Chapter VIII

GANNAL’S PROCESS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF NORMAL ANATOMY,
PATHOLOGICAL ANATOMY, AND NATURAL HISTORY, p. 197.--Difference
between the processes of preservation offered to anatomists, and
those practised for embalming: 1. Preservation of bodies for
dissection--Table of my experiments in 1828--In 1831--Kindness of
M. Professor Orfila--What formerly existed upon this matter--My
point of departure proceeding from the practice of artists--Action
of Acids--Salts--Aluminous salts--These possess in the highest
degree the preservative property--Selection to be made among
these salts--My first experiments--Satisfying results--Proved
by commissions appointed by the Academy of Sciences, and the
Academy of Medicine--Series of researches--Misreckoning--New
experiments--Superiority of the acetate of alum--Facts--Chloride
of alumine, its defects--Arsenic, and bad results--First
report of the Academy of Sciences--First report of the
Academy of Medicine--Definitive report of the Academy of
Medicine--Reflections--Some good results obtained at first
from a mixture of alum, nitrate of potash, and chloride of
sodium--Not sustained above the 10° of centigrade--Bath--Light
furnished by it--Data for new researches--Acetate of alumine
excellent--Reason for renouncing its use for amphitheatres--Simple
sulphate, its analysis--Demonstration of its superiority over
acid sulphate--Various liquors of which it is the base--Black
colour of the skin--Its cause--Report of the commission of the
Institute--Experiments of MM. Serres, Dubreuil, Bourgery, Azoux,
Velpeau, Amussat--My process applied to the dissecting rooms of
Clamart: 2. Anatomical preparations--Those of pathology, and
Natural history--Facts, proving a perfect preservation during many
years--Composition of various preservative liquids--Usage--Example
of the preservation of dry pieces by the simple sulphate--All
my experiments first attempted on the fœtus--Circumstances the
most unfavourable: 3. Embalming--There remains for me a series of
experiments to perform, to enable me to practise embalming--Data
to which I must confine myself--Have I attained my end?--Answer
to this question by facts--Exhumation--First observation--Second
observation.