MODERN EMBALMING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2151, 16 May 1895, Page 41

MODERN EMBALMING.

OUBIOUS FACIS kBOTJT A DISAPPEARING Trade. Embalming is less often called into use in this country than in the United States, where it is tbe rule, rather than the exoeption, as with us. It may, however, be at once stated that every British celebrity or public personage who " lies in state " after his demise is embalmed. The number of oases of embalming in this Country annually averages from 50 to 60. The fee for this task varies { it can be done for lOgs or it may cost five times as much. There is a kind of preservation of the body fox six of eight days, in order that relatives ox friends from a distance may have an opi portunity of taking a last look at the face of a dead connection or comrade ; and this process can be accomplished for a fee of sgs ok lees. The embalming operation to briefly t$

follows:— -An artery ie opened In sotneparb of the body, and then, by means of a pump, the prcßorvlcg fluid is injected. Iv London there ia realty only one man who makea a specialty of this work, although most medical men will undertake it on payment of tho fee. Tho specialist alluded to is an American, and he gets from lOgs to 15j;s for each oase he undertakes. Embalming cf the most perfect order is more often accompliehed in France than anywhere else in Europe. It is in this case an operation rcquidug a considerable amount of time to execato. Firtt, the iutertal organs are removed, and tupn the *jody ia steeped in a bath of alcohol and corrosive sublimate (perchU-ride of nwcury), tbe objeot being to destroy any microbes. A constant process of steeping is rnaiutaioxd during the removal of all the organs. The last bath is composed of alcohol and dJlxerent forma of tannin. After this tho cubject is thoroughly dried in a cool a!r chamber, previous to being prepared with aromatic spicea and fragrant kerbs— the juniper berry being freely usod— zud the casket is also filled with similar Bweet-euulling matter. The elaborate swath • Jrgin Haen and coating with bituminous preparations (chemicals of a resinous nature), such as were adopted by the ancient Hpyptians, find no pl&ce in the modern cmbaimer's method. EmbalmiDg, if it is to be carried out, ehonld be performed within a few hours after life is extinct. It is wonderful to watch the effect of the preserving liquid npou the tkin. As it is injected, the skin brightens up and assumes an almost natural tint, the finger nails taking on once more the pick flush of health. Modern embalmers believe that their " subjects " will last for several thousands Df years. In America, where embalming is very common, tho art has reached, as in France, a high pitch of peifection. Special attention is given to the face and hands, and tho funeral^ director— as the undertaker in the States is always styled— will go so far as to assert that, it his services are called into use rapidly etougb, he can preserve the natural pink, pale though it may be, of tbe cheeks. In America, too, men are specially emjployed to do what is technically known as »' working up tbe face." Their arts are similar to thosa employed by the theatrical dieseer who makes up an actoi's face, with •this exception— that, instead of the crude effects of tbe stage, whioh are heightened to combat the contraotitg and depreciating action caueed by the glara of the footlights, these men are so able, by the use of greasepaints, powder, and so forth, to tint and touch up the face as to give it an almoßt healthy and life like appearance I This may seem incredible, but it is perfectly true, and, from a British fctandpoint, very ghastly. It ia a fact that when a celebrity whose came ia almost a household word took an ocean voyage awhile ago, embalming materials and an expert were parried on the vessel, bo that hi« Irienda might not be deprived of hia body should the call of Nature reach him on the oceaD. Neither the embalnier nor hlo materials were needed, however.