Development of Embalming Flashcards
The European customary aspects of preserving the dead include
Preserving parts of the dead nobility as relics
Preserving bodies of the nobles for long extended wake periods - up to 8 days
List the various crude methods used during the colonial American period to deter putrefaction prior to 1800
Sealing bodies with airtight coffins
Wrapping bodies in shrouds soaked in alum
Immersing bodies in barrels of alcohol
Disemboweling and filling the cavities with charcoal
Even though arterial injection was popular in France and England about the time of the Civil War, most attempts to deter putrefaction were based on this
Refrigeration
Two Baltimore undertakers credited with the first successful corpse cooler
Robert Frederick and C.A Trump
Invented a metal box like refrigerator used in hospitals and city morgues
Charles Kimball
Each filed separate patents for more portable corpse cooling devices made of zinc and wood that fitted various parts of the body
Howard V Griffith and R.C. Andrus
These attempts were made to modify airtight burial cases to deter putrefaction
Some filled with poison gas
Some filled with brine, alcohol, etc
Some filled with deodorizing substances introduced by a tube or funnel into the burial case
List the 4 influences that led to the development of arterial embalming
Rise of medical schools and research
The desire to wake the deceased in a casket rather than on a cooling board
Sanitation movement
This may have been the most significant influence on the development of embalming
Civil War
Why was the Civil War such an influence on the development of embalming
The tremendous number of dead bodies presented a sanitation problem
Family members desired dead bodies to return home to family burial plots
Medical embalmer-surgeons promotions
Transportation workers demanded it
Father of American Embalming
Dr Thomas Holmes
Accomplished embalmer who formulated a fluid made of arsenic and zinc-chloride called inomitata
Dr. Thomas Holmes
Never commissioned into the Army as a medical or any other kind of officer, but was definitely a sort of contract embalmer
Dr. Thomas Holmes
Claims to have embalmed 4,028 officers and soldiers both field and staff
Dr. Thomas Holmes
Last request was to not be embalmed
Dr. Thomas Holmes
Has the first patent for embalming dead bodies
J. Anthony Gaussardia
Embalmed Willy Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln
Henry Cattell
Embalmed President Lincoln, who was not interred for 21 days
Henry Cattell
The first black embalmer
Prince Greer
The earliest center of embalming
Washington D.C.
Because of this man, the first federal laws about embalming were established
Dr. Richard Burr
Chemical preservation was resisted initially because the public saw it as
Mutilation to the body
After the Civil War, the medical specialists abandoned embalming for more lucrative pursuits, which led to the undertakers who learned the skill where?
on the battlefield
The development of a commercial enterprise in the compounding and distribution of embalming fluids, the the rise of these
Mortuary Schools
Chemical fluid manufacturers provided traveling salesmen to
promote their chemicals
Chemical fluid manufacturers also provided this to undertakers who purchased their embalming chemicals and gave out diplomas
Training and instruction
Chemical fluid manufacturers also provided warehousing chemicals and development of new chemicals through
Research and Development
Instruction in early embalming techniques was done by whom?
Civil War embalmers
The early chemical formulations for embalming were basically this
Metallic poison and metallic salts in solution
The early embalming schools were how long?
No more than 7 days
Medical embalmer during the Civil War who patented and sold Cranes’ electro dynamic mummifier
Professor E.H. Crane
Bought the rights from Crane and sold the fluid and Professor Rhodes’ electrical balm
Professor George M Rhodes
Patented the trocar
Professor Samuel Rogers
Had the largest travelling embalming school
Professor Felix A. Sullivan
Introduced chemical embalming English undertakers
Professor Felix A. Sullivan
Known as the “Dean of Embalmers of the English Speaking People”
Professor Felix A. Sullivan
Founded by Edward Hill and Scipio Baker - still in business
Champion Chemical Company
Founded by Joseph H Clarke
Clarke Chemical Works
“Non-poisonous big four”
Embalmers Supply Company (ESCO)
Had a secret formula containing no metal salts or formalis
Embalmers Supply Company (ESCO)
Founded by A. Johnson Dodge
Still in Business
Dodge Chemical Company
Studied and brough Jean Gannal’s book, A History of Embalming, to the US and had it translated to English
Dr Richard Harlan
Coffin salesman associated with Professor Rhodes who taught him how to embalm and make fluid
Joseph H Clarke
Opened the three week embalming school later to be called Cincinnati School of Embalming, the oldest mortuary school still in existence
Joseph H. Clarke
Opened the School of Sanitation and Embalming, located at Monument and Wolfe Street and Johns Hopkins University
Dr William Hartley
Opened the first mortuary school in Maryland
Dr. William Hartley
Metallic poisons were replaced by this by 1920
Formalin
Describe the effect of Arsenic (Metallic salts) on the body
Left the body soft and pliable and extremely white
The influence of modern embalming practice was most significant with this
The combination of arterial injection followed by cavity treatment
Where was embalming originally done?
In the home
All of the equipment was portable, in this
A black suitcase
Embalming tables were
cooling boards
Chemicals were metallic poisons until the 1920’s, when this replaced it
Formaldehyde
These were the two methods originally used with arterial injection
Hand pump and Jug method
The bodies were dressed and waked on these
Cooling Boards
