Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/33

* EMBALMING. 19 of wine, and then returned them to their cavities, packed in a powder composed of camphor, resin, and nitre. This powder he also placed in all external orifices. The body was then anointed with oil of rosemary and oil of lavender, and placed upon a layer of dry plaster, that it- i -i nre might be extracted from it. Bodies em- balmed after this method by William Hunter or his brother, John Hunter (q.v. ). in perfect condi- tion, are deposited in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. London. Other physician-, chief among them being Drs. Matthew Baillie, Sheldon, and Joshua Brooks, used similar methods. Jean Nicholas Gannal (1791-1852), a French chemist, employed a solution with which he wet the body and which he injected into the carotid artery; the solution was composed of acetate of lead and sulphate of alumina, together with some form of arsenic. His son, a physician of Paris, used a similar solution, but without the arsenic, and with the addition of certain essential oils. Gannal's method is much inferior to that of Sucquet, of Paris, who used chloride of zinc. Falcony, of Paris, used external applications of zinc sulphate, without opening the body or in- jecting the arteries; after 40 days his subjects lost their flexibility and became mummified. Thenard describes Chaussier's method, by which saturation with a. solution of corrosive sublimate was employed. A German preservative, which is said to render the dead body resistant of decay for several years, while it retains color, form, and flexibility, consists of alum, sodium chloride, potash, arsenious acid, and boiling water, with glycerin and methyl alcohol. This liquid is used for both saturation and injection. An impetus was given to embalming in this country by the successful work of Dr. Thomas Holmes, of Brooklyn, N. Y., who prepared and sent home many dead soldiers from the battlefields during the Civil War. Embalming is steadily taking the place of the use of ice, in preserving the dead until funeral services and interment are ended. There are two reasons for its employment: (1) Preservation of the body for transportation or leisurely disposal. (2) Sanitation; for it is an absolute prevention of communication of infec- tion, either before the body is buried or after it has crumbled and mingled with the earth in a cemetery. About four quarts of fluid are used for a body, some of which is injected into the arterial system, some into the cavities of the pleurae, peritoneum and pericardium, and some is used for saturation. Discolorations are removed by various processes. The composition of the em- balming fluids used to-day in the United States appears to be a secret known only to the un- dertaker's supply companies; it is believed that they contain arsenic and alkalies, as well as alcohol. Consult: Pettigrew, History of Egyptian Mummies (London, 1834) : Gannal. Trait4 d'embaumement (Paris, 1838), translated by Harlan (Philadelphia, 1840) ; Sucquet, Em- tio umement (Paris. 1872) ; Lessley, Embalming (Toledo, Ohio, 1884) ; Budge. The 'Mummy (Lon- don, 1893) ; Myers. Champion Text-Book of Em- balming (Springfield, Ohio, 1900). EMBANKMENTS. In engineering, masses of earth, rock, or other materials artificially formed and rising above the natural surface of the ground. They are built chiefly either to carry railways, common roads, canals, etc., over EMBARGO. depressions or for hydraulic purposes, such as the formation "i dams and reservoirs, or for de- fenses against the overflowing of river- and the encroachments of the sea or lakes. The form and dimensions of embankments and the materials and methods of construction adopted depend upon the purpose for which the embankment is to be used. In all cases except where they are confined by external constructions, such as re- taining walls, embankments are trapezoidal in seetion with a broad base and a narrow top eon nected by sloping sides. The material employed in constructing embankments varies from almost any available mixture of rocks and earth or other fragmentary material used in railway em- bankments to very carefully selected finely divided earths used in forming water-tight em- bankments for dam-, reservoirs, dikes, levees, and canals. The method of construction likewise varies from a mere dumping of the material in place to be roughly leveled off and allowed to settle under action of the elements, to a careful building up of the selected material in layers a few inches thick which are carefully compacted by ramming or rolling. Embankments for dams and reservoirs are instances where the more care- ful methods are employed. Embankments for railways are examples of less careful methods of embankment construction. In constructing embankments it is usually necessary, as a basis upon which to determine the cost, to calculate their volume. This calculation is made by means of the prismoidal formula for determining the volumes of prismoids. For a full discussion of the prismoidal formula and its application to earthworks, the reader should consult: Johnson, Theory and Practice of Surveying (New York. 1900) ; and Taylor, Prismoidal Formula' ami Earthwork (New York, 1898). See Dams and Reservoirs : Railways. EMBARGO (Sp., seizure). A law or execu- tive decree directing the detention in port of vessels, whether foreign or national. It may be for the purpose of using them for naval opera- tion, or in the event of some projected expedition to insure secrecy, or with a view to temporary non-intercourse with some foreign nation, or by way of reprisal. A hostile embargo by one na- tion prohibits the departure from its ports of vessels belonging to another with which it is at variance, for the purpose of securing a favorable settlement of the dispute, and in case of war of having an opportunity to make reprisals. While such a prohibition is held to be an established usage, the practice is generally disapproved. A civil embargo aims at non-intercourse, and is laid pursuant to plans of public policy, or for the protection of the merchant vessels of a neu- tral nation against the rules of belligerents. Con- sult the authorities referred to under Interna- tional Law; Political Economy. The first embargo in the history of the United States was laid on March 20. 1794. in retalia- tion for the British orders in council dated June 8, 1793, and November 6, 1793 (see Orders in Council), and remained in effect for sixty days. Subsequently during the wars be- tween France and Great Britain, successive French decrees and British orders in council drove the United States first to the passage of a non-importation act (April. 1806). and finally to the laying of another and stricter embargo December 22, 1807. This latter measure was in-