82 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 55. 



country leads tlie committee to the belief 

 that the law of the State of Pennsylvania is 

 the best, in the fact that it includes in its 

 terms all the provisions necessary to compel 

 compliance on the part of public officers and 

 to protect the citizens of the Commonwealth 

 iu all of their rights. It is also observed in 

 the examination of the laws of other States 

 that many of them have been founded^upon 

 this law, but in no instance have all of the 

 provisions of the law been incorporated. 

 This is possibly to be expected, as the con- 

 ditions existing in each State control the 

 actions of the legislative bodies in the fram- 

 ing of laws. A copy of the law of the State 

 of Pennsj'lvania is appended to this report, 

 and may be examined by the members of 

 the Association. 



With regard to the disposition of the re- 

 mains left after dissection, the committee 

 feels it proper to advise that so far as pos- 

 sible they should be decently interred. 

 Under any circumstance the committee 

 thinks that it is not in keeping with the 

 proper sentiment to dispose of them in the 

 manner in which it is feared it is sometimes 

 done. The retention of bones in some in- 

 stances for the purposes of study and in- 

 struction and for the preparation of articu- 

 lated skeletons is necessary and sanctioned. 



With regard to the preservation of an- 

 atomical material by the injection of chem- 

 ical agents or by cold-storage method, the 

 committee feels that the information re- 

 ceived is not as specific and comprehensive 

 as desired. The agents reported to be in 

 use, either alone or in combination, are 

 such as are well known to the teachers of 

 anatomy. There is apparently no conclu- 

 sive evidence that any one of the agents 

 alone, or in combination, accomplishes all 

 that is desired in the way of the perfect 

 preservation of anatomical material. Per- 

 fect preservation includes not only freedom 

 from decomposition, but the maintenance of 

 the tissues in a normal condition as nearly 



as possible, and the existence of these con- 

 ditions for such length of time as may be 

 necessary in the storage of subjects on one 

 hand and the time required for the work of 

 actual dissection on the other hand. In . 

 many institutions it is necessary to collect 

 during a period of the year, and that the 

 most unfavorable season, so far as temper- 

 ature is concerned, a number of subjects 

 which shall be kept in a state of preserva- 

 tion for a number of months, so that they 

 may be, in every respect, suitable for dis- 

 section. To accomplish this it is necessary 

 to employ an agent which will not only 

 prevent decomposition, but also to provide 

 some means to so keep the subject that it 

 may be maintained in this condition of 

 preservation without material change in 

 the color or character of the tissues. These 

 ends are to be obtained, it is also to be ob- 

 served, within what may be regarded as a 

 reasonable cost. To accomplish. the latter 

 object it is manifest that one agent should 

 be used rather than a combination of agents. 

 For instance, the use of arsenious acid or 

 bicloride of mercury, both of which are in- 

 expensive, will provide a means of preserva- 

 tion at no very great cost. When these 

 agents, however, are used in combination 

 with glycerine, rectified spirits, or methylic 

 alcohol, the cost will be materially in- 

 creased and the storage of the subjects, 

 thus injected, in alcohol or other agent of 

 similar character, will add to the expense. 

 The committee is not able to say from the 

 information received that any of these 

 agents will preserve anatomical material 

 for a number of months. Undoubtedly solu- 

 tions of bicloride of mercury, arsenic or 

 carbolic acid, will prevent the occurrence of 

 decomposition for a limited period of time, 

 sufficient under ordinary circumstances for 

 the complete dissection of the subject, but 

 no evidence M^as adduced that these agents, 

 when injected into a subject which was to 

 be stored in a saline solution for a number 



