Embalming

[1][2] This is usually done to make the deceased suitable for viewing as part of the funeral ceremony or keep them preserved for medical purposes in an anatomical laboratory.

Other cultures known to have used embalming techniques in antiquity include the Meroites, Guanches, Peruvians, Jivaro Indians, Aztecs, Toltecs, Mayans, and Tibetan and southern Nigerian tribes.

Various attempts and procedures have been reported by Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Jacobus Berengar (1470–1550), Bartholomeo Eustachius (1520–1574), Reinier de Graaf (1641–1673), Jan Swammerdam (1637–1680), and Frederik Ruysch (1638–1731).

[1] The modern method of embalming involves the injection of various chemical solutions into the arterial network of the body to primarily disinfect and slow the decomposition process.

William Harvey, the 17th century English physician who was the first to detail the system of blood circulation, made his discoveries by injecting colored solutions into corpses.

[4] He wrote a widely read report on the appropriate methods for arterial and cavity embalming in order to preserve bodies for burial.

A rumor, possibly started by Butchell himself, claimed that his wife's marriage certificate had specified that her husband would only have control over her estate after her death for as long as her body was kept unburied.

People sometimes wished to be buried at far-off locations, which became possible with the advent of the railways, and mourners wanted the chance to pay their last respects beside the displayed body.

After Lord Nelson was killed in the Battle of Trafalgar, his body was preserved in brandy and spirits of wine mixed with camphor and myrrh for over two months.

By the mid-19th century, the newly emerging profession of businessmen-undertakers – who provided funeral and burial services – began adopting embalming methods as standard.

The wish of families for their remains to be returned home for local burial and lengthy transport from the battlefield meant it became common in the United States.

[1] Dr Thomas Holmes received a commission from the Army Medical Corps to embalm the corpses of dead Union officers to return to their families.

[16] In 1855, the Russian chemist Alexander Michailowitsch Butlerow discovered formaldehyde, the preservative properties of which were soon noted, and it became the foundation for modern methods of embalming.

[20] Despite a common misconception, embalming is not mandatory in the United States,[21][15][22] although it is a general legal requirement for international repatriation of human remains to the U.S. (exceptions do occur).

Modern embalming techniques are not the result of a single practitioner, but rather the accumulation of many decades, even centuries, of research, trial and error, and invention.

The first step in embalming is to verify the permissions and requests of the family followed by a careful plan for the deceased's preparation, including reviewing the medical certificate of death.

Care is taken to make the expression look as relaxed and natural as possible, and ideally, a recent photograph of the deceased in good health is used as a reference.

The treatment of someone who has undergone an autopsy, cases of extreme trauma, or the restoration of a long-bone donor are a few such examples, and some embalmings may take several days to complete.

Regardless of whether embalming is performed, the type of burial or entombment, and the materials used – such as wood or metal coffins and vaults – the body of the deceased will, under most circumstances, eventually decompose.

[34] Common grooming practices may include combing and styling the hair and applying cream or emollient spray to the skin to maintain hydration.

[36] Mortuary cosmeticizing is not done for the same reason as make-up for living people; rather, it is designed to add depth and dimension to a person's features that lack of blood circulation has removed.

In recent years, a change has occurred, and many individuals are now buried in less formal clothing, such as what they would have worn on a daily basis, or other favorite attire.

The clothing used can also reflect the deceased person's profession or vocation: priests and ministers are often dressed in their liturgical vestments, and military and law enforcement personnel often wear their uniform.

In certain instances a funeral director will request a specific style of clothing, such as a collared shirt or blouse, to cover traumatic marks or autopsy incisions.

Normally, a better result can be achieved when a photograph and the decedent's regular make-up (if worn) are available to help make the deceased appear more as they did when alive.

As such, medical embalmers use anatomical wetting fluids that contain concentrated formaldehyde (37–40%, known as formalin) or glutaraldehyde and phenol, and are made without dyes or perfumes.

[15] After the deceased is left to sit for a number of hours, the venous system is generally opened and the fluid allowed to drain out, although many anatomical embalmers do not use any drainage technique.

A new embalming technique developed gradually since the 1960s by anatomist Walter Thiel at the Graz Anatomy Institute in Austria has been the subject of various academic papers, as the cadaver retains the body's natural color, texture and plasticity after the process.

[39] Thiel embalmed cadavers are used in anatomical research, surgical and anaesthesia training, preoperative test procedures, CT image quality studies.

Involuntarily, I do compare the mummified sovereign, [...] ugly, tiny, to the giant man who, in 1886, I saw entering the São Paulo See [Cathedral], among a colossal wave of people, dominating it, seeming so many cubits taller.