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Question
#3500. Maggie
asks:
Who was the 'Father of American Embalming'?
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barbs42
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Thomas Holmes
Dr. Thomas Holmes, the "father of American embalming," was engaged by the medical department of the Union Army to set up battlefield embalming stations to enable the bodies of Union dead to be returned home. Numerous embalmers were trained in these new techniques, which included preparation of embalming fluids.
http://waterindustry.org/arsenic-3.htm
The embalming surgeon was a Northern phenomenon. To date there seems to be no documentation that there were Southern embalming surgeons. When one looks at the circumstances surrounding the onset of this new trade, one can understand why it was not until after the War that embalming moved into the South.
Dr. Thomas Holmes, the "Father of Modern Embalming", was from New York, his protégées were all Northerners, the chemicals were developed, patented and manufactured in the North.
http://www.civilwarundertaker.net/history.htm
[Added references - McG]
Jun 23 00, 1:24 PM
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