122 
THE MODERN CEMETERY. 
inappropriately and without due regard to all the 
conditions involved, both as to man and the ceme- 
tery, it is only a huge stone, and very likely to be 
a blot on the landscape. 
Embalming as a Sanitary Measure.* 
For years we have been embalming bodies with 
the one object in view of preserving them. To-day 
we add to this a more important object, and that is 
to destroy contagious and infectious diseases, and 
protect the living. All over the world scientists 
are much interested on the subject of sanitation, 
and they are devoting more time to the question of 
diseases and their germs, than to any other subject 
now before the people. It is a subject which we 
must study if we wish to understand what we are 
doing when we embalm the bodies of the dead. 
We are at the present time asking for legislation 
to protect in the science in which we are engaged, 
and in order to secure such legislation we must 
show that we are qualified to properly and intelli- 
gently do the work entrusted to our care. While it 
is important that a body should be preserved, it is 
still more important that the living, and especially 
those who come in contact with the dead, should 
be protected against the germs of infectious and 
contagious diseases. 
In all infectious and contagious diseases we have 
to deal with some of the smallest forms of plant 
life, called bacteria. These are micro-organisms, 
which are present in the body, the air, and water. 
They are classified to some extent only, as they are 
not all thoroughly understood, but they have been 
classified enough to know that some live on live 
tissue, called parasitic germs, while others live on 
dead matter, and are called saprophytic germs. 
Among the latter are those that the embalmer 
must destroy when decomposition takes place, 
while in infection and contagion he must understand 
how to reach and destroy the parasitic germs. 
That we can destroy these parasitic germs by 
the chemicals which we use in embalming is a posi- 
tive fact. With the aid of the microscope, we learn 
that we have two forms of development; one by 
simple division, and the other by what is called 
sporing, the mother cell containing a daughter cell, 
and these developments take place in the living 
subject at the normal temperature of the body gen- 
erally. To prepare cultures for laboratory use, 
some of these germs are put into a propagating me- 
dium, usually an extract of beef-boullion, with 
which we may mix gelatine or agar-agar, or on a slic- 
ed boiled potato, these media having the elements 
on which these micro-organisms live. To properly 
♦Extracts from a paper read before the National Association of Fun- 
eral Directors, by W. P. Hohenschuh. 
develop them in these, it is necessary that they be 
kept at the temperature of the living body. After 
death, when the temperature of the body falls to 
that of the surrounding air, these germs cease to 
develop, but they do not die, and are present either 
in themselves or in the spore. * * * 
I call attention to this fact, because from it wq 
can demonstrate that these germs, even though they 
have stopped developing, if brought into contact 
with a propagating medium with the necessary tem- 
perature, will again assume vitality. * * 
As acids will destroy some of these germs, we 
take advantage of that fact by making use of them 
in embalming fluids. Still, they cannot be depend- 
ed on entirely, as experiments have proven that the 
spores of anthrax will withstand the action of a 5 
per cent, solution, it is necessary to use something 
more effective. There are many chemical agencies 
which prevent the development of germs and des- 
troy them, as well as the spores, but the principal 
one used all over the world, and always in the lab- 
oratory of the bacteriologist, is bi-chloride of mer- 
cury, which, in a solution of one in a thousand, i^ an 
absolute destroyer of all germs. 
The next question is, as to how we can reach 
these germs, as in different diseases the germs are 
found in different portions and organs, of the body. 
In septicoemia and anthrax they are found in the 
blood; in diphtheria, in the membrane of the throat, 
and in typhoid fever, in the spleen, lympathics, 
and intestines. 
In scarlet fever they are supposed to be only on 
the surface of the skin. # # # 
It is the duty of the embalmer to understand 
how to absolutely destroy these germs. We have 
two ways of doing this: By the direct application of 
our antiseptics on the parts infected, or by injecting 
them into the arterial system. 
In the circulation of the blood through the sys- 
tem, we have everything to favor us in doing thor- 
ough work. While the blood can only flow in one 
direction through the veins, we have in the arteries 
a system in which circulation can be had in both 
ways, either to or from the heart. We have in 
these arteries and their capillaries a way of reach- 
ing every portion of the body, and should there be 
a blood clot, or any other cause to impede the flow 
of the fluid through any branch of this system, the 
circulation is still made complete by the anastomo- 
sis of the vessels in all parts of the body. We are 
on this account absolutely sure of reaching at least 
every portion of the body outside of the organs. 
Should it so happen that an infected organ 
should not receive the injection of the antiseptic 
fluid, say, for instance, the spleen, in typhoid fever, 
we are still surrounded by other tissues that are in- 
