Specification of Pierre Armande Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau : preserving animal substances, &c.

  • Fontainemoreau, Pierre Armand, comte de.
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Specification of Pierre Armande Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau : preserving animal substances, &c. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Fmtainemorean's Improvements in Preserving Animal Substances, tyc. and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her Majesty’s High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear. NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Pierre Armand Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof that is to say :—• The Invention communicated to me consists in the employment of metallic salts, but preferably of sulphate of zinc in a state of aqueous solution at certain degrees of strength, for the preservation of corpses or anatomic parts and animal substances in general from decay, which said metallic solution, when combined with certain emollient substances, is applicable to the cure of external diseases. To obtain the above effects I operate as follows :— The salts of zinc, as they are found in commerce, may be used, but I employ by preference the metal itself, on account of its superior state of purity. I dissolve a portion of zinc previously granulated in water mixed with sulphuric acid, which I cause to combine immediately and form a solution of the strength of thirty or forty degrees of Beaume’s aerometer. I filter the solution and leave it at rest several days, in order to allow it to deposit all the heterogenous particles it may hold in suspension. When the deposit is formed I decant the liquid part with care, and I employ it for injections, by introducing it through one of the arteries of the corpse. If the subject is intended to be exposed to the open air, or in a naked condition, I add to my solution during the operation of injection one third of its weight of oil of turpentine, so that it may form a complete amalgamation. According to discretion, I give any desired odour by means of an essence, and I also give it a red colour. If I have to preserve anatomic parts by immersion, then I employ my solution in a pure state, and concentrate it only to twenty or twenty-five degrees. I prepare this solution in a similar manner to the first. When the said principle is applied to the cure of gangreous wounds and other similar external diseases, I employ the liquid in the highest concentrated condition, and weaken it in a decoction of linseed, marsh mallow, or other emollient plants, and I reduce it to the strength of four to ten degrees. I make use of it by imbibing lint or compress with it, which I apply on the wound, taking care to change it each time until a complete cure has been effected. When it