Auguste Renouard

“ Water enters more or less largely into the composition of all alimentary substances, and is taken into the stomach in a pure state, or forms the principal part of the various kinds of drinks in use.
Water is unquestionably the natural drink of adults, and meets the wants of the body more perfectly than any of the artificial liquids which are regarded as improvements on water. Whenever a man is left to the cravings of instinct, unbiased by a vicious appetite, he invariably resorts to water as the natural means to quench his thirst, cool his system, and invigorate his wasting strength. ”

“ I do not mean that every undertaker and embalmer should be an Orfila in regard to Chemistry, nor is it expected that his knowledge of Anatomy should enable him to fill the chair of demonstrator in a dissecting room, but to achieve real, legitimate success, an embalmer ought to possess a thorough knowledge of the drugs he is manipulating, their individual effects, singly and collectively, and under different circumstances, upon subjects of different natures. A certain amount of the acquaintance with the anatomy of the human body is not only required, but strictly necessary ”

“ It is a matter of great importance that their diet, clothing and habits be regulated by certain laws, which will, to a great extent, reduce the dangers to which they are exposed in the discharge of their duties.
DIET.
Man is less uniform in his diet, and suffers more in consequence of it, than any other animal. All other animals are directed by instinct to select only those substances which are best adapted to their wants. Man is endowed with reason to enable him, by the exercise of thought and reflection, to make his choice of food. ”

“ A great number of persons cannot revert to the science of embalming without placing it among the lost arts; to them a mummy is the contemporary of a mysterious past dimly perceived through the long vista of succeeding generations ”

“ In view of all this, and with the help of modern chemistry, it is not singular that the art of embalming should have received a new impetus in this country and Europe, especially here, where it is customary to send back and over long distances the bodies of those that have died far from home. This usage has already brought about some astonishing results. The large majority of our first-class undertakers have taken the matter in hand; they vie with each other in trying to perfect themselves in an art which is daily growing into favor. ”

“ With others, again, a funeral is made a public display of their personal authority; it is to them an occasion to conspicuously show in an ostentatious manner that the job is theirs; the management of it in their hands; they intend to run it according to their notions, with the utmost disregard of anyone else’s wishes in the matter. The undertaker is, however, but a public servant; a well-bred man will not try to coerce people into following his own ideas in regard to certain matters and utterly disregard their views of the same. ”

“ It is high time the business of undertaking be truly, and really, raised to the rank of a profession; let every undertaker be convinced that his calling is a solemn and responsible one, and our ranks will soon be free from the few interlopers who, so far, have impeded our progress toward a just recognition from the public for a class of men whose services are often very little short of self-sacrifice. ”

“ A good assistant should know all that pertains to his business, not in superficial and light manner, but in thorough, complete fashion. He must be able to not only line a casket, but manufacture his own lining if necessary; to take charge of all the details of a funeral; assist physicians in a post mortem examination, if required so to do; or properly embalm a corpse. On the other hand, it must be conceded that such a man as I have described is a valuable one for an assistant, and ought to receive a generous remuneration, and also be made to feel that he is appreciated. ”

“ 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 only means we have to protect ourselves from the dangers of infection from dead bodies are, first, a perfect ventilation of the room where the remains lie, so as to obviate the bad tendency which the air of the death-chamber might have upon the system. Attention must also be paid to the diet; the food eaten should be generous and nutritious, and it is proper to take a small quantity of wine at a time when the body and mind are debilitated by long and exhaustive manipulation of the dead, but avoid all excess of fluids or solids. ”

“ If we are to look anywhere for a preventive of contagion and infection, we must look to the directions and remedies which medical science holds in store; and also to the undisputable fact, that in the caution used and the care exercised in handling bodies, assisted by a discriminate judgment, lies our best pledge of safety.
As it has been remarked before, the different modes of preserving and embalming bodies given in this book are not mere speculations as to probabilities, nor are they simply mere recipes picked up at random ”

“ If death takes place in a few hours, the only lesions are those produced by the direct action of the poison. The contents of the stomach, which must be evacuated, are often mixed with blood, and may have the peculiar smell of phosphorus. It is said that the mucous membrane of the stomach may emit a phosphorescent light in the dark. If death does not ensue until after several days, the lesions are more marked; the body is usually jaundiced, and there may be found a congestion of the liver, or there may be a small hemorrhage in the liver tissue. ”

“ The living germs that collect on the surface of the body and in the digestive canal, develope, multiply, pierce into all the points of the organism, and produce in it a complete separation of all the tissues and humors.
When persons have been killed suddenly, there being no disease to tamper with the functions of the body, the process of nutrition would be complete until the very moment the vitality is removed ”

