The use of the chlorate of soda, and the chlorate of lime / by A.G. Labarraque ; Translated by James Scott.

  • Labarraque, A. G. (Antoine Germain), 1777-1850.
Date:
1826
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The use of the chlorate of soda, and the chlorate of lime / by A.G. Labarraque ; Translated by James Scott. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/36 (page 11)
    the following month, I related cases where these power¬ ful antiseptics (which I am about to describe in this work) received useful and extended application, I, therefore, expressed my wish that dissecting rooms, ‘‘the Morgue,” and other places corrupted by animal matter, should be disinfected by these means, and the directing authorities, after numerous experiments which were always attended with the most flattering success, gave the requisite orders for its application. I recom¬ mended, as particularly indispensable, the use of the Chlorates in cases of disinterment, for judicial examina¬ tion, of bodies which had been many weeks buried. The propriety of this has been verified by Professor Orjila, on a body that had been interred thirty-two days, at the warmest season of the year.® * Report of a post-mortem examination made, at the request of the li Procureur du Roi* *’ 1st August, 1823, by Messrs. Orjila, Henriette, Getdy, and Lesucur ; prepared by M. Henndle, “ Oil the 1st August, 1823, at the request of the “ Procureur du Roi,” Messrs. Orlila, Lesueur, Gerdy, and myself, went to the Cemetery of Père-là-Chaise, to examine the body ol a person named B***, who had been dead a month. At half-past 7 in the morning we proceeded to exhumate the body, which exhaled an in¬ fectious odour. It remained till half-past 10 on the ground out of its coffin, the persons who were to identify it not having arrived. The temperature was from 17 to 18 degrees of the centigrade ther¬ mometer. The body was taken to an open and airy place, that the .examination might be made as conveniently and pub/icly as pos¬ sible. The odour had become still more insupportable, and tlie body swollen very considerably since its disinterment. It was therefore important to make the examination as speedily as pos¬ sible. We began by sprinkling the body with Chlorate of Lime dissolved in water. This solution introduced by M. Labarraque, “ Pharmacien,” produced a wonderful cilect, for scarcely had it been applied, than the infectious odour w as instantly destroyed, and we could begin thp operation/' B 2