Development of modern embalming

Embalming by arterial injection as a mortuary practice is considered to have begun in England in the 18th century. The technique had actually been developed in the first half of the 17th century by the noted English physiologist William Harvey in experiments leading to his discovery of the circulation of blood, during which he injected coloured solutions into the arteries of cadavers. Later the Dutch and German scientists Frederik Ruysch and Gabriel Clauderus are believed to have used similar arterial-injection techniques to prevent cadavers from decomposing. The Scottish anatomist William Hunter (1718–83), however, is credited with being the first to report fully on arterial and cavity embalming as a way to preserve bodies for burial. His discovery attracted wide attention after his younger brother, John Hunter, in 1775 embalmed the body of a Mrs. Martin Van Butchell, whose will specified that her husband had control of her fortune only as long as her body remained above ground. To meet that condition, Van Butchell had her embalmed, placed her fashionably dressed body in a glass-lidded case in a sitting room, and held regular visiting hours.

The demand for embalming grew in England and particularly in the United States, where it was promoted by a newly emerging group of undertaker-businessmen as superior to the customary but awkward and often unsatisfactory method of preserving bodies for transportation or for viewing by packing them in ice or laying them on “cooling boards,” with a concave, ice-filled box fitted over the torso and head. Some of the more enterprising entrepreneurs exhibited well-preserved “cases” in the windows of shops, or took them on tour so that persons in rural areas and small towns could see the latest development.

The U.S. Civil War was the turning point in breaking down public resistance to “mutilating” the body and in establishing arterial embalming as a common practice in the United States. Although the government had established national cemeteries for the war dead, it freely awarded contracts to undertakers and embalmers to prepare the bodies of soldiers for shipment home. The widespread use of this service by soldiers’ families and the embalming of such notable dead as Pres. Abraham Lincoln’s son Willie and later of Lincoln himself brought about increased acceptance of the practice and even caused it to become associated with patriotic activity. Early practitioners included a number of vigorous salesmen, including Joseph H. Clarke, a road salesman for a coffin company. Impressed by embalming’s possibilities and profits, he persuaded a staff member of a medical college in Cincinnati to institute a brief course in embalming in 1882, thus establishing the basis of mortuary education in the United States. Embalming remains the only specific skill required in the undertaking business.

Modern procedures

In the modern procedure of embalming, the blood is drained from one of the veins and replaced by a fluid, usually based on Formalin (a solution of formaldehyde in water), injected into one of the main arteries. Cavity fluid is removed with a long hollow needle called a trocar and replaced with preservative. This fluid is also based on Formalin mixed with alcohols, emulsifiers, and other substances (like embalming fluid) to keep the body temporarily from shriveling and turning brown. Arterial embalming is not permanent; even such carefully prepared corpses as that of Lenin, on view in the Kremlin, must be given periodic renewal treatment. The chief purpose of embalming is rather to give the body a lifelike appearance during the days in which it is being viewed by mourners. To enhance this, cosmetics and masking pastes are often applied.

In the United States, embalming is a standard practice as a result of the government support it has received, and is mandatory when bodies are being transported by common carrier, and, in many states, usually when there is an interval of more than 48 hours between death and burial. In Europe, however, embalming is rarely practiced. In many countries permits are required; in most it is performed only by medical practitioners, and the costs are relatively high.