Bibliography. ~ 195 
of dissection, and avoiding the miasmata incident to the decomposition 
of animal matter; and not unfrequently affection seeks to prolong the 
period between the death and burial of some relative or friend, espe- 
cially when this event has occurred at a distance from the residence 
of the deceased. 
This desideratum is fulfilled by the process of M. Gannal, which 
has received the sanction of the Academy of Sciences of Paris, and 
the Royal Academy of Medicine, whose commissioners have satis- 
factorily demonstrated the great utility and novelty of this mode of 
preserving dead bodies for dissection, without materially altering the 
organic tissues, or offering any injury to the instruments of the ope- 
rator. 
M. Gannal’s plan is to inject through the carotid artery, upwards 
and downwards, a solution of acetate of alumina in water. The ace- 
tate of alumina is prepared by the acetate of lead and the sulphate of 
alumina and potass. This acetate of alumina, at 18° of Baume’s 
areometer, and in the quantity of five or six quarts, is sufficient to 
preserve a body for five or six months, with scarce any alteration in 
color or appearance; after which time it desiccates, and the body 
€comes mummified and stiff. During this time putrefaction is com- 
pletely arrested, and it is the testimony of M. Serres, of the School 
of Practical Medicine, that by means of M. Gannal’s process they are 
enabled to prosecute anatomical demonstrations during the summer 
months the same as in winter, and that with thirty bodies at a time on 
the tables, no unpleasant odors arose, and seventy pupils could go 
through with all the operations in August and September, a thing be- 
fore quite imp le. 
he powerful preservative properties of aluminous salts, have been 
long known, and were not unfrequently resorted to by the ancients. 
Some remarkable instances of preservation by such a medium have 
accidentally occurred in our own country. That distinguished officer 
of the American revolution, General Wayne, died thirty or forty years 
ago, at Erie, Pa., and was buried in the vicinity of the lake; the body 
was not long since disinterred and removed by his son, who was as- 
tonished to find it in so perfect a state of preservation, and on exami- 
hation it was discovered to have been deposited in argillaceous soil 
‘ttongly impregnated with a solution of alum.* 
he translator, Dr. Harlan, has done a service to the medical pro- 
fession, and to all naturalists engaged in zoological investigations and 
collections, in placing this book before them. Whoever reads it ean- 
hot fail to observe that M. Gannal has made a great advance in this 
branch of knowledge beyond the unmeaning empirical balms of his 
raceme ee oe 
* The features were recognized by those who had known Gen, Wayne. 
ag 
