Preserve the Corpses

[Justin Pickard]

An earlier discovery of Formaldehyde, anyone?

 

[Satyrane]

Squidgy.

Leonardo da Vinci is happy. Better understanding of squidgy anatomy, because you get longer to analyse interesting squidgy bits before they go off? Easier to share knowledge, since you can preserve your latest interesting squidgy find to show other squidge-mongers. Earlier advances in surgery.

 

[Thande]

[chemistry pedantry] Actually, the stuff in tanks is paraformaldehyde, the polymer: formaldehyde itself is almost never isolated. [/chemistry pedantry]

 

[Alikchi]

Just how much earlier? Imagine opening up a mummy's tomb and finding his body mostly intact.

 

[Zyzzyva]

They didn't use Formaldehyde. They mostly used salt and Vinegar (ie they pickled them).

 

[Leo Caesius]

As well as bitumen (e.g. asphalt and tar). This had the side effect of staining the flesh black. There have also been (unconfirmed) reports of mummies preserved in honey.

 

[Leo Caesius]

Actually, the process of mummification was not unlike curing a Virginia ham.

 

[david3565]

Apparently, the super-preserved Chinese mummies from around 2,000 years ago (see Lady Dai) used some type of mercury-based/mercury-rich concoction. Those mummies are so well preserved, that the flesh is still pliable and they used normal autopsy techniques to examine them.

 

[Straha]

Time to pop open a cold one!

 

[Zyzzyva]

Time to pop open a cold one!

Thank you for that. I can never drink beer again, you bastard.