History of Funeral Service

Adaptive Funeral

funeral rite that is adjusted to the needs and wants of those directly involved; altered to suit the trends of the times.

American Board of Funeral Service Education

The agency charged with developing curriculum and accreditation standards for funeral service education programs in the United States.

Animistic View

early Roman view of the afterlife which emphasizes the soul as the vital principle. The soul at death hovered around the place of burial and required constant attention of the descendents to be happy. Neglect would bring evil upon them.

Anthropoid

human shaped; some early coffins were described as anthropoidal shaped.

Anubis

Egyptian god of embalming said to be of human form with the head of a jackal.

Babylonians

culture associated with the practice of immersing the body of the dead in earthern jars filled with honey or wax.

Barber-surgeon

approximately 1540-1745 were the sole agency permitted to embalm and perform anatomical dissections in the city of London.

Bier

forerunner of today's hearse; a hand stretcher on which the uncoffined body was carried to the grave.

Bloodletting

belief or practice of draining a quantity of blood to cure illness or disease.

Burial case

generic term used in America to designate all burial receptacles as new variations of the coffin were being offered.

Burial club

created in 1800's London by the 'poor' people as a means to afford funerals; costs were shared by others via weekly collections; were the forerunners of industrial insurance.

Burial in Woolen Act of 1666

required that woolen cloth be substituted for linen in the shroud and lining of the coffin; was an attempt to shift the use of imported linen to the expanding paper industry of England and provide customers for the wool industry. Heavy fines were assessed

Burial vault

outer enclosure for caskets placed in the grave; originally intended to prevent grave robbery.

Canopic Jars

used by the Egyptians; four jars, usually made of alabaster, limestone, clay or basalt, whose tops were surmounted by the images of the four children of Horus, each held a specific portion of the viscera of the deceased.

Casket

from the French term 'casse' meaning 'jewel box' or container for something valuable; came into dominant use in patent literature for burial receptacles in 1890's in America; a rigid container which is designed for the encasement of human remains and whic

Casket Manufacturers Association

organization of the casket manufacturers intended to facilitate sharing of information (now known as the Casket and Funeral Supply Association).

Catacombs

originated in ancient Rome as excavated cemeteries cut out of soft rock for the tombs of wealthy Christians; later became a place for religious rites to avoid persecution.

Catafalque

raised platform (with or without a canopy) used for a body to lie in state.

Chadwick's report

1840's reported on unsanitary conditions in London created by intramural burials, the high cost of funerals and the 1st use of the death certificate.

Edwin Chadwick

English investigator of mass corruption in regard to English burial practices who recommended that cemeteries be municipalized and that religious rites be simplified and standardized in 1842.

Circle of Necessity

in Egyptian culture, the journey to the Sun and back which required 3,000 years to complete.

Joseph Henry Clarke

founded Clarke School of Embalming at Cincinnati (now Cincinnati College) in 1882. Author and holder of several patents.

Coffin

from the Greek word 'kofinos'; utilitarian container designed to hold human remains, often anthropoidal in shape.

Conference of Funeral Service Examining Boards

organization of licensing agencies in North America; responsible for the national licensing exam known as the National Board Exam; established in St. Louis in 1904.

Cooling Board

portable table on which the body was placed while the corpse cooler was in use; later became the embalming table when embalming was done in the home of the deceased.

Corpse Cooler

type of ice chest placed over the torso the body to slow down the process of decomp prior to the funeral. It was typically a responsibility of the undertaker to provide ice and change the ice when it melted.

Cortege

funeral procession

Cremation

method of disposing of the dead body via fire; first attributed to the ancient Greeks.

Cremation Association of North America

Founded in 1913, CANA is an international organization of cemeterians, cremationists, funeral directors, industry suppliers, and consultants. CANA was originally formed to promote cremation as a modern, safe and hygienic way of dealing with a dead human b

Crier

English custom of Middle Ages which lasted until 19th century; person who walked the street calling out the name of the deceased and asking people to pray for the soul of the departed.

Designator

master of ceremonies and director of the ancient Roman funeral procession.

Direct disposition

disposition of human remains without any rites or ceremonies.

Drummers

traveling salesmen who went from town to town selling their products. Early embalmers often obtained their products and training in this manner.

Effigy

a life sized, waxen recreation (dummy) of the deceased; often used at state funerals because the body of the deceased should be present for the funeral but could not be preserved for that length of time.

Elysian fields

in Greek mythology, the Greek version of heaven.

Extramural burial

burial outside the walls of the city; concept introduced during the ancient Roman times.

Fisk metallic coffin

patented in 1848 as form-fitting, airtight metallic coffin designed to improve ability to preserve the body; also had a glass plate to allow for viewing of the face.

Funeralis

Latin for torchlight procession; word 'funeral' is derived from this

Funeral feast

in Middle Ages the wake also served as a feast to welcome the principal heir to his new estate; for the ancient Greeks, funeral feasts ended the fast of the bereaved.

Funeral trolley car

a specially designed train car run on a city's trolley line to transport casket and mourners to cemeteries on the outskirts of the city.

Funeral undertaker

provided services of organizing and facilitating funeral details as an occupations; aka undertaker, different from furnishing undertaker.

Furnishing undertaker

provided supplies and merchandise to funeral undertakers who were dealing directly with the public. Furnishing undertakers filled the role of middle man.

Jean N. Gannal

French chemist who developed early embalming methods including injection through the carotid arteries. Author of History of Embalming.

J. Anthony Gaussardia

patented a process of embalming involving the injection of an arsenic-alcohol mixture.

