260 A HISTORY OF 



and even the features scarce distinguishable. The art is, therefore, 

 an efforc rather of preserving the substance than the likeness of the 

 deceased ; and has, consequently, not been brought to its highest 

 pitch of perfection. It appears from a mummy, not long since dug 

 up in France, that the art of embalming was more completely mi 

 derstood in the western world than even in Egypt. This mummy, 

 which was dug up at Auvergne, was an amazing instance of their skill, 

 and is one of the most curious relics in the art of preservation. As 

 some peasants, in that part of the world, were digging in a field near 

 Rion, within about twenty-six paces of the highway, between that 

 and the river Artier, they discovered a tomb, about a foot and a 

 half beneath the surface. It was composed only of two stones ; one 

 of which formed the body of the sepulchre, and the other the cover. 

 This tomb was of free-stone ; seven feet and a half long, three feet 

 and a half broad, and about three feet high. It was of rude work- 

 manship ; the cover had been polished, but was without figure or in- 

 scription : within this tomb was placed a leaden coffin, four feet seven 

 inches long, fourteen inches broad, and fifteen high. It was not made 

 coffin-fashion, but oblong, like a box, equally broad at both ends, 

 and covered with a lid that fitted on like a snuff-box, without a hinge. 

 This cover had two holes in it, each of about two inches longr, and 

 very narrow, filled with a substance resembling butter ; but for what 

 purpose intended remains unknown. Within this coffin was a mum- 

 my, in the highest and most perfect preservation. The internal sides 

 of the coffin were filled with an aromatic substance, mingled with 

 clay. Round the mummy was wrapped a coarse cloth, in form 

 of a napkin ; under this were two shirts, or shrouds, of the most ex- 

 quisite texture ; beneath these a bandage, which covered all parts of 

 the body, like an infant in swaddling clothes ; still under this general 

 bandage there was another, which went particularly round the ex- 

 tremities, the hands, and the legs. The head was covered with two 

 caps ; the feet and hands were without any particular bandages ; and 

 the whole body was covered with an aromatic substance, an inch 

 thick. When these were removed, and the body exposed naked to 

 view, nothing could be more astonishing than the preservation of the 

 whole, and the exact resemblance it bore to a body that had been 

 dead a day or two before. It appeared well proportioned, except 

 that the head was rather large, and the feet small. The skin had all 

 the pliancy and colour of a body lately dead : the visage, however, 

 was of a brownish hue. The belly yielded to the touch ; all the 

 joints were flexible, except those of the legs and feet ; the fingers 

 stretched forth of themselves when bent inwards. The nails still 

 continued entire ; and all the marks of the joints, both in the fingers, 

 the palms of the hands, and the soles of the feet, remained perfectly 

 visible. The bones of the arms and legs were soft and pliant ; but, 

 on the contrary, those of the skull preserved their rigidity ; the hair, 

 whicn *>nly covered the back of the head, was of a chesnut colour, 

 and a-jout two inches long. The pericranium at top was separated 

 from the skull by an incision, in order to open it for the introducing 

 proper aromatics in the place of the brain, where they were found 

 mixed with clay. The teeth, the tongue, and the ears, were all pre>- 



