In 1934, Professor Albert Gellért started a new Anatomy Museum, based on the technique of paraffin wax impregnation of dissected specimens.
This technique was first used by a Belgian physiologist, Professor Frédériq in Liége, in the second half of the l9th century. Later it was adopted by the Spanish anatomist, Pedro Ara and by the Viennese anatomist, Professor Hochstetter. While Ara made use of the paraffin wax impregnation technique mainly to preserve facial features, Hochstetter's dissected specimens were intended to be used in the teaching of anatomy. Unfortunately, nearly all of Hochstetter's preparations were destroyed by air raids at the end of World War II.
Essentially, the technique used by Professor Gellért and his co-workers was identical to the paraffin wax impregnation used in the preparation of slides for microscopic histology.
Because of the size of anatomy specimens, however, each step of the procedure had to be prolonged. Thus, for instance, dehydration in graded alcohols took several weeks or even months; on the other hand, benzine (chemically pure petrol) had to be used as an intermediary fluid
before embedding the specimen in molten paraffin wax. Benzine treatment also
took several weeks, and paraffin impregnation (first in `soft paraffin wax
- M.P. 46-48º C then in `hard paraffin wax - M.P. 56-58º C) had
to be performed in oversized incubators. (See drawing)
This process also took several weeks.
After removal from the paraffin bath, the specimens
did not have a very attractive appearance, and further work had to be
done.
Remodelling
was carried out, using a hairdresser's fan blowing hot air to soften the
specimen. This was followed by careful re-shaping with a hot wax knife, in
order to rearrange every detail according to the original characteristics.
The specimen was then covered with a layer of varnish, and stained; muscles
pink; arteries red; veins blue; and nerves yellow. Finally, a second layer
of thin varnish was applied to the specimen which had already been mounted
on a suitable support.
Accordingly, each specimen is the result of
tremendous human endeavour.
