454< THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XVI. 



appointed to that office. First, one, who is deno- 

 minated the scribe, marks upon the left side of 

 the body, as it lies on the ground, the extent of 

 the incision which is to be made ; then another, 

 who is cBlled paraschistes (the dissector'), cuts open 

 as much of the flesh as the law permits with an 

 Ethiopian stone, and immediately runs away*, 

 pursued by those who are present, throwing 

 stones at him amidst bitter execrations, as if to 

 cast upon him all the odium of this necessary 

 act. For they look upon every one who has offered 

 violence to, or inflicted a wound or any other in- 

 jury upon a human body, to be hateful; but the 

 embalmers, on the contrary, are held in the great- 

 est consideration and respect, being the associates 

 of the priests, and permitted free access to the 

 temples as sacred persons. 



*' As soon as they have met together to embalm 

 the body thus prepared for them, one introduces 

 his hand through the aperture into the abdomen, 

 and takes every thing out, except the kidneys and 

 heart, t Another cleanses eacli of the viscera 

 with palm wine and aromatic substances. Lastly, 

 after having applied oil of cedar and other things 

 to the whole body for upwards oi'tldrfy days, they 

 add myrrh, cinnamon, and those drugs which have 



* Vide Pausauias, Attic, lil). i. c. 24. ; who speaks of the priest flee- 

 ing away as soon as he had killed the victim, before the altar of Jupiter 

 Polic'iis, at Athens. 



-|- According to Pliny, the Egyptians believed the heart to be the 

 great vital [)rinciple, and tliat man could not live beyond 100 years from 

 its being impaired by that time. " Non vivere liomincm ultra centcsi- 

 mum annum defectu cordis, Tl^^gyptii existimant, (piibus nios est ca- 

 davera asservare medicata." (lib. xi. c. .37.) 



