[ 12 ] 
It Hl been imagined, that the principal matter 
.1 1 fed by the /Egyptians for embalming was the aj- 
phalius ; but what we found was certainly a vegeta- 
ble production. The fmell in burning was very un- 
like that of afphaltus ; nor did it refemble that of 
the common pitch of the fir-tree : being rather 
aromatic. 
It was compared with a variety of refins and 
gum - refins ; but leemed not to refemble any 
of them, excepting myrrh; and that but very 
fiightly. 
In all probability, it was not a fimple fubftance ; 
but might be a mixture of the refinous productions 
of the country, with the pitch of that tree which they 
had in greateft plenty. 
The AXtiQot() tx Ke^x of Herodotus *, and the 
K of Didorus Siculus -f-, was mofi: probably the 
tar of the cedar; it is the iubftance faid by the! e au- 
thors to be ufed for embalming ; Galen J mentions 
its power of prelerving bodies ; and § Diofcorides calls 
it day. Pliny , (peaking of the cedar, lays ; that the 
tar was forced out of it by fire, and that in Syria it 
was called cedrium : cujus tanta vis eft, ut in 
/Egypt o || corpora hominum defundiorum eo perfufa 
ferventur. 
Some branches of the cedar were procured from 
the phyfic garden 2\Chelfea\ and, being treated in 
the manner deferibed by Pliny , yielded tar and 
* Herodot. Euterpe, pag. rig. ed. Gronov. 
f Diodor. Sicul. lib. i. p.8 2. ed. Rhodomanni. 
X Galen, de funpl. Med. Facult. lib. vii. cap. 16. 
§ Diofcorides de mat. medic, lib i. cap, 105. pag. 56. 
Francof. 1598. 
|| Plinii Hiftor, lib xvi. cap. n. pag. 382. cd. Dalecamp. 
pitch 
