890 
PAEIS UNIVERSAL 
But tTie most remarkable chemical discovery of recent years 
is one that was made public in Paris during the progress of 
the Exposition of 1867, and for which the discoverer was 
awarded a grand gold medal by the International Jury. I re¬ 
fer to the process of Prof. Dr. Louis Brunetti, of the University 
of Padua, for the preservation of the form and appearance of 
r* 
animal bodies. Some such process has long been deemed a 
great desideratum of surgical science, and has long been labored 
for with unwearying patience by distinguished chemists in all 
countries. At first, the method of Prof Brunetti was kept a 
secret from all the world, except a commission composed of 
Baron Liebig, and Professors Tardieu and Milne Edwards, to 
whom the full details were communicated in the month of 
May. Having been carefully tested and cordially approved 
by these distinguished savans, on the 22d of August, the dis¬ 
covery, with precise details of the process, was presented by Dr. 
Brunetti, in the amphitheatre of the Faculty, at Paris, before 
the International Medical Congress there convened, and con¬ 
sisting of over six hundred French and foreign physicians of 
eminence. Its importance was deemed so great, and the cor¬ 
dial and generous manner of its presentation to the world so 
marked and commendable, that its communication was received 
by the Congress with three cheers and other demonstrations 
of great enthusiasm. 
The process, though four-fold, consisting of washing, scour¬ 
ing, tanning and drying, is perfectly intelligible to any one 
having only a partial knowledge of chemical agents; and since 
I have seen no notice of it in this country up to the date of 
this writing, I think proper to give it entire : 
The washing is effected by causing a current of water to 
pass through the blood vessels and excretory ducts, which ex¬ 
pels all the liquids—blood, lymph, etc.,—and which, in turn, 
is itself driven out by injecting alcohol. The scouring {degrais- 
sage) is accomplished by replacing the alcohol with sulphuric 
ether, which enters and passes through the natural vessels and 
ducts, and by penetrating the tissues dissolves out all fatty 
matters. This part of the operation requires several hours, 
