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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    substances. Then they fill the cavity with pure myrrh bruised, cassia, and other odoriferous substances, except frankincense, and afterwards sew it up. When they have done this, they salt the body, by covering it with nitre (natron, or impure carbonate of soda) seventy days ; for it is not lawful to salt it any longer. The seventy days being elapsed, they wash the body, and envelope it entirely with bands of cloth, covered with kommi, which the Egyptians commonly use for glue. It is then given up to the relations, who cause a wood- en figure to be made with the likeness of the person, and hav- ing placed the dead body in it, they put it in a recess devoted to such purposes, standing straight up against the wall. In this way they prepare the dead in the most sumptuous manner. Those who wish to avoid expense, choose a middle sort of embalming. They fill syringes with an unctuous liquor, ex- tracted from cedar, with this they inject the belly of the de- ceased, without making any incision, and without extracting the intestines. When this liquor has been introduced by the anus, it is stopped up to prevent the liquor from escaping; afterwards the body is salted, for the lime prescribed. The last day they cause the injected liquor to issue from the bow- els. This has so great power, that it dissolves the stomach and bowels, and brings them out with it. The natron con- sumes the flesh, and the skin and bones only of the dead person remain. When they have done this they return the dead, without further work- The third kind of embalming is for the poor. Having injected the bowels with surmaia, they salt it seventy days, and then deliver it to those who brought it. The wives of distinguished men, and such as are remark- able for their beauty, are not delivered to the embalmers until the third or fourth day*. The account of Diodorus Siculus, who was in Egypt 450 years after Herodotus, confirms in a great measure the de- scription of the latter, and gives some additional particulars. The manner of sepulture is threefold, the most costly, the moderate, and the most mean. The first costs a talent of sil- ver ; the second twenty minae; the third almost nothing. Those who make a profession of burying the dead, have learnt it from their fathers.—The first, whom they call the scribe, the body being placed on the ground, marks about the left side how much should be cut. Then comes the para- * Herodotus, lib. 2. sect. 86. Ed. Laing.