Embalming

[gary]

link
Found this tidbit on the subject matteer:

"Joshua S. Smith, a corporal of company G, 5th regiment Wis Vol., died in the hospital at Washington, on the 26th ult. The evening before his death Capt. Bugh visited him and found him, as he supposed, very much improved, so much so, that he expected to be able to join his company in two or three days. The next morning Capt. Bugh learned to his great surprise that he was dead. Capt. Bugh had the body embalmed and expressed home. The embalming process is a discovery of Dr. Holmes, of Washington, and was patented Dec 16th, 1861.

We are indebted to a private letter from Capt. Bugh for the manner in which the embalming is done.

'The body was rendered nude and placed in a horizontal position on a platform. A very small incision was then made in the left arm, to get at a vein; a tube was then inserted in the vein, and attached to a pump; the pump was set in a vessel containing about two gallons of a prepared fluid, and then this fluid was injected into the blood vessels.

Before the commencement of the operation, the face was very much emaciated, and the body quite reduced; but in a few seconds after the commencement of the embalming process, the blood vessels began to enlarge, the face became full, and the whole body assumed a life-like healthy appearance.'"

 

[Homeschooler]

That's interesting. I didn't know embalming was that popular back then. Do you know what the fluid was?

 

[gary]

Sorry, never took a deep dive into it. Another member with the knowledge will come along.

 

[gary]

From the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, it was aresnic:

Link b/c you asked

 

[Homeschooler]

From the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, it was aresnic:

Link b/c you asked

Thanks for sharing. Fascinating stuff.

 

[gary]

As a result of his successful preservation of Ellsworth's body, Dr. Holmes work became known. The Army Medical Corps commissioned him to embalm the corpses of dead Union officers in order that they might be sent home for burial. Holmes is said to have embalmed as many as 4,000 bodies himself, but that did not begin to meet the need.

Holmes created and bottled a fluid that could be used for embalming. The chemicals used during the Civil War were a mixture of arsenic, zinc and mercuric chlorides, creosote, turpentine and alcohol. (Formaldehyde, which soon became the primary ingredient, was not yet in use.)

link

 

[Wawyasto]

"arsenic, zinc and mercuric chlorides, creosote, turpentine and alcohol" Well if you weren't dead before, this elixir of carcinogens and poisons will leave no doubt of your mortality...

Given the choice of being an embalmer or infantryman, I'd give it even odds both will kill you just as dead, the only question being how long it'll take.

 

[Library Lady]

"arsenic, zinc and mercuric chlorides, creosote, turpentine and alcohol" Well if you weren't dead before, this elixir of carcinogens and poisons will leave no doubt of your mortality...

Given the choice of being an embalmer or infantryman, I'd give it even odds both will kill you just as dead, the only question being how long it'll take.

With an attitude like that in Gilded Age America, you would be medically missing out.

Arsenic was sometimes seen as a stimulant back then, but actually strychnine worked better and was the performance-enhancing drug of choice for athletes participating in wobbles (kind of a cross between a walking race and a dance marathon). It was ingested orally. Arsenic trioxide is used today as an FDA-approved treatment for acute promyelocytic leukemia

Mercuric chloride was the treatment of choice for syphilis before antibiotics. It was ingested orally.

Creosote has anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties that made it good for skin conditions. It still is. It's applied topically.

Turpentine was used for all kinds of things (see link below). If you've ever used Vicks VapoRub, then you've used turpentine, probably without knowing it because it is an inactive ingredient.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/is-turpentine-medicine

As for alcohol, there were places where it was safer to drink the booze than to drink the water.

Zinc chloride is used today as a component of TPN (total parenteral nutrition) for those who can't eat by mouth, including premature babies in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). It is supplied intravenously.

 

[35th MA InfRegt]

With an attitude like that in Gilded Age America, you would be medically missing out.

Arsenic was sometimes seen as a stimulant back then, but actually strychnine worked better and was the performance-enhancing drug of choice for athletes participating in wobbles (kind of a cross between a walking race and a dance marathon). It was ingested orally. Arsenic trioxide is used today as an FDA-approved treatment for acute promyelocytic leukemia

Mercuric chloride was the treatment of choice for syphilis before antibiotics. It was ingested orally.

Creosote has anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties that made it good for skin conditions. It still is. It's applied topically.

Turpentine was used for all kinds of things (see link below). If you've ever used Vicks VapoRub, then you've used turpentine, probably without knowing it because it is an inactive ingredient.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/is-turpentine-medicine

As for alcohol, there were places where it was safer to drink the booze than to drink the water.

Zinc chloride is used today as a component of TPN (total parenteral nutrition) for those who can't eat by mouth, including premature babies in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). It is supplied intravenously.

I will probably regret asking this, but was being an embalmer a hazardous profession? Some of these substances-arsenic, mercury, strychnine-sound like the sort of things you would want to avoid ingesting.

 

[gary]

I will probably regret asking this, but was being an embalmer a hazardous profession? Some of these substances-arsenic, mercury, strychnine-sound like the sort of things you would want to avoid ingesting.

