The Essentials of Anatomy, Sanitary Science and Embalming

Experienced embalmer and mortician Asa Johnson Dodge discusses human anatomy and preparing the deceased for funerary services.

Dodge worked as a lecturer and embalmer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, teaching students in the Massachusetts College of Embalming. For modern readers, many of the procedures and methods he describes for preparing the dead for funerals are outdated or obsolete. However, for historical and cultural insight this guide is valuable. Most of the book is in a questions and answers format, discussing the correct treatment of individual organs, how to preserve and treat bodies in varying states of decay, and the sanitary procedures crucial to doing the job well.

Later on, the author describes at length the character traits necessary for being a mortician. Going into embalming and becoming a funeral director requires a specific personality, with emotional and professional integrity paramount. The author does not flinch from the reality of the work; the difficult sensory aspects of performing the job, and the need for emotional fortitude when making arrangements with the family of the decreased.