From “Victorian Inventions” by Leonard De Vries published by American Heritage Press in 1972
Dr Varlot, a surgeon in a major hospital in Paris, has developed a method of covering the body of a deceased person with a layer of metal in order to preserve it for eternity. The drawing illustrates how this is done with the cadaver of a child. The body is first made electrically conductive by atomising nitrate of silver on to it. To free the silver in this solution, the object is placed under a glass dome from which the air is evacuated and exposed to the vapours of white phosphorus dissolved in carbon disulphide. Having been made conductive, the body is immersed in a galvanic bath of sulphate of copper, thus causing a 1 millimetre thick layer of metallic copper to be deposited on the skin. The result is a brilliant red copper finish of exceptional strength and durability.
Nice try Dr Varlot, But the day I want a dead relative electroplated with brilliant red copper standing in a corner of my living room I hope someone has the sense to send me to the funnyfarm – Ted
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