As much as it may seem like the bodies of famous world leaders
such as Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and Mao Zedong have been preserved
for all eternity, their enduring physical presence is simply an
illusion aided by science. Only the Venezuelan officials who
have promised to preserve Hugo Chavez and display his body "for
eternity" inside a glass tomb know exactly how they're going to
do it. But if they were to follow procedures that are used in
the United States, the technique might be rather simple: repeat
embalming. "The first thing to remember about embalming as we do
it in the U.S. is that it is designed to delay the natural
deterioration of the body; it's not forever," said Vernie
Fountain, a licensed embalmer and owner and founder of the
Fountain National Academy of Professional Embalming Skills in
Springfield, Missouri. So what does that mean exactly? You might
want to put down your sandwich before you read on. In the U.S.,
most embalmers use a machine that injects fluid laced with
chemicals, principally for