Gravity injector

apparatus used to inject arterial fluid during the vascular (arterial) phase of the embalming process; relies on gravity to create the pressure required to deliver the fluid.

hand pump

method to apply a continuous flow of embalming solution via manual manipulation of a handheld mechanism.

Richard Harlan

translated Gannal's History of Embalming; responsible for bringing the European embalming techniques to the US.

Dr. William Harvey

Discovered the circulation of blood.

Dr. Thomas Holmes

Father of Modern Embalming in the US

John Hunter

Scottish anatomist credited with the discovery of "Hunters Canal

August Hoffman

credited with the discovery of formaldehyde.

Inviter to funerals

a specialty connected with funerals in colonial America; called personally upon those expected to attend funerals; often a municipal appointment.

Jewish Funeral Directors of America

chartered in 1928 to secure harmony in the profession among Jewish funeral directors and elevate the practice of the profession.

Layers out of the dead

became an occupational specialty in many larger US cities by the end of the 18th century; predecessor to the undertaker.

Leagues of Prayer

formed in Middle Ages by lay persons to bury the dead and to pray for the souls of the faithful departed.

Anton von Leeuwenhoek

inventor of the microscope "Father of Microbiology.

Libitina

ancient Roman goddess of corpses and funerals.

Libitinarius

head unertaker in ancient Rome; the secular role model for today's funeral director; conducted his business at the temple of Libitina where death were also registered.

Life signals

due to the fear of pre-mature burial, many early American coffins were designed and patented with a method to alert the living if someone was buried alive.

Marcello Malpighi

Father of Histology," the study of tissues.

Mound burial

ancient Viking custom; after deceased was placed in his boat with items necessary for the spirit to maintain the position held on earth, all was cremated and the pyre then covered with Earth.

mystery cults

religious/ philosphical belief of the ancient Greeks and Oriental East emphasizing spiritual aspects of the afterlife and the hope of joining the cult god in a wonderful existence in eternity.

National Association of Colleges of Mortuary Science

established in 1942 as an organization for privately sponsored schools with tthe goal of advancement of mortuary education.

National Foundation of Funeral Service

established in 1945 as a non-profit educational trust to advance the education of the profession; currently merged with the NFDA as Funeral Service Foundatio.

National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA)

a professional association of funeral directors and embalmers organized in 1882. It is the oldest and largest national funeral service organization in the world. NFDA currently provides advocacy, education, information, products, programs and services to

National Funeral Directors and Morticians Association

incorporated in 1938 as National Negro Funeral Directors and Morticians Association; present name adopted in 1957; established to represent specific interest of African-American funeral directors.

National Selected Morticians (NSM)

limited membership funeral service organization formed in 1917 on the basis of one member firm per city; now known as Select Independent Funeral Homes.

Natron

salt obtained from the dry lakes of the desert used by the Egyptians in the mummification process. It was once thought that the body was covered in natron for 70 days. Modern translations of the Book of the Dead state that the body was covered for only 20

Necropolis

in Egyptian history, the walled suburb of a major city where embalming was performed. aka "The City of the Dead".

Obsequires

historic term for funeral ceremonies.

Ogee design

innovation introduced to square sided caskets in order to reduce the exccess space and weight, particularly of metal caskets' characterized by a "S" shaped curvature.

Order of the Golden Rule

association established in 1928; committed to quality services and high standards; membership limited to one independently owned funeral home per community;

Osiris

Egyptian god of the underworld and judge of the dead.

Pagan

one who has little or no religion and who delights in sensual pleasures and material goods

Pollinctores

name of the ancient Roman embalmers. Were either slaves or employees of Libitinarius.

Praeco

aka crier, special funeral functionary in ancient Rome who summoned participants to a public funeral.

Professional mourners

due to fear that the dead might be jealous, the ancient Romans and Greeks hire persons (often women), to shriek, tear their hair and rend garments, in order to insure adequate display of emotion.

Purgatorial Doctrine

Catholic belief that those whose souls are not perfectly cleansed undergo a process of cleansing before they can enter heaven.

Dr. Auguste Renouard

author of The Undertaker's Manual, the first book published specifically as an embalming textbook in the US.

Frederick Ruysch

considered the "father of embalming" first to refine the technique of arterial injection of a preservative into the vascular system.

Sarcophagus

early Egyptians cut massive coffins from a single mass of stone to protect from grave robbers. Same term is applied today to massive copper and bronze caskets. sarco for flesh and phagus for eaters because when opened, bodies inside were found to be in a

Sexton

church caretaker who had responsibility for church property, ringing of bells and digging grave in the churchyard cemtery. During Middle ages, most funeral practices were under the direction of church officials.

Soul shot

mortuary fee paid to insure entrance of the decedent's soul into heaven.

Style 'E' state coffin

cloth covered coffin designed for ex-President US Grant by Stein Coffin Co. in 1885 helped elevate acceptance of cloth covered caskets.

Trade embalmer

embalmer to the trade; term originated when some of the original graduates of early embalming courses gave up regular employment with a single firm to provide embalming service to firms which had no trained embalmer.

Trocar

long hollow tube patented in 1868 by Samuel Rogers of Philadelphia; used by embalmers to inject fluids into cavities and remove excess liquids.

Undertaker's buggy

name given to the vehicle used by undertakers to transport the necessary mortuary paraphernalia to the homes where funerals were typically held.

Undertakers Mutual Protective Association

1st formal organization of undertakers; kept a black book of objectionable and delinquent customers to be shared among members only.

University Mortuary Science Education Association

organization of college and university based funeral service programs established in 1961.

Wake

originated as an ancient Hebrew practice, family and friends sit with the deceased as a precaution against premature burial