The writer, Mr. W. W. BALL, of Bangor, Michigan, who published the following in THE CASKET of March, 1877, has kindly allowed us to republish it, for the benefit of those who have not read it, and also as a proof that the theories advanced in this volume cannot be refuted. We give the article at length. The statements advanced in the essay, also the course of treatment adopted in the preservation of bodies, will be found to possess great similarity with the different methods herein given.

BY W. W. BALL.

As soon as the vital action ceases, decomposition ensues in the substances which were before the very elements of life, viz.: blood, lymph, chyme, chyle and gastric juice, become active agents in its destruction.

In the blood, the most important agent during life, as soon as life ceases it becomes one of the first to produce that blackened, putrid and sloughing condition we find shortly after death. The blood being

left in every part of the body, it breaks up and forms new compounds, of which only a general outline is attainable, for want of definite chemical analysis or microscopical observation. The fibrine and serum separate; the former, which contains most of the red corpuscles, albumen, saline and fatty substances, glutinates or coagulates on the sides of the vessels themselves, while the serum permeates the surrounding tissues, uniting with oxygen carried off from the pulmonary structure during life, and these, having an affinity for the tissues, form those compounds termed sulphuretted and carburetted hydrogen gases, giving rise to that effluvium which characterize deceased bodies.

CONDITION OF THE BLOOD.

After death the blood is found in two forms. This is owing to certain diseases and circumstances. The first is encountered when death has ensued after a long stage of sickness. The vital fluids become exhausted by disease, and the organs of circulation become too weak to perform their office of circulating the fluid they contain; hence, dissolution takes place in the blood from want of constant and rapid action. Thus the fibrine becomes lodged and coagulated in the veins and capillary system. The fibrine and serum separate, leaving the fibrine coagulated or clotted, and the serum, a transparent, fatty or oily liquid, permeates the tissues of the flesh. Usually the arteries are found without any blood remaining in them. In instances of this kind there will be no difficulty encountered from the corpse turning black, as the gases cannot force the blood to the surface into the capillary system, because the fibrine is lodged elsewhere, but the flesh may turn brown or saffron color to some extent.

DIFFICULT CASES.

The second condition of the blood is found when death resulted from accident or short duration of sickness. In these instances there is usually a large abundance of fluids remaining in the system. These foster fermentation in every structure, and evolve the gases so rapidly as to cause the cavities of the thorax and abdomen to become extended to their utmost capacity with gases that induce the blood to leave the vessels in the thorax and appear at the surface in the capillary system. In this instance the fibrine and serum of the blood remain together in an inky or eccymosed condition.

Thus it is observed that the gases are so rapidly evolved by the destructive fluids, that before the fibrine coagulates it is forced from the vessels of the thorax (especially the superior vena cava), and caused to appear above the surface into the neck and face. The great pressure of the gases depresses the vessels of the thorax in the same manner that it does the stomach when purging takes place, which occurs invariably whenever the stomach contains any movable matter. The lymph, chyle and chyme, which are the same or similar, as soon as death ensues take on new molecular changes; the lymph especially, which is retained in all the glands and vessels of the lymphatic system, enters into the process of decomposition, fostering putrefaction in the whole structure; while the gastric juice, a peculiar fluid so subservient to digestion, which affects the food only during life, immediately attacks the substances of the stomach when life is extinct, in the same or similar manner as it affected the food during life, corroding and completely destroying everything with which it comes in contact, as there is no vitality to resist its action. Elements having other affinities, and the organism generally, hurry back to their primeval state. Nature knows no delays. The work to be done is to disorganize the body and destroy its form. This is the work of heat, moisture, air and germs in unison, causing the fluids and tissues of the body to decay rapidly, while the albumenoid matters are decomposed into fetid gases escaping into the air, which in a short time accomplish the work of dissolution, leaving the body a mass of corruption and the receptacle of myriads of germs of microscopic beings. The corpse is their natural aliment, and death their chosen laboratory.

The products of putrefying animal matter are carbonic acid, water, ammonia and carburetted hydrogen gases, which are generally mixed with various portions of phosphuretted and sulphuretted hydrogen gases. The blackened or mortified appearance in those instances is usually caused by the eccymosed or dark blood from the vessels of the thorax (especially the superior vena cava). The great pressure of the gases in the abdomen and thorax prevents the liquid from gravitating to the regions of the heart and large vessels, producing the black and livid appearance of the face and neck by its retention in the capillary system of the epidermis. Man has been facetiously described as twelve pounds of solid matter wet up with six pails of water; hence, the great abundance of water in the human structure gives the necessary mobility for putrefaction. This is proven by this fact: that by drying the animal substances they are completely preserved. It is thus that the bodies of those perishing in the Arabian deserts are recovered years subsequently, dried, but otherwise fresh and life-like. This fact also proves that the atmosphere and climate in Asia is far more favorable for the preservation of animal substances than in this country, and the writer thinks it has far more to do in preserving the many thousand mummies of the ancient Egyptians than any art or untold science. If it were not for want of space, I would dwell more upon this subject; but as the public generally have no desire to be wafted into untold centuries, I shall confine this writing to further the progress of science in this direction, if possible. Having no secret nostrum to impose upon the public, I will offer a few hints which I hope will prove to be of importance to the profession generally.

