THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF TAXIDERMY. 3 



another, who i8 called the dissector, cuts open aa much of the flesh as 

 the law permits with a sharp 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 everyone who has offered violence to, or inflicted 

 a wound or any other injury upon a human body to be hateful ; but the 

 embalmers, on the contrary, are held in the greatest 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 everything out except the kidneys and heart, another cleanses 

 each of the viscera with palm wine and aromatic substances ; lastly, 

 having applied oil of cedar and other things to the whole body for 

 upwards of thirty days, they add myrrh, cinnamon, and those drugs 

 which have not only the power of preserving the body for a length of 

 time, but of imparting to it a fragrant odour. It is then restored to the 

 friends of the deceased ; and so perfectly are all the members preserved 

 that even the hair of the eyelids and eyebrows remains undisturbed, and 

 the whole appearance of the person is so unaltered that every feature may 

 be recognised. 



Sir J. Gardener "Wilkinson ("Manners and Customs of the 

 Ancient Egyptians "), from wliom I have quoted, says that — 



The extraction of the brain by the nostrils is proved by the appearance 

 of the mummies found in the tombs ; and some of the crooked instru- 

 ments (always of bronze) supposed to have been used for this purpose 

 have been discovered at Thebes. 



The preservatives appear to have been of two classes, bitu- 

 minous and saline, consisting, in the first class, of gums, resins, 

 asphaltum, and pure bitumen, with, doubtless, some astringent 

 barks, powders, &c., rubbed in. Mummies prepared in this way 

 are known by their dry, yet flexible skins, retracted and adherent 

 to the bones; features, and hair, well preserved and life-like. 

 Those mummies filled with bitumen have black skins, hard and 

 shining as if varnished, but with the features perfect, having 

 "Deen prepared vdth great care, and even after ages have elapsed, 

 are but little susceptible to exposure. 



Of the mummies of the second class (also filled with resins 

 and asphaltum), we must assume that their skins and flesb 



b2 



