APPENDIX. 



I HAVE already stated as my opinion, that no method will 

 ever be devised by which man can be preserved, so as to be 

 fit for placing in a museum. I still adhere to that opinion, al- 

 though a highly important discovery has recently been made 

 by two celebrated chemists of Chaillot in France, the Monsrs. 

 Capron and Boniface, by which they can preserve the human 

 figure in a manner superior to any mode hitherto practised. 



By a process which these chemists keep secret, and to which 

 they have given the name of " Momification," they have suc- 

 ceeded, after passing a number of years in experiments, in so 

 modifying and perfecting the known process of preserving bo- 

 dies, as to reduce them to mummies, leaving all the forms un- 

 altered. All the elements of disorganization which show 

 themselves in the human body so soon after death, are com- 

 pletely destroyed, and not only the external body, but all the 

 viscera, the lungs, the heart, the liver, and even the brain, are 

 perfectly preserved. The operation requires but a very few 

 days, after which the dead bodies may be preserved in a room 

 or a vault, or interred in the ordinary way, without being ac- 

 cessible to worms. They may also be exposed to all the vari- 

 ations of the air, either in a standing or sitting position, with- 

 out undergoing any alteration. The inventers do not intend 

 to make their process public, but it may be adopted even by 

 those who reside at a considerable distance from Paris, as a body 

 placed in a leaden coffin or bathing tub, and completely sur- 

 rounded by ice, may be kept uninjured for twenty days, and 

 the operation may still be performed. At a late meeting oi* 

 the Academic des Sciences, a human body and also two hearts 

 preserved in this manner, were exhibited, and the process ap- 

 peared perfect. The discoloured state of the skin, occasioned 



