THE

1823.] EMBALMING AMong the EgypTIANS. (From the Classical Journal.) HE Egyptians, of all nations of antiquity, are most deserving of our attention. To this wise and ingenious people, who made such advances in arts and sciences, in commerce and legislation, succeeding nations have been indebted for whatever institutions civilize mankind and embellish human life. The priesthood of this very religious people, to whom knowledge was exclusively confined, being wholly free from anxiety about secular matters, as they were provided for by the State', devoted themselves to the service of the community. Their time was divided between the performance of their sacred duties and

the improvement of the mind. Study was their business; the good of the people was their sole object; and whatever could contribute to the political or moral welfare of their country, was pursued with a zeal worthy of imitation in Christian societies. It is not then surprising that they made such amazing progress in physic and husbandry, in astronomy, magic, and other occult sciences. And, though the art of embalming, as practised by them, is now obsolete, and the medicated herbs which they used may not now be ascertained, yet we may gather from the custom what study and attention they employed in discovering the virtues of simples, though the science of Medical Chemistry was probably unknown at that early period. The art of embalming the dead was peculiar to the Egyptians; they alone knew the secret of preserving the body from decay. In the Pentateuch we find that, when Abraham and Isaac died, they were simply buried; but Jacob, and afterwards Joseph, were embalmed; because these two patriarchs died in Egypt. This myste

33

rious trade descended from father to son as an hereditary and sacred privilege; the embalmers were held in high repute, conversed with the priests, and were by them admitted into the inner parts of the temples. Embalming may have been practised in Asia, but there is not any authority for this presumption: it may be inferred that the custom prevailed among the Chaldeans, on account of the proximity of their country to Egypt, and the similarity of pursuits and doctrines; an intercourse, no doubt, subsisted between these two philosophical nations from the earliest ages. After the death of Alexander the Great, the Egyptians and Chaldeans were ordered to dress the body in their own way3 (Curt. lib. x. sub fin.): but this event was many_hundred years after the times when Egypt flourished under the Pharaohs. The washing and dressing of the body alluded to by Greek and Roman writers, was merely an external application of unguents, performed with facility and despatch, not for the purpose of preserving the corpse, but in honour of the deceased. The ceremony among the Egyptians was sacred and solemn, and the process tedious, intricate, and expensive. In the patriarchal history the Sacred Writer tells us, that forty days were employed in preparing the body of Jacob for sepulture. "And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father, and the physicians embalmed Israel," &c. Gen. i. 2. And here it is to be observed, that the officers, called physicians, did not profess the art of curing; for physic (as it is now called) was not at that time a professional pursuit ; not a word is said of physicians being called in during Jacob's sickness. sides, the Hebrew word is rendered in the Septuagint by ivraQiaoral, those who prepared the body for burial. It

Be

GENT. MAG. July, 1823.

34

is true the author of the Pentateuch does not particularise this ceremony, but Herodotus and Diodorus are clear and diffuse in every thing relative to this interesting country5.

The Egyptians believed that the soul was immortal, or rather, that it was eternal; they imagined that it not only was not subject to death, but that it had existed from all eternity, having neither beginning nor end; they thought that as it was immaterial, it was increate, and as it was increate, that it was a part of the divine spirit, diving particula aure, and co-existent with that Being, from whom it emanated 6. In order to substantiate this doctrine, they asserted that the soul had been in a state of pre-existence, and at the dissolution of the outward man, it passed into various states; and after a circuit of three thousand years, (Herod. I. ii. c. 123) it returned to re-animate a human body. Pythagoras first transplanted this dogma from Egypt into Greece, and, though no works of that philosopher are now extant, yet we may gather from later writers the essential tenets of the Pythagorean sect'. Plato, after the death of Socrates, inculcated the same principle, in order to vali date the primary tenet of the Socratic school, the immortality of the souls. Virgil has shown himself very sedulous in propagating the same doctrine among the Romans. (Geog. iv. 220-7 ; En. vi. 750.) These two nations were of opinion, that death separated the soul from the body9; they were, therefore, no longer concerned about the perishable part of man; and being

[July,

enlightened by the rays of rational philosophy through the mists of error and superstition, they looked forward to a future state, as a reward for the virtuous, and a punishment for the damned. The Egyptians, on the contrary, were more solicitous to preserve the material part from putrefaction and injury, conceiving that the soul was inseparable from its body so long as the latter was free from corruption. Inspired by this superstition, they studied and put in practice every means of preserving the human franie: they applied to the study of natural history to discover the virtues of simples, and provided buildings of the greatest magnitude and durability as depositories for the dead, which still remain the most stupendous monuments of human labour in the world. That the pyramids were built as sepulchres for the Kings 10, there appears no reason to doubt; this is fully testified by modern travellers. Besides, Diodorus says expressly, that Chemmis and Cephron constructed them for this purpose". The principal care of the Egyptians was turned to the preserving the dead they looked upon their houses as temporary dwellings, but to their cemeteries they gave the name of the Eternal Mansions. (Diod. 1. i. p. 60.)