EMBALMING PROCESSES.

For chemical embalming, it is well known to those having experience as undertakers and embalmers, that in order to successfully perform this kind of work, it requires knowledge as well as experience. The various circumstances encountered necessarily govern the work. In the writer’s experience, he finds that when difficult and obstinate cases are to be retained for some length of time (especially in warm weather), it will be necessary to complete the work with care. A very important matter in this work is to renovate the stomach thoroughly; then, with simple instruments, similar to an aspirator needle or trocar, give vent to the gases and thus expel them from the cavities of the system. Then, with pump, draw off or force out the fluids and gases from the organs of circulation, and in this manner disinfect the body as far as possible. Elevate the head and shoulders for the purpose of letting the inky fluid gravitate from the capillary system of the face to the large vessels of the thorax. This will renew the life’s characteristics in a remarkable and satisfactory manner, if the gases be properly removed.

A simple method of disposing of the gastric juice of the stomach is to inject into the nose or mouth one or two ounces of an aqueous solution of any powerful antiseptic, similar to those mentioned in this article, and after a few moments carry the head off the bed, and, by gently pressing the stomach, empty its contents. This will prevent further difficulty from purging, if refilled with the solution and carefully sealed. Insert an instrument into the trachea, and thus give vent to the gases in the lungs, and inject full of the solution. In the same manner dispose of the gases from the thorax, and fill with solution. Also, the abdominal cavities, by completing thus, will preserve the viscera. The reagents or coagulants spoken of render the albumenoids or azotized material incapable of putrefaction, by the impervious nature of the compounds it forms of all substances that have protein for their base, as the tissues readily absorb the preserving solutions after being prepared as mentioned above. This unites the antiseptic and deodorizing agent with the very substances that it is necessary to render inactive in order to successfully retain the remains of deceased persons.

DEODORIZING AGENTS.

The following are very good antiseptics and deodorizing agents: Chloride of zinc, corrosive sublimate, hyposulphite, oxymuriate of mercury, carbolic acid, bicarbonate of potassa, aqueous solution of alumina. The two latter may be rendered more subservient by combining them with the higher oxides. The metallic salts are much the best for chemical embalming, if properly used. The remains of drowned persons may be prepared in the manner as above, with no small degree of success, as giving vent to the gases and freely applying antiseptics and deodorizing agents will readily correct, to a great extent, the difficulties thus encountered by this process. We have removed the most destructive fluids, or effected a combination with them, thus preventing the fermenting process and dispersing the gases, rendering the body absolutely free from those disagreeable and noxious odors which are termed phosphuretted and sulphuretted hydrogen gases, as well as low types or germs of disease, while the life’s characteristics in this state of preservation invariably present a most pleasant appearance, allaying all natural repugnance to the dead, as they seem so natural and life-like, and remain in this state of preservation for a great length of time, either in transit or various changes of atmosphere, while this manner of operation is simple and without complication, affording appropriate means that undertakers may apply successfully and save themselves annoyance, time, labor and expense, by a little practice and observing closely the directions herein given.

The enlightenment of the public demands more attention to these important matters, as there is no necessity for the untimely and indecent burial of the loved but unfortunate victims of mortality, when due observance is given to the progress of art in modern science. To successfully retain the dead for such a period of time as will enable the bereaved friends to make such arrangements for burial as the occasion may require, without the necessity of mutilating or eviscerating in the horrible manner that has been practised in many instances, has been the design of the writer, who has devoted much time in the work, and hopes, with the aid of others, in the no distant future, to make such additional suggestions and contributions as will practically apply to the wants of the profession, as well as meet the approbation of a grateful public.

Scientific research has defined and established those fixed laws of nature with that precision whereby organic matters may be traced to their simple elements. We will herein endeavor to very briefly trace, as far as possible, the chemical changes that are observed in dead animal matter. We assert that in the majority of cases (with a given temperature maintained), the first described subject will be the first to become an uncontrollable mass from the agents of putrefaction; first, simply by the abundance of those fluids contained in subjects that immediately become active agents of dissolution, while such agents have been completely exhausted by the disease of the second.