Embalming 1 Terms

American Board of Funeral Service Education

The agency charged with developing curriculum and accreditation standards for funeral service education programs in the United States

Babylonians

Culture associated with the practice of immersing the body of the dead in earthen jars filled with honey or wax

Canopic Jars

Used by the Egyptians: Four jars, usually made of alabaster, limestone, clay, or basalt, whose tops were surmounted by the images of the four children of Horus. Each held a specific portion of the viscera of the deceased

Edwin Chadwick

English investigator of mass corruption in regards to English burial practices who recommended that cemeteries be municipalized and that religious rites be simplified and standardized in 1842

Effluvia

An unpleasant smell from harmful vapors or gas/fumes usually given off by waste or decaying matter such as a dead human body

Circle of Necessity

In Egyptian culture, the journey to the Sun and back which required 3,000 years to complete. This belief created the need for embalming

Joseph Henry Clarke

Founded Clarke School of Embalming at Cincinnati, 1882 (Now Cincinnati College). Author and holder of several patents

Jean N. Gannal

French Chemist who developed early embalming methods including injection through the carotid arteries. Author of History of Embalming

J. Anthony Gaussardia

Patented process of embalming involving the injection of an arsenic-alcohol mixture

Richard Harlan

Responsible for bringing the European embalming techniques to the United States

Dr. William Harvey

Discovered the circulation of blood

Dr. Thomas Holmes

“Father of Modern Embalming in the United States”

John Hunter

Scottish anatomist credited with the discovery of “Hunters Canal”

August Hoffman

Credited with the discovery of the chemical formaldehyde

International Conference of Funeral Service Examining Boards

The agency responsible for the production, administration, and integrity of the National Board Examination. Also referred to as “The Conference”

Anton von Leeuwenhoek

Inventor of the microscope- “Father of Microbiology” (Father of Bacteriology)

Marcello Malpighi

“Father of Histology”, the study of tissues

Natron

A salt obtained from the dry lakes of the desert used by the Egyptians in the mummification process. (It was once thought that the body was covered in natron for 70 days. Modern translations of the Book of the Dead state that the body was covered for only 20 days).

Necropolis

In Egyptian history, the walled suburb of a major city where embalming was performed. Also known as “The City of the Dead”

North American Indians

Skinned their dead as part of the body preparation procedure- also associated with the Tree Burial

Dr. Auguste Renouard

Author of the Undertaker’s Manual- the first book published specifically as an embalming textbook in the United States

Frederick Ruysch

Considered the “Father of Embalming” the first to refine the technique of arterial injection of a preservative into the vascular system

Catacombs

Originated in ancient Rome as excavated cemeteries cut out of soft rock for the tombs of wealthy Christians; later became a place for religious rites to avoid persecution

Evisceration

Removal of the abdominal viscera

Immersion

The act of immersing or the state of being immersed

Tabona

A flint knife used to make an incision in the lower abdomen of the deceased in the Canary Islands