EXHIBIT OF BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 1003 



destroying the rest by tlie infusion of caustic (lrn<>s. An iiuiision was 

 then made in the side with a sharp I^^thiopian stone and the intestines 

 removed. The abdomen was rinsed with palm wine and sprinkled 

 with powdered perfumes. It was then filled with pure myrrh i)ound(Ml, 

 cassia, and other aromatics, frankincense exi-epted, and sewn up 

 again. The body was then steeped in natron (subcarbonate of sMa) 

 for seventy days, afterwards waslied and swathed in strips of linen and 

 smeared with gum. The sectoiid mode of embalming cost about 20 

 minae — alxmt >^'M)0. In this case cedar oil was injected into the abdo- 

 men. The oil was i)revented from escaping, and the Ijody steeped in 

 natron for the i)res(;ribed time. On the last day the cedar oil was let 

 out from the abdomen, (tarrying witli it the intestines in a state of dis- 

 solution, while the flesh was consumed by the natron, so that nothing 

 was left but the skin and bones. The third method, which was used 

 for the poorer classes, consisted in rinsing the abdomen with syrmaea, 

 an infusion of senna and cassia, and steei)ing the body for the usual 

 period in natron. Examinations of Egyptian mummies have ])roven 

 the accounts of Herodotus and Diodorus to be in the main correct. 

 For mummies, both with and without ventr;il inc^isions, are found, and 

 some are preserved by means of balsams and gums, and others by 

 bitumen and natrum, and the hundreds of skulls of mummies which 

 are found at Thebes contain absolut(^ly nothing, while other skulls aie 

 found to be filled with bitumen, linen rags, and resin, 'IMie terui 

 " mummy" is derived from the Arabic mwniya, "bitumen" and the 

 Arabi(; word for nuimmy is mnmlyya "bitumenized thing." The native 

 Egyptian word for nuimmy is sahu.' In the liible, instances of embalm- 

 ing are only met with in connection with the Egyptians, the bodies of 

 Jacob and Joseph, who died in Egypt, being thus treated.^ 



]Moi>EL OF A MUMMY. (See plate 25.) Small wooden figure in 

 mummy case. They perhaps represent the servants who accompanied 

 their master in the realm of the de|)arted in order to wait on him there, 

 and were termed by the Egy])tians "answerers" {ushcMe), i. e., those 

 who would answer for the departed and perform the work for him.'' 



1^'llAGMENTS OP MUMMIED DOGr, CAT, CROCODILE, AND OTHER 



ANIMALS. (See plate 25.) The Egy|)tians believed that their several 

 divinities assumed the forms of various animals; so, for instance, 

 Ptah appears as the Apis-bull, Anion as a ram, Sebek is rej)reseuted as 

 a crocodile-headed man, Bastis as a cat-headed woman, etc. These 

 animals are therefore venerated as the manifestations or symbols of the 

 respective divinities, and the willful killing of one of them was a capital 

 offense. These sacred animals were embalmed and buried in graves. 

 Thus, at Bubastis, the center of the worship of the goddess Bast, was 



' E. A. Wallis Biidgc, Thij Mmniny, 18!)3, p. 173. 

 '(jeufssis L, 2-26. 



'Ailoff Eiiiiiin, Life iu Aucieut Egypt, p. 317, and E. A. W. Budge, The Mummy, 

 pp. 211-215. 



