Description of an Egyptian mummy, presented to the Massachusetts General Hospital : with an account of the operation of embalming, in ancient and modern times / by John C. Warren.

  • Warren, John Collins, 1778-1856.
Date:
[1824?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Description of an Egyptian mummy, presented to the Massachusetts General Hospital : with an account of the operation of embalming, in ancient and modern times / by John C. Warren. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    these structures were elevated by the same spirit which in- duced the Egyptians to embalm;—the desire to preserve and secure the bodies of the dead. This peculiar regard for the inanimate remains of their friends, arose from the extraordi- nary belief, that the soul did not quit its corporeal habitation at the time of death ; but continued to be connected with the body, if it remained uncorrupted, until 3000 years were elapsed, at the end of which term, the soul was allowed to pass to another living body. If the body decayed at any time short of these 3000 years, the soul, having lost its place of residence, was compelled to inhabit the bodies of different animals in succession, until its full term was elapsed. Subsequently to the time when embalming is spoken of in the holy scriptures, the first mention we find of it is in the historian Herodotus, more than a 1000 years after. This author, having himself visited and remained some time in Egypt, obtained from the priests of the country a multitude of curious facts, and among others a very minute account of the mode in which they embalmed. There are in Egypt, says he, certain persons whom the law has charged with the operation of embalming, and who make a profession of it.—Having agreed about the price; in this manner they proceed to the most precious kind of embalming.— First, they draw the brain through the nos- trils, partly by means of a curved iron, and partly by wash- ing it out with medicated liquids. Then with a sharp Ethio- pian stone, they make an incision in the side, and thence draw out all the bowels; which, when they have cleansed and washed with palm wine, are covered with odoriferous places the building of the pyramids at a vastly earlier period, and attributes them, at least the two larger, to some of the first Egyptian kings. The third pyramid is said to have been the work of queen INitocris, who reigned in the year of the world 2332. The learned seem to be of opinion that Ma- netho is most to be trusted, in regard to the time of the pyramids; because these vast structures are entirely destitute of hieroglyphics, within and without, and of course must have been made before the reign of Sesostris; for at, and after his time, the Egyptian edifices were uniformly covered with hieroglyphics, almost without exception. It must be considered that Herodotus was in Egypt soon after its conquest by Cambyses ; and could hardly be mistaken in a remarkable fact, which happened only three or four centuries before ; and that he expressly states there was an inscription on the first pyramid in Egyptian letters, mentioning the quantities of various articles of provision expended during this stupendous work. Belzoni has noticed, that some of the tombs, in the vicinity of the pyramids, contain stones placed with hieroglyphics upside down, as if they had belonged to another edifice ; and it has been suspected that these might have formed the »uter covering of the pyramids.