“ An assistant should also enjoy sound health and a strong constitution, as the strain upon his physical powers may be placed to a severe test at times. He should be a man of some social standing, and be a thorough master of his profession, as he may at times be called upon to officiate instead of his employer, and any show of ignorance or neglect on his part will not only be a stigma upon himself, but will also reflect discredit upon the name of the party whom he may be serving. ”

“ The lion, tiger and other animals which live exclusively on animal food, give no evidence of being better nourished than the deer, the ox, and animals which subsist wholly on vegetable food; but the apparatus for digestion in each class is constructed with an evident adaptation to the kind of diet on which the different animals subsist.
In man the digestive apparatus is more extensive than in flesh-eating animals, but is less complicated [Pg 135] than in those which are confined to vegetable food alone. Man is therefore omnivorous, both in his structure and in his habits. ”

“ Perfect equanimity of temper is a transcendent virtue in an undertaker. Mistakes and delays will happen in spite of the most careful preparations and the best laid plans; accidents, unforeseen and unthought of, will occur suddenly; it is then that a clear headed man will find some prompt means to remedy all before any one of those present has taken notice of anything amiss.
Good taste is also eminently one of the requisite attributes to be displayed in the easy, informal laying out of the remains, the attitude of repose devoid of the conventional rigidity of limbs ”

“ Sometimes during life, some portion of the body is in a condition of gangrene, that is, the tissues are not only dead, but decomposing. With the evolution of gases, the softening and liquefaction of the solid parts, and the development of minute organisms, either animal or vegetable.
The bodies of persons who have died from such causes, decompose with unusual rapidity. The inner coats of the vessels are often stained with the coloring matter of the blood. The viscera are soft and flabby, the stomach may be swollen, and the kidneys congested and degenerated. ”

“ Still, there are some exceptions to the digestibility of young meats, veal, and with some persons lamb, are slower of digestion than beef or mutton.
The vegetable kingdom greatly exceeds the animal in the number and variety of the aliments which it furnishes to man. It is well known that the four essential elements, carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen, which form an important part of all animal compounds, are also to be found in great abundance in all vegetable compounds; it is owing to this fact that different animals are nourished equally well on an exclusive diet of either. ”

“ It is not the sphere of the undertaker, especially at such time, to press with questions the parties whom he may chance to serve; but he will abide his time and accept their decisions with becoming respect, unless some imperative object should make it incumbent upon him to hasten the proceedings, as, for instance, the danger of contagion from some infectious disease, or some other equally important reason. ”

“ The physician has an office of great responsibility thrust upon him; into his hands we blindly confide the lives of relations and friends, hoping and expecting that his medical knowledge, his experience and skill, may save the existence of some one dear to us. ”

“ The small quantity of diseased organic matter originally introduced into the system by absorption, acts as a ferment and reproduces itself in the mass of the blood, until this becomes unfitted for the performance of its functions and the animal is killed; the active principle being thus copiously present, is exuded from the skin and lungs and gives a contagious character to the disease, or it remains only in the blood, or is secreted in pustules, constituting infection, by which the disease may be communicated to some other person. ”

“ Animal Heat.—The phenomena of respiration consisting mainly in the conversion of carbon into carbonic acid by union with oxygen, the heat which is developed in the body of all red blooded animals has been naturally referred to that source; and as we know that the change from the arterial to the venous condition of the blood occurs at every point of the system, the almost complete equality of temperature throughout the body in health is explained. ”

“ 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 ”

“ The Skin is the exterior investment of the body, which it serves to cover and protect. It is continuous at the aperture of the internal cavities with the lining membrane of those cavities, the internal skin or mucous membrane, and is composed essentially of two layers—derma and epidermis. The derma or cutis is chiefly composed of areola-fibrous tissues, besides which it has entering in its structure elastic tissues and smooth muscular fibre, together with blood vessels and nerves. The epidermis or cuticle (scarf-skin) is a product of the derma, which it serves to envelop and defend. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The following chapters on chemicals may be found, by some, dry and of no consequence; but to a sensible person, and a shrewd undertaker, it will be apparent that, unless possessed of some knowledge of physiological chemistry and morbid anatomy, it will be impossible for him to judge, with any degree of certainty, what means are to be employed to secure success in embalming. It will also be found, by the more enlightened mass of the profession, that a thorough examination of the causes of putrefaction and the means to counteract the same, are essential to a successful practice. ”

“ My effort in this little volume has been to offer to my professional brethren the means employed by the most eminent chemists, both in this country and Europe, to preserve bodies, and the methods given are the best known to modern science. I have also tried to make them feel aware of the necessity of knowledge, and shall feel happy if by so doing I have helped to raise our profession to the standard it really deserves. ”

“ To a great many the business of the undertaker has something dreadful and appalling about it; and without very well understanding themselves the nature of the feeling, it is always associated with the horrible. ”