Stiff by Mary Roach (non-fiction).
New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2003. $23.95 — 303 pp.

“By and large, the dead aren’t very talented. They can’t play water polo, or lace up their boots, or maximize market shares. They can’t tell a joke and they can’t dance for beans. There is one thing that dead people excel at. They are very good at handling pain.”

— Stiff, page 87

OK, I’m probably going to lose a few readers, here. I regret that and hope it is temporary. If you choose to abandon this review after a few disconcerting facts, I hope you will return soon. This is not a topic I intend to visit often, but I have to admit, Ms. Roach’s tour of “scientific uses for the dead” is fascinating — even lively and spirited. Although it might appear inappropriate to some, Roach writes with a wry humor that offsets the macabre details which emerge from her research.

Stiff is an unabashed survey of death – or more specifically, as the author notes, “the curious lives of human cadavers.” If, like me, you assumed that the dead are totally inactive, irrelevant and/or uninvolved in the affairs of the living after their “vital functions” halt, think again. If they (the dead) choose to “contribute” to the world of the living, the possibilities are extensive.

It is quite possible that many of the cadavers in Stiff made far more significant contributions after dying than they did in their former existence. Consider automobile safety. Cadaver research has saved an estimated 8,500 lives each year since 1987. “For every cadaver that rode the crash sleds to test three-point seat belts, 61 lives per year have been saved.” Each “participant” in air-bag research saved the lives of 147 people.

Roach interviews researchers who use cadavers in a diversity of experiments: some are designed to understand the dynamics of plane crashes and others verify the efficiency of newly designed weapons for the military and the police. If you have ever wondered exactly what happens to the bodies of passengers in an airlines disaster, Roach tells you in graphic detail. She is also well versed in the difference between weapons developed to maim rather than to kill (and vice-versa). She speaks with considerable authority because each time a researcher hands her a published study, she says, “Could I see an actual test?” Obviously, Roach is not squeamish, nor is she reluctant to ask provocative questions. She says her primary motivation is a healthy (and unrestrained) curiosity.

Among the book’s most bizarre images are the following: 40 human heads posed upright in 40 turkey-basting trays in a classroom in which 80 future plastic surgeons are learning the art of cosmetic surgery; a multitude of cadavers (clothed and unclothed) lying about a grassy field at the University of Tennessee where forensics specialists study the progression of decay; a line of cadavers suspended from overhead tackles at a shooting range where they are shot at from varying distances in order to discover the effects of specific types of bullets on human bones and organs.

All of these dead people chose to be where they are when they donated their bodies for scientific experimentation. However, Roach notes that the relatives of the deceased are rarely aware of the “specific details.” Donors and their families are not allowed to qualify the manner in which the cadaver will be used. Roach is assured by a variety of researchers that no one wants to know that their grandfather’s head will be subjected to repeated shotgun blasts. The best policy is – the scientific community will not ask for permission, and the family of the cadaver will not inquire.

The author has much to say about the universal need to “depersonalize” the dead prior to subjecting them to experimentation. If the corpse retains an identity or a personality, even hardened researchers have qualms about using them. As a consequence, the dead are frequently reduced to parts – a shoulder, a torso, a left leg. Many researchers prefer to use animals (live ones) since many (the pig, for example) have internal organs that resemble that of human kind.

Stiff also deals with cadavers in areas that have nothing to do with science. Of particular interest is the chapter on cannibalism and the use of body parts in Oriental medicine where fingernail clippings, finger bones, urine and various pickled body parts are still considered valuable ingredients in the treatment of ailments ranging from cancer to an unhealthy complexion. Roach’s catalogue of ills and their treatment taken from an ancient Chinese catalogue is an awesome mix of the grotesque and the astonishing.

For me, the especially memorable passages in Stiff are: the downright weird experiments carried out to determine if a decapitated head retained the ability to see and think; and an outlandish collection of 18th century tests to determine if a patient is truly dead. My favorites were “the pencil up the nose” test, the application of a mechanical device called “the tongue twister,” and rectum animator (a heated poker). This information, in conjunction with a section on the Russian penchant for grafting multiple dogs’ heads on a single body, made me ponder once more what a strange species we are.

The last section of Stiff deals with the highly controversial topic of burial. Roach discovers that alternatives to embalming and burial are numerous. Disenchanted with the disagreeable aspects of cremation (pollution and escalating expense), an increasing number of people are considering a diversity of possibilities. A process called “water reduction” can reduce a corpse to 2 or 3 percent of its body weight. A lady named Wiigh-Masak has attracted international attention with her “composting” process that reduces bodies to a form of pulverized fertilizer. Mixed with other organic materials, the deceased can be used to promote vegetation (rose bushes and young trees). Wiigh-Masak feels that she owes her growing popularity to the fact that she dispenses with embalming, expensive caskets and pollution, but she retains a burial ritual that acknowledges traditional religious/spiritual values.

I concluded this book with the sense that I had acquired enough bizarre facts that I can relate to my friend for the next 10 years. I also have a heartfelt respect for the author who plowed through this surreal topic with humor, persistence and an obvious love of “the truth.” I am also pleased to note that Stiff has had two “cameo roles” on HBO’s “Six Feet Under.”

(Gary Carden is a writer, storyteller and lecturer whose book, Mason Jars in the Flood, was recently named Book of the Year by the Appalachian Writers Association. He can be reached at gcarden498@aol.com.)