AiriMALS. 429 



the embalmer takes no farther trouble about it. The third 

 method of embalming those of the meanest condition is merely 

 by piu-ging and cleansing the intestines by frequent 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 ^jeserved the body entire for a long time, and 

 gave a very agreeable odour. It was not in the least disfigured 

 by this preparation ; after which it was returned 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 conjec- 

 ture. Dumont observes that it is very probable, that aloes, bit- 

 umen, and cinnamon, make a principal part of the composition 

 which is used on this occasion : 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 Egyp- 

 tian mummy, in the possession of the Royal Society, the pre- 

 paration was so penetrating as to enter into the very substance 

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

 have been burned. From this he is induced to believe tliat the 

 Egyptians 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 exhaled away ; and until the oily or gummy 

 matter had penetrated throughout. He proposes, in consequence 

 of this, a method of macerating, 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 

 ivould be no difficult matter, since different nations have all suc- 

 rceded in the attempt. We have an example of this kind 



