Formalin is 40 percent formaldehyde, says Caleb Wilde , author of Confessions of a Funeral Director and a sixth-generation funeral director in Pennsylvania. The Verge spoke to Wilder about the process of embalming, his skepticism over the details of the Russian case and the history and future of the technique. And how long does embalming last? I think funeral directors would say that the primary purpose of embalming is restoration , and the secondary purpose is preservation.
So, preservation is the second order of importance. That said, if the body is buried in a dry place, I think you could dig up a lot of embalmed bodies and — as long as they were embalmed well — they are still going to be recognizable 50, 60, 70 years later. Of course, there are a lot of other factors at play. Roughly speaking, what are the steps o f embalming? The basic idea is that you inject the arterial system with embalming fluid.
We tend to use the right carotid artery [a major artery on the side of the neck]. You make an incision, and you inject it with embalming fluid. The injection pushes out the blood and pushes in the embalming fluid, distributing it throughout the body via the arteries.
So we inject the abdominal area with a trocar , which is like a large syringe. The fluid we use in the trocar is very strong and, for the most part, is able to preserve the entire abdomen and chest. The chemical formaldehyde is used to preserve bodies. What does it do exactly? You could say it tears apart the constructs of your tissue. The embalming fluid that we use is a conglomeration of a bunch of different things. It has the formaldehyde, but it also has some disinfectants, so not only does it render the tissue unable to be fed on by bacteria, it also kills the bacteria itself.
What about formalin, the solution given to the Russian patient? Formalin is formaldehyde dissolved in water. For context, we use two types of fluid for embalming. One is arterial and one is for the cavities or the abdomen. The arterial fluid we use at our funeral home is about 30 percent formaldehyde, and we mix that in with water and that together creates the embalming fluid. Holmes created and bottled a fluid that could be used for embalming.
The chemicals used during the Civil War were a mixture of arsenic, zinc and mercuric chlorides, creosote, turpentine and alcohol. Formaldehyde, which soon became the primary ingredient, was not yet in use.
Lowry participates in Civil War reenactments as an embalming physician and is also a frequent speaker on Civil War embalming. Their families were more likely to be able to pay for embalming and for getting the body home. Once a soldier was identified, the physician worked out payment with the grieving family. Rivers, a surgeon and medical director of the Ninth Army Corps, Dr.
Rivers pointed out that embalming was likely beyond the means of people of modest means. For that reason, he provided advice on a do-it-yourself method of body preservation. She requested that Lincoln be embalmed.
The funeral train carrying his body left Washington D. The procession finally pulled into Springfield on the morning of Wednesday, May 3, The body was still well-preserved. Among those who greeted the funeral train was the Lincoln family dog, Fido. Though the practice of embalming established itself during the Civil War, the numbers of people who were embalmed was relatively small. Bodies were often difficult to identify. Then getting in touch with the family could be problematic. The carnage of many of the battles was often so vast that there was no hope of getting the majority of the men home.
Communities near battlefields had little choice but to go out to help cover the dead or put them in mass graves. Ultimately, only about 40, of the approximately , soldiers who died during the Civil War were embalmed.
While embalming clearly has a long history, the process as we know it today is relatively new. It depends on the state.
Some states require both funeral director and embalmer licensing. My state, Idaho, eliminated the requirement just a few years ago. Now you can be one or the other, or both. I love it when this article states that we check if the person is really dead. The bereaved knew exactly for what they were paying.
Toward […]. The article states 3 times that embalming is common practice today in the Western world. This is not true.
Perhaps in anglo saxon countries, but not in the rest of Europe. Refrigerating the body is common, while visitations are still possible and common. Still, even that is quite uncommon today. Your email address will not be published. Currently you have JavaScript disabled. In order to post comments, please make sure JavaScript and Cookies are enabled, and reload the page. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your browser. Share Tweet Pin.
When were head blocks first used and who created them in what country? Leave a reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. You may also like. By TalkDeath October 12, Popular Posts. In Japan, nearly everyone is cremated. The cultural traditions bound to the ceremony, which include family members passing cremated bone remains to each other using chopsticks , predate the Civil War.
In Germany, where cremations are also increasingly popular , the law requires that bodies be interred in the ground — even cremated remains —including the purchase of a coffin and a land plot. In Tunisia, as with all majority Muslim countries, nearly everyone is interred in the ground within 24 hours, in a cloth shroud and without chemical embalming. This is in accordance with Islamic scripture. It also bears close resemblance to the original interment of Americans before the Civil War.
While American funerals are typically more expensive than in other countries, U. The key thing is to plan ahead by thinking critically about how you want yourself or your loved ones interred.
If you were to die in , chances are you would meet your demise at the hospital. You would be interred with the blood and organs of your body replaced with carcinogenic preservative liquids, heavily cosmetized to hide the signs of the the embalming surgery that rendered you this way.
Your embalmed body would be placed in an airtight casket, itself placed inside a concrete vault in the ground. And you may wish for it to be that way. But if you prefer anything else, you must make your wishes known.
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