S70 



E M B A L M I N G. 



kn* 



FmWmin R . quired a fragrant odour, every member remained en- 

 y ""-^~ 1 ir tin-, no part hail under/rone mij :hc l>eauty 



Method* of and appearance of tin- xactly as they had 



l, c\cn the hairs of the c\elii!s :u 

 remained in their place. " Thus," says Diodo- 

 ru*. many of tin- Egyptians who keep llic dead Ixxlies 

 of their aneeaton in magnificent hon-.-s. ee the real 

 c.f those \vlio died many n^t - before they 

 thrr-isclves were born, and take us nnirli pleasure in 

 gnzinjj c.n the counu-nar . as if they still iwd 



amoi-< tli. ID." Probably this is n>t an exaggerate. 1 de- 

 scription, for examples of tin- ompliahed Imth 

 ture nd art, illustrnte, that in oilier dux* this 

 has renlly happi 



It has' tit-en remarked, that, contrary to tin 

 opinion, embalment was rarely performed among the 

 and being an expensive preiMiration, was 

 icd to a few of the more wealthy inhabitant* ; 

 nor is this disproved by the numerous bodies whieh for 

 many centuries have been withdrawn from the sub- 

 terraneous recesses appropriated for their reception, as 

 t was a rich and populous country, and long held 

 squished rank amidst (urroupdlng nations. Hut 

 notwithstanding the succinct descriptions of Herodotus 

 and Diodorus, the real method of mbalment is not 

 . compreheniled by the moderns, for some have 

 doubted the possibility of removing the brain as the 

 former specifies, and others have supposed that the in- 

 testines were totally destroyed. Reasoning from ancient 

 history, and from an analysis of different subjects on the 

 Continent, and particularly in these islands, they con- 

 clude, that two principal processes were adopted by the 

 Egyptians. In one, the whole members, features, and ap- 

 pearance, were preserved entire ; in the other and more 

 general operation, the flesh was consumed, and nothing 

 except the skin and bones retained. Examples of the for- 

 mer, so far as we know, are not now extant, but there are 

 two kinds of embalmed bodies or mummies still obtain- 

 ed in Egypt ; those in a dry indurated state completely 

 impregnated with a resinous matter, and which<from 

 the hardness, may be broken in pieces ; and those which, 

 with the envelope, are soft and yielding from external 

 pressure, prepared with very little resinous matter, and 

 with nothing but vegetable mould, discoverable in the 

 cavities. ItThas generally been supposed, that asphal- 

 tum or mineral pitch was employed ; but more recent 

 experiments prove, that the impregnation of the body 

 was accomplished rather by a resinous substance, and 

 that nitre was the salt employed. Although the flesh 

 unquestionably was, in certain cases, preserved, it seems 

 probable that the Ixxly was more usually reduced to a 

 skeleton, and boiled in the resinous or antiseptic matter 

 which was used. 



The brain was also, in some cases, effectually remo- 

 ved for a substitute of this nature. Mr Greaves having 

 laid open the scull of a body, apparently that of one 

 of the more wealthy Egyptians, found two pounds of 

 a medicament within it of the colour, smell, aiul con- 

 sistence of pitch or bitumen, which softened in the heat 

 of the sun. But the contents of the abdomen, being 

 commonly reduced to dust, are less easily ascertained. 

 A mummy being dissected by Dr Hadlcy in 17<>3, he 

 found the bones in actual contact with the pitchy mat- 

 ter of the envelope ; the tibia and fibula being wrapped 

 up -eparately. The scull was quite bare in some pla- 

 ces, and also in contact with the envelop. There were 

 no remains of flesh or integuments about the head, and 

 the flesh and skin of the extremities were gone. But 

 in the dissection of another mummy, the appearances 



I , ry different ; for the bandage* of the face being 



leiitly coM-rid v ith Ji * 



gliui: r-hds and > 



\\eie perct-ptilili-. and the eyes prominent. Tl 

 \\eie not in the least decayed', norhr.d the eh, v 

 'I'lie whole face was kept firm by a ..r bi lumi- 



nous composition. The teeth, thirty-two in 

 bcr, were complete, white, and perfectly 

 but the lips had be ed, and the cavity of the 



mouth filled with all odoriferous du*t. The nostrils 

 tnjiiied with cotton and a kind of ointment, 

 whieh baa also been used in the thorax and abdomen. 

 The hair was short, black, and cinKd, and could with 

 difficulty be eradicated. 



In general, however, nothing but naked bones are 

 found on laying open the mummies brought from 

 i, along with a quantity of vegetable mould oecu- 

 pviiig what had constituted the thoracic and abdominal 

 cavities, though sometimes the tendons, skin, and : 

 p.irl- remain, and gilding is exhibited on the nails. 



In both kinds of enibalment, a great jxirtion of pitch 

 or ro^in w.is u-ed. experiment* tending to show that it 

 W latter. Nevertheless it w:.s i:nt the 

 simple employment of the balsamic matter which 

 completed the "process, as the Ixxly had then to K 

 thed in an immoderate quantity of linen fillets or ban- 

 t very member, even to each finger, being 

 wound up. This envelope cvn>-istcd of several 

 folds, each fillet being of different breadths according to 

 the part it encircled.' Not less than 500 yards of fillet- 

 ing, according to some writers, or 1000 according to 

 others, were thus employed. After every member was 

 separately bandaged, a" general bandage, binding all 

 the parts together, surrounded the body, and the whole 

 was inclosed in an exterior case or covering, on which 

 we now see Egyptian characters or hieroglyphic - All 

 this filleting was deeply impregnated with the resinous 

 or bituminous matter, and has apparently been M 

 in it while liquified, and in that State applied to the skin 

 or bones. The art of embalming is thus conjectured 

 to have consisted in the immersion of the body pre- 

 pared with salt, or the skeleton, in melted pitch or 

 some resinous substance, and in filling the scull, l 

 the thoracic and abdominal cavities, with some balsa- 

 mic matter. Erom an ancient period, this substance 

 has been the subject of anxious research among the bo- 

 dies of the deceased. Miicrisy, an Arabic author, re- 

 lates, that in the year .'i28 of the Ilegira, or <)!) of the 

 Christian era, while some Egyptians were digging at 

 the distance of several cubits from the pyramids in 

 quest of treasure, they came to a supulchral vault with 

 niches containing figures standing upright. ( In breaking 

 them up, mummies were found within. Beside each 

 was a case, including the residue of the substance that 

 had embalmed the body, quite inodorous, but on exposure 

 to heat exhaling a fragrance resembling no other per- 

 fume. Abdollatiph, an Arabian physician of acute ob- 

 servation, who resided in Egypt in the end of the l-'th 

 century, describes the constant prosecution of an active 

 search for treasure in the soil and in the catacombs 

 where the mummies were deposited, of which an ample 

 Account has already been given in an earlier part of this 

 work. The Arabs and common people having pene- 

 trated the latter, carried away the investment* of the 

 boilies, or whatever was impregnated with gum, as he 

 designs it, and sold them to apothecaries. The balsa- 

 mic substance found in the scull and abdomen w. 

 ried to Cairo, and offered to sale for a trifle. " I bought 

 three heads," he adds, < for an Egyptian drachm. ' 



