ANIMALS. 261 



this tJie> inclose in a box, preserving the whole as a most precious* 

 relic, placed against the wall. Such are the ceremonies used with re- 

 gard to the rich ; as for those who are contented with a humbler pre- 

 paration, they treat them as follows : they fill a syringe with an odo- 

 riferous liquor extracted from the cedar-tree, and, without making an 

 incision, inject it up the body of the deceased, and then keep it in 

 nitre, as long as in the former case. When the time is expired, they 

 evacuate the body of the cedar liquor which had been injected ; and 

 such is the effect of this operation, that the liquor dissolves the intes- 

 tines, and brings them away : the nitre also serves to eat away the 

 flesh, and leaves only the skin and the bones remaining. This done, 

 the body is returned to the friends, and the embalmer takes no farther 

 trouble about it. The third method of embalming those of the meanest 

 condition, is merely by purging and cleansing the intestines by fre- 

 quent injections, and preserving the body for a similar term in nitre, 

 at the end of which it is restored to the relations. 



Diodorus Siculus also makes mention of the manner in which these 

 embalmings are performed. According to him, there were several 

 officers appointed for this purpose : the first of them, who was called 

 the scribe, marked those parts of the body, on the left side, which 

 were to be opened ; the cutter made the incision ; and one of those 

 that were to salt it, drew out all the bowels, except the heart and the 

 kidneys ; another washed them in palm wine and odoriferous liquors ; 

 afterwards they anointed for above thirty days with cedar, gum, myrrh, 

 cinnamon, and other perfumes. These aromatics preserved the body 

 entire for a long time, and gave it a very agreeable odour. It was 

 not in the least disfigured by this preparation ; after which it was re- 

 turned to the relations, who kept it in a coffin, placed upright against 

 a wall. 



Most of the modern writers who have treated on this subject, have 

 merely repeated what has been said by Herodotus ; and if they add 

 any thing of their own, it is but merely from conjecture. Dumont 

 observes, that it is very probable, that aloes, bitumen, and cinnamon, 

 make a principal part of the composition which is used on this occa- 

 sion : he adds, that, after embalming, the body is put into a coffin, 

 made of the sycamore-tree, which is almost incorruptible. Mr. Grew 

 remarks, that in an Egyptian mummy, in the possession of the Royal 

 Society, the preparation was so penetrating, as to enter into the very 

 substance of the bones, and rendered them so black that they seemed to 

 have been burnt. From this he is induced to believe that the Egyp- 

 tians had a custom of embalming their dead, by boiling them in a kind 

 of liquid preparation, until all the aqueous parts of the body were ex- 

 haled away ; and until the oily or gummy matter had penetrated 

 throughout. He proposes, in consequence of this, a method of ma- 

 cerating, and afterwards of boiling the dead body in oil of walnut. 



I am, for my own part, of opinion that there were several ways of 

 preserving dead bodies from putrefaction ; and that this would de no 

 lifficult matter, since different nations have all succeeded in the at- 

 tempt. We have an example of this kind among the Guanches, the 

 ancient inhabitants of the island of Teneriff. Those who survived 

 (he general destruction of this people by the Spaniards, when th*v 



