Embalming

Embalming is the use of a chemical process to provide short- or long-term preservation of a dead body. Modern embalming removes blood and gas from a body and typically the contents of its internal organs, and then treats the body with chemicals. The process and the preservatives used have changed considerably since its first practice by the ancient Egyptians. The reasons behind the process have varied from the religious and scientific to the hygienic and the psychological. Today, embalming is used mainly in North America (and to a limited extent in Great Britain and Australia) to provide short-term preservation of a corpse for viewing, typically within a week of death. Embalming continues to be used throughout the world to preserve cadavers for medical research. Though embalming is the norm and even considered traditional by the North American general public, the practice is not without its critics.

History

The history of embalming can be divided into three periods: the ancient Egyptian era, the period from the Middle Ages to the U.S. Civil War, and the current era, which began during the U.S. Civil War and continues to the present. Each period reflects different purposes and techniques. Some call the process before the use of arterial injection into the circulation system, embalmment. Embalmment involved evisceration, the removal of internal organs, packing the cavity with chemicals, and allowing the body to dry out. The development of arterial injection in the late 17th century marked a significant change in the process.

The ancient Egyptians started embalming during the First Dynasty (3200 B.C.E.) and continued the practice for 4,000 years. The purpose was religious: to preserve the body for reincarnation. The process usually included evisceration. The internal organs were preserved separately. The body was chemically treated in a lengthy process including a sodium salt bath. Treatment of the deceased had variations based on social rank and dynasty.

Embalming during the Middle Ages through the U.S. Civil War was mainly to preserve the bodies of important individuals or to preserve cadavers [Page 405]for medical research. During this period, embalming shifted from the embalmment process using evisceration to arterial embalming, thanks to advancements in medical knowledge. Arterial embalming used a vast array of chemicals, such as oil of turpentine and camphorated spirits of wine in the late 1600s and then bichloride of mercury, zinc chloride, heavy metal salts, and arsenic compounds by the mid-1800s. The injection of chemicals would eventually make evisceration a rarer occurrence for the preservation of cadavers. As arterial injection embalming became more widely used in the 1700s, barber-surgeons were its main practitioners as they preserved cadavers for medical and scientific study.

Embalming bodies for the purpose of shortterm preservation before burial received its first public notice during the U.S. Civil War and the embalming of President Lincoln and his son Willy before him. Embalming surgeons, such as Thomas Holmes and Richard Burr, embalmed thousands of soldiers during the war using gravity fluid injectors to inject their solutions. At this time, undertakers did not embalm but provided coffins and other services. After the war, embalming was not performed to a great extent in the United States until a number of inventions became widespread, undertakers became organized in associations, and embalming training spread.

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