CHAPTER IV.

EMBALMING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, p. 54.--What comprises the labour of embalming--Disposition--Thermometrical and hygrometrical state of the caverns in which the bodies were deposited; what advantages for preservation resulted from these--Recital of Herodotus--Of Diodorus Sicculus--Orpheus transposes these usages into Grecian mythology--Judgment of the dead--The place where they are deposited--Models of embalmings presented to relatives--Three kinds of embalmings; description of each by Herodotus--Horror existing for those charged with making the incisions--Invocation to the sun, previous to casting away the intestines--Precautions taken for the preservation of the bodies of young females, or those of high rank--Commentaries on the narratives of the ancients--Succession of means discussed--Opinion of Rouelle concerning natrum--Examination of the linen bandages in which the mummies are enveloped--Analysis of the embalming material by Rouelle; explanation of several passages--Exhibition of models--Price--New details furnished by Diodorus--Quantity of bandages found around a single mummy--Embalming of bodies without sepulture--drowned persons for example--Mummy of a prince of Memphis--Examination of this mummy by Rouelle, and the Count de Caylus--Extracts from the work of M. Rouyer, (great work upon Egypt;) the details which he furnishes complete our knowledge of Egyptian embalming; how many kinds of mummies he acknowledges--Mummies having an incision on the left side--Mummies without any incision--Exploration and description of the plain of Saggârah, by De Maillet--Visit to the subterranean chambers--Mummy, near which was found a symbolical statue--Description of an antique found in a tomb--Mummies preserved upon beds of carbon--Conclusion drawn from facts contained in this chapter.