Miscellanies. 361 



unaltered, although it is now ten years since the experiment was 

 performed ; and it has been submitted to the action of water and of 

 insects. A parrot (Psittacus aestivus, Lin.) retains its original brill- 

 iancy of plumage, unimpaired. Eggs of the land turtle, turtles, va- 

 rious tarantulae, a water snake, a toad, various kinds of fish, snails 

 and insects, are in a perfect state of preservation. To these, are 

 added various parts of the human body. A hand of a lady, who 

 died of consumption, preserves the emaciation of the disease and of 

 death. Another of a man is flexible in the different phalangic ar- 

 ticulations, and yet unalterable ; a foot with the nails perfectly fast, a 

 collection of all the intestines of a child, in their natural colors and 

 forms, with the fecal matters unremoved ; the liver of a man who 

 died from intemperance, dark and lustrous like ebony ; an entire hu- 

 man brain with its convolutions, of extreme hardness ; the skin of a 

 woman's breast, naturally configured ; a pate of a girl perfectly flex- 

 ible, from which the hair hangs in curls ; the head of an infant part- 

 ly destroyed, and discolored by putrefaction. There is also in the 

 cabinet of Sig. Segato, a table constructed as follows. A spheroi- 

 dal surface of wood contains a parallelogram, composed of two hun- 

 dred and fourteen pieces, regularly arranged. These to the eye ap- 

 pear like the most beautiful pietre dure that have been produced by 

 nature. Their various colors, polish and splendor, and their surpri- 

 sing hardness would leave no doubt of their stony character. The 

 sharpest file, with difficulty, makes an impression on any of them ; 

 some it does not attack at all. These pieces, are all portions of the 

 human body, hardened by this new process ; as the heart, liver, 

 pancreas, spleen, tongue, brain, arteries, he, he, all resembling 

 the most highly polished precious marbles. An entire body has not 

 yet been tried, principally on account of the limited resources of 

 Sig. Segato, although the expense would be but about one tenth of 

 that of embalming by the ordinary process. 



Great advantages to science, especially to natural history and hu- 

 man anatomy, are expected to result from this discovery ; and it is 

 even confidently beheved that the remains of friends, of men of sci- 

 •€nce and of worth, may be preserved for ages in the exact form and 

 appearance, in which the hand of death found them, with nothing 

 offensive or revolting about them. 



As vouchers for the accuracy of the statements contained in the 

 pamphlet, the certificates of many of the ditinguished physicians, 

 professors and men of science in Florence, where Sig. Segato re- 



VoL. XXIX.— No. 2. 46 



