Specification of William Robert Lake : preserving dead bodies and carcasses.

  • Lake, William Robert.
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Specification of William Robert Lake : preserving dead bodies and carcasses. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    7/10 page 5
    Specification. A.D. 1869.—N° 3597. Lake_ s Improved Mode of Preserving Bead Bodies and Cc ircasses. take place in. these combinations. The chemistry of the body is very delicate and obscure; the effect, however, is certain the body or carcass is preserved in its life-like and juicy appearance when treated as above described, and its preservation is due to the introduction of an antiseptic 5 gas with another gas which restores the life-like color of the venous blood, whether the latter gas be antiseptic or not, the two gases being applied to or introduced in the body or carcass when under the influence of a neutral solution slightly alkaline, whether that influence is the result of a solution thrown into the arterial and vascular system or 10 whether it be otherwise incorporated with the tissues of the body or carcass, or whether it is antiseptic or not, provided the solution has the influence above described and is so applied as to bring it within reach of the gas or gases. The body may be subjected to the influence of the solution after the gases have been introduced with the same effect so far 15 as the preservation of the body is concerned as though the solution was applied first. The point is to bring the two influences together in the body as completely as possible in whichever way they may be applied, but the uniformity of color in the corpse is best preserved by applying the solution first. 20 Having thus fully described the said Invention in the art of preserving dead bodies or carcasses, as communicated to me by my foreign corre¬ spondent, and shewn how the same may be conveniently and advan¬ tageously carried into practice, I claim,— First. Preserving the body or carcass by combining in the arterial 25 and vascular system thereof the antiseptic or preserving qualities or influences of a fluid or fluids with a vapor, gas, or gases so made, mixed, or compounded as to exert an antiseptic influence upon the body when united therein, whether the gas or vapour and fluid or fluids are antiseptic in themselves or not, or whether they would exert an antiseptic 30 influence or not upon the body when separately applied thereto. Second. liestoring and preserving the life-like color of the venous blood, and the consequent life-like appearance of the corpse or flesh of the carcass by means of a combination of gases which are antiseptic and colour restoring in their influence when united in the vascular and 85 arterial system of the body, substantially as described. Third. Subjecting the body or carcass to an antiseptic influence in the form of a fluid introduced into the arterial and vascular systems and to an antiseptic influence in the form of a gas introduced into the blood
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3