202 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



action in all cases is purely a physical one, consisting in a contraction 

 of the fibre, or of the parenchyma, which is immediately induced a 

 contraction which expels the juices, and thus prevents putrefaction. 

 The author concludes his communication by stating, as a fact worthy of 

 notice, that the most powerful antiseptics we are acquainted with, 

 such as the chlorides of sodium, zinc and mercury, and the chloride of 

 formyle, are all chlorine compounds, and that they act on organized sub- 

 stances without yielding up any of their constituent principles to these 

 substances. 



PRESERVATION OF BODIES. 



AT a late meeting of the French Academy, a paper on the above 

 subject was presented by M. Falcony. " Having found that the various 

 substances hitherto employed for preserving from corruption such parts 

 of dead bodies as are needed for anatomical purposes were inefficient, 

 he entered on a series of experiments, comprehending sulphate of soda, 

 corrosive sublimate, chloride of zinc, alcohol, &c., and has come to the 

 conclusion that sulphate of zinc, dissolved at different degrees, is the 

 substance which is the most efficient for the purpose. An injection of 

 four or five litres would, he says, perfectly well preserve a dead body, 

 as is proved by the preparations belonging to the anatomical cabinet at 

 Genoa. Bodies so prepared preserve all their flexibility at the end of 

 forty days. It is only after that period that they begin to dry up, still 

 preserving, however, their natural color. 



ON THE CHEMICAL AND GENERAL EFFECTS OF THE PRACTICE OF INTER- 

 MENTS IN VAULTS AND CATACOMBS. 



ALTHOUGH much has been said and written on the decomposition of 

 the human body after interment in the earth, (the only proper mode,) 

 but little has been known respecting the process and results of such 

 decomposition when modified by the corpse being placed in a vault 

 or catacomb. In order to arrive at some satisfactory conclusions upon 

 this subject, Mr. Walter Lewis, of London, under the direction of the 

 General Board of Health, undertook, in the years 1849 and 1850, an 

 examination of the vaults and catacombs of that city, together with the 

 analysis of the gases resulting from the decomposition of bodies in such 

 receptacles. An article by Mr. Lewis, in the London Lancet, gives some 

 account of his researches, which are the more interesting, as the re- 

 sults are contrary to opinions generally entertained even by chemists. 



He visited the vaults of the principal churches of London, noted the 

 external appearance of more than 22,000 coffins, and the contents of 

 nearly a hundred, and several times tested or analyzed the atmosphere 

 of the vaults. In no case did he discover the slightest trace of cyano- 

 gen, hydrocyanic acid, or phosphuretted, sulphuretted, or carburetted 

 hydrogen, except a very minute quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen in 

 the air of a single vault, which contained but few coffins. The cor- 

 roded parts of old leaden coffins were always found to be carbonate of 

 lead, with no trace of sulphate or sulphuret. Some of the coffins con- 

 tained ammoniacal gas in large quantities, and others none at all ; but, 