Would be interesting to study their longevity. "Mad as a hatter" comes to mind, but silk hats replaced beaver skins and hatters probably lived longer in the 1860s-1870s than their Fur Trade era predecessors.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

I will probably regret asking this, but was being an embalmer a hazardous profession? Some of these substances-arsenic, mercury, strychnine-sound like the sort of things you would want to avoid ingesting.

Yes it was. I have an errand to do so I can't find the primary source, but I read, probably six months back, that early embalmers did die from accumulated poisoning. They didn't have rubber gloves or other personal protective gear - that was decades in the future. Handling all those substances, especially mercury and arsenic, absorbs through the skin very easily and being heavy metals they absorb in the body. In NH, DES doesn't allow arsenic in water above 5 ppb (parts per billion) - because it is a known cancer causing agent. Sadly, being in the Granite State, arsenic is a natural in wells unless you remediate for it - lots of kidney and bladder cancer in people and pets from it. So… imagine handling it almost daily and also breathing in the micro vapor from it, and all the other toxins that went along with embalming. Won't take many years before you get cancer yourself.

Eventually the government banned the use of the these chemicals in embalming because of the hazard in handling them.

 

[John Winn]

"arsenic, zinc and mercuric chlorides, creosote, turpentine and alcohol" Well if you weren't dead before, this elixir of carcinogens and poisons will leave no doubt of your mortality...

Given the choice of being an embalmer or infantryman, I'd give it even odds both will kill you just as dead, the only question being how long it'll take.

But hey, you'd already be embalmed so wouldn't have to pay for that.

 

[Nathan Stuart]

So seems embalming became popular during the CW to facilitate transportation of dead soldiers often over long distances for home burials.

 

[Dispatch]

That's interesting. I didn't know embalming was that popular back then. Do you know what the fluid was?

Most likely a very early version of Frank's RedHot, even back then they put that sh*t on everything...

 

[rebelatsea]

With an attitude like that in Gilded Age America, you would be medically missing out.

Arsenic was sometimes seen as a stimulant back then, but actually strychnine worked better and was the performance-enhancing drug of choice for athletes participating in wobbles (kind of a cross between a walking race and a dance marathon). It was ingested orally. Arsenic trioxide is used today as an FDA-approved treatment for acute promyelocytic leukemia

Mercuric chloride was the treatment of choice for syphilis before antibiotics. It was ingested orally.

Creosote has anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties that made it good for skin conditions. It still is. It's applied topically.

Turpentine was used for all kinds of things (see link below). If you've ever used Vicks VapoRub, then you've used turpentine, probably without knowing it because it is an inactive ingredient.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/is-turpentine-medicine

As for alcohol, there were places where it was safer to drink the booze than to drink the water.

Zinc chloride is used today as a component of TPN (total parenteral nutrition) for those who can't eat by mouth, including premature babies in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). It is supplied intravenously.

I always though mercuric chloride was injected into the eurethra to treat syphilis, I'm sure I've seen the syringes in the National Army Museum here in the UK.

 

[Old Soldier]

Embalming was done for a reason. Any bodies 'sent home' would be travelling a long time/distance and decay would soon set in. The embalming would have been very basic and specifically for that reason. Note it was only for officers.

The other ranks were buried on the battlefield for the same reason. Many post-battle photos of the bodies already show rigor mortis setting in. They were often dug up later - years later - and reburied locally in military cemetries or sent home for burial if the remains could be identified. Identification was not guaranteed - and certainly not by appearance..

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

I always though mercuric chloride was injected into the eurethra to treat syphilis, I'm sure I've seen the syringes in the National Army Museum here in the UK.

Yes it was and it was also used as a vaginal ******. Mercuric chloride was also the stuff in the "blue mass" pills the Civil War doctors were handing out and it was also used in Calomel which interestingly enough wasn't banned until 1948 when they made the connection that using Calomel on babies for teething issues caused intense itching, redness, and other skin issues.

Many people died from renal failure - like within 6 days as the mercuric chloride built up in their systems. It is highly toxic.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

I didn't know d-o-u-c-h-e was a bad word!

 

[35th MA InfRegt]

Yes it was and it was also used as a vaginal ******. Mercuric chloride was also the stuff in the "blue mass" pills the Civil War doctors were handing out and it was also used in Calomel which interestingly enough wasn't banned until 1948 when they made the connection that using Calomel on babies for teething issues caused intense itching, redness, and other skin issues.

Many people died from renal failure - like within 6 days as the mercuric chloride built up in their systems. It is highly toxic.

Some patients-maybe a LOT of patients-in the Civil War era might have been better off without ANY so-called "professional" medical care if the practitioners were handing out arsenic and mercury like it was candy. Not to slam the whole profession unduly, but the medical educational and licencing standards of the period were obviously a work in progress.

 

[Library Lady]

Some patients-maybe a LOT of patients-in the Civil War era might have been better off without ANY so-called "professional" medical care if the practitioners were handing out arsenic and mercury like it was candy. Not to slam the whole profession unduly, but the medical educational and licencing standards of the period were obviously a work in progress.

They pretty much still were in 1910.

https://archive.carnegiefoundation.org/publications/pdfs/elibrary/Carnegie_Flexner_Report.pdf