;

Among the three modes of embalming, that adopted by the rich was very tedious in its process, and expensive in its preparation. As soon as a man of any consideration died, the relations of the deceased, after the most violent expressions of grief, sent for the embalmer, who carried away the corpse,

Hom.

The

1823.]

The first part of the operation was, to extract the brains through the nostrils with a crooked instrument of iron; for the more ready performance of which the medium septum of the nose was cut away; the vacuities were then filled up with perfumes and aromatic compositions. After this, the body was opened with much ceremony. For this purpose the priest made a mark on the left side, just above the hip, to show how far the incision was to be made. A particular officer made an opening with a very sharp Ethiopian stone1?. As soon as the people saw this, they pelted him with stones, and pursued him with maledictions; for the Egyptians looked with abhorrence upon any one who offered violence to a human body either dead or alive. The embalmer then inserted his hand, and drew out all the viscera except the heart and kidneys, while the bowels were washed with odours. (Diod. p. 102.) The entrails were not restored to the abdomen, but from a religious motive they were thrown into the Nile's. (Plut. vol. ii. p. 159, folio, Paris, 1624.) Afterwards, the belly was filled with cinnamon, myrrh, and other odoriferous drugs 14; and then the orifice of the wound was closed. The body outwardly was anointed with the oil of cedars and other preservatives for 30 days. This length of time was necessary to administer the preparations for drying it and preventing its putrefaction. At the expiration of this term, the corpse was again washed, and wrapped up in many folds of linen, painted with sacred characters, and seasoned with gums and other glutinous matter. This renders the cloth so durable, that it has preserved its consistence even to the present day, as many of the specimens, lately exhibited in this country, fully

35

testify. These swathes of cere-cloth were so manifold, that there are seldom less than a thousand yards of filleting about one body; and so ingeniously were the wrappings managed, that the lineaments of the deceased were easily discernible, even though the face was covered with a kind of mask fitted with mastic. On the breast was spread a broader piece of cere-cloth, on which was inscribed some memorable sentiment; but, for the most part, having the figure of a woman with expanded arms. The embalmer having done his duty, the mummy15 was sent back to the kindred of the defunct, who deposited it in a wooden coffin, made of a species of sycamore, called in Egypt Pharaoh's fig-tree. Some few coffins have been found of solid stone; a miniature model of one in marble was to be seen at Belzoni's exhibition, from which he says the body had been taken 16. The top of the wooden coffin or mummychest was carved in the shape of a woman's head, the face being richly painted; the rest of the trunk was adorned with hieroglyphics, and the lower end was broad and flat like a pedestal, on which the coffin was placed erect in the place designed for its reception. The body of Joseph was put in a coffin. Gen. ch. 1. v. 26. The corpse was lastly conveyed down the Nile to its final destination, in a vessel called Baris". The mode just described was the most expensive, and adopted by the rich only; those, however, who were unable or unwilling to go to so great an expense, had recourse to a more simple process.

A quantity of cedar-oil and arotnatic liquors was injected, by means of a syringe, into the body at the anus; after this it was laid in nitre for seventy days, when the pipe was withdrawn,

and

34

is true the author of the Pentateuch does not particularise this ceremony, but Herodotus and Diodorus are clear and diffuse in every thing relative to this interesting country.

The Egyptians believed that the soul was immortal, or rather, that it was eternal; they imagined that it not only was not subject to death, but that it had existed from all eternity, having neither beginning nor end; they thought that as it was immaterial, it was increate, and as it was increate, that it was a part of the divine spirit, diving particula aure, and co-existent with that Being, from whom it emanated 6. In order to substantiate this doctrine, they asserted that the soul had been in a state of pre-existence, and at the dissolution of the outward man, it passed into various states; and after a circuit of three thousand years, (Herod. 1. ii. c. 123) it returned to re-animate a human body. Pythagoras first transplanted this dogma from Egypt into Greece, and, though no works of that philosopher are now extant, yet we may gather from later writers the essential tenets of the Pythagorean sect". Plato, after the death of Socrates, inculcated the same principle, in order to vali date the primary tenet of the Socratic school, the immortality of the souls. Virgil has shown himself very sedulous in propagating the same doctrine among the Romans. (Geog. iv. 220-7; Æn. vi. 750.) These two nations were of opinion, that death separated the soul from the body9; they were, therefore, no longer concerned about the perishable part of man; and being

enlightened by the lay. philosophy through and superstition, they to a future state, as virtuous, and a pi damned. The Egr trary, were more the material part i injury, conceivin inseparable frora the latter was fi Inspired by this died and put in of preserving the applied to the st to discover the vi provided buildin nitude and day for the dead, w most stupendou labour in the w mids were built Kings 10, there doubt; this is travellers. Bes pressly, that

constructed t.

The principa

was turned to i

they looked u.
porary dwi
teries they
nal Mansion

Among t

ing, that a tedious in its prepar any cond

the dece

expression balmer,