A new method of making anatomical preparations : particularly those relating to the nervous system / by Joseph Swan.

Date:
1833
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A new method of making anatomical preparations : particularly those relating to the nervous system / by Joseph Swan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    few days. It must be observed that if any of the parts, and particiihirly the fingers and toes, have been allowed to become dry, it is very difficult, if not im- possible, to soften them again, so that the hands and feet should be kept continually covered with cloths moistened with water. When a subject is putrid, and the muscles very large, it is best to inject it with the solution, but this may not sufficiently stop the putrefactive process ; the integuments must be carefully removed, and the mus- cles separated, and the subject then put into the solu- tion for two or three days, as it has previously been noticed. It may be presumed that leaving the subject a much longer time in the solution will put an entire stop to putrefaction, but this is a great mistake. It becomes necessary to expose and separate partially with the finger the deep parts, as the muscles of the loins, the gluteal and those of the thighs, and those of the neck and scapula, will be entirely destroyed unless the solution be allowed to penetrate them ; and it will be found, to the mortification of the anatomist, if this has not been attended to, that although putre- faction may appear to have stopped, the deep-seated muscles and nerves will be so tender as to be torn in pieces by the slight handling necessary for their separa- tion. When the muscles cannot be well separated,