4 PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY. 



have "been subjected to sodaic or saline products; for Boitard, 

 in a work published at Paris in 1825, says tbat an injection 

 is made with, oil of cedar and common salt, also, that tbey 

 wasb tbe corpse witb nitre and leave it to steep for seventy 

 days, at the end of wbicb time tbey remove tbe intestines, 

 wMcIl tbe injection bas corroded, and replace tbeir loss by 

 filling tbe cavity of the abdomen witb nitre. This is also 

 borne out by Wilkinson, who says : 



On exposure to air they (the mummies) become covered with efflo- 

 rescence of sulphate of soda, and also readily absorb moisture from the 

 atmosphere. 



It appears, also, tbat after tbe period of preparation (tbirty, 

 forty, or seventy days, as fixed by various autbors), tbe corpse 

 was relieved, in tbe first-class ones, of all tbe old saline, nitrous, 

 or resinous products, and re-filled witb costly resins, aromatic 

 spices, and bitumen ; wbicb, says Monsieur E-ouyer — 



Having styptic, absorbent, and balsamic qualities, would produce a 

 kind of tanning operation on the body, which would also, no doubt, be 

 heightened by the washing with palm wine. 



He bere broacbes tbe ingenious and bigbly probable tbeory, 

 tbat tbe corpse, during its mummification, was placed in stoves 

 of a certain temperature, wbere tbe beat gradually and closely 

 united tbe various preservative agents before mentioned. Tbey 

 were tben swatbed in linen bandages of great lengtb, and 

 enclosed in beautifully painted and gilded cartonages; tbe 

 faces were beavily gilded and tbe eyes imitated in enamel ; tbey 

 were tben inclosed in tbree or four cases, also ricbly gilded 

 and painted, and finally " mounted " in a sarcopbagus. 



Common people appear in some cases to bave been merely 

 salted and plunged in liquid pitcb, otbers were simply salted and 

 dried. Mummies prepared by tbese metbods freely attract 

 moisture — are ill preserved, and, therefore, as a matter of course, 

 fall to pieces easily on contact witb external air. 



In summing up tbe process of embalming, as described by tbe 

 autbors just quoted, we find a few problems of more or less 

 difficulty, and wbicb none of tbem appear inclined to solve ; and 

 I do not wonder at tbis, as tbe attempt, in my own case, in one 

 or two instances, bas involved days of study and references to 



