132 



*' tracted the brains by the nose with a crooked 

 " iron, and then poured in drugs ; afterwards, they 

 " opened the body, took out the bowels, washed the 

 " inside with palm wine, and having rubbed into it 

 *' pounded perfumes, filled the cavity with myrrh, 

 *' cassia, and other spices, and then sewed it up. 

 " After this they washed the body with nitre, and 

 " let it lie seventy days; and having washed it 

 *' again, bound it up in folds of linen, besmearing it 

 " over with gums, which the Egyptians used instead 

 " of glue. The relations then took home the body, 

 " and enclosing it in the wooden figure of a man, 

 " placed it in the catacombs. Another method of 

 '* embalming, was injecting turpentine of cedar with 

 " a pipe into the body, without cutting it ; they 

 " then salted it for seventy days, and afterwards 

 '* drew out the pipe, which brought along with it 

 " the intestines. The nitre dried wp the flesh, leav- 

 "^ ing nothing but skin and bones. The third way 

 *' was only by cleansing the inside with salt and 

 ^' water, and salting it for seventy days.^"* From 

 what Diodorus observes, one wouid imagine that 

 there was a way of preserving the bodies much su- 

 perior to either of the former; for he says, their 

 eye-brows and eye-lashes, with the form and ap- 

 pearance of the whole body, were so well preserved, 

 that they might be known by their features ; whence 

 many of the Egyptians kept the bodies of their an- 

 cestors in houses adorned at a great expence ; and 

 had the pleasure to see their forefathers for many 

 generations back, and to observe all their features as 

 well as if they were living. It does not, however, 

 appear that any bodies were ever discovered em- 

 balmed in this manner. 



The Mummy in this collection was brought from 

 ^gypt by the French, and taken from them by an 



