Executive Offices - Embalming Supply Company

AppliedEmbalming
By John A. Chew, Director of Education and Ray LaFramboise, Director of Sales
Embalming is defined as the disinfecting, preserving and restoration of the dead human body to a
natural form and color. Embalming is a temporary process which prevents, retards and controls
postmortem changes known as decomposition.
Embalming bypasses the rotting stages, allowing for an eventual body breakdown through oxidation
and dissolution. (Oxidation being the loss of electrons from + to –, a combination with oxygen. Dissolution
being a separation of compounds.)
Sanibalming is the primary purpose of the embalming process. It interacts with intrinsic, and extrinsic,
microbial agents and their enzymatic products. It also provides a neutralization for the bodies normal
enzymes, which at death activate the autolysis process called self digestion.
Decomposition is an overall description of a series of processes which occur within the body’s
components after death.
The body is made up of elements combined to form compounds, which combine to form the basic
structural unit of the body, a cell. Cells combine to form tissues, tissues combined form organs, and the
organs combine to form the systems of the body.
The tripod of life is formed by three interrelated systems, the nervous, the circulatory, and the
respiratory. Eight other systems are dependent on the tripod of life. However, the tripod is so dependent
on itself that if any part dies, it activates a reverse process. The systems break down, followed by the organs,
the tissues, the cells and the compounds, until the body reverts back to the elements.
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