DOI issue:
Nr. 1
DOI article:Ruffer, Marc Amand: Histological studies on egyptian mummies
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11327#0015
— 3 —
METHODS OF EMBALMING.
I do not intend to give here a full account of the various methods of embalming
in successive dynasties, as a volume would be required for that purpose. It is extraordi-
nary that, as far as I know, no such work exists and a full account lias not been written
of the methods of embalming the bodies discovered in the many tombs opened lately.
Indeed, most of the writers on this subject are content to copy the accounts given by
Herodotus and by Diodorus Siculus.
Herodotus'1 description is as follows :
« There are certain individuals appointed for the purpose (embalming), and who Herodotus.
profess that art ; thèse persons after any body is brought to them, show the bearers
some good models of corpses, painted to represent the originals ; the most perfect they
assert to be the représentation of him whose name I take it to be impious to mention
in this matter; they then show a second which is inferior to the first, and cheaper; and
a third, which is the cheapest of ail. They then ask of them according to which of the
models they will have the deceased prepared : having settled upon the price, the relations
immediately départ, and the embalmers, remaining home, thus proceed to perform the
embalming in the most costly manner. In the first place, with a crooked pièce of iron,
they pull out the brain by the nostrils ; a part of, it they extract in this manner the rest
by means of pouring in certain drugs : in the next place, after making an incision in the
flank with a sharp Egyptian stone, they empty the whole of the inside ; and after clean-
sing the cavity, and rinsing it with palm wine, scour it out again with pounded aromatics :
then having filled the belly with pure myrrh pounded, and cinnamon, and ail other
perfumes, frankincence excepted, they sew it up again ; having so done, they steep the
body in natrum 2, keeping it covered for 70 days, for it is not lawful to leave the body
any longer in the brine. When the 70 days are gone by, they first wash the corpse, and
then wrap up the whole of the body in bandages eut out of cotton cloth, which they
smear with gum, a substance the Egyptians generally use instead of paste.
The relations, having then received back the body get a wooden case, in the shape
of a man, to be made ; and, when completed, place the body in the inside ; and then,
shutting it up, keep it in a sepulchral repository, where they stick it upright against the
wall. The above is the most costly manner in which they prépare the dead. For such
as choose the middle mode, from a désire of avoiding expense, they prépare the body
thus : they first fill syringes with cedar oil, which they inject into the belly of the de-
ceased, without making any incision, or emptying the inside, but sending it up by the
seat ; they then close the aperture, to hinder the injection from flowing backwards, and
1 This is copied from Pettigrew.
2 Pettigrew wrote natrum.
METHODS OF EMBALMING.
I do not intend to give here a full account of the various methods of embalming
in successive dynasties, as a volume would be required for that purpose. It is extraordi-
nary that, as far as I know, no such work exists and a full account lias not been written
of the methods of embalming the bodies discovered in the many tombs opened lately.
Indeed, most of the writers on this subject are content to copy the accounts given by
Herodotus and by Diodorus Siculus.
Herodotus'1 description is as follows :
« There are certain individuals appointed for the purpose (embalming), and who Herodotus.
profess that art ; thèse persons after any body is brought to them, show the bearers
some good models of corpses, painted to represent the originals ; the most perfect they
assert to be the représentation of him whose name I take it to be impious to mention
in this matter; they then show a second which is inferior to the first, and cheaper; and
a third, which is the cheapest of ail. They then ask of them according to which of the
models they will have the deceased prepared : having settled upon the price, the relations
immediately départ, and the embalmers, remaining home, thus proceed to perform the
embalming in the most costly manner. In the first place, with a crooked pièce of iron,
they pull out the brain by the nostrils ; a part of, it they extract in this manner the rest
by means of pouring in certain drugs : in the next place, after making an incision in the
flank with a sharp Egyptian stone, they empty the whole of the inside ; and after clean-
sing the cavity, and rinsing it with palm wine, scour it out again with pounded aromatics :
then having filled the belly with pure myrrh pounded, and cinnamon, and ail other
perfumes, frankincence excepted, they sew it up again ; having so done, they steep the
body in natrum 2, keeping it covered for 70 days, for it is not lawful to leave the body
any longer in the brine. When the 70 days are gone by, they first wash the corpse, and
then wrap up the whole of the body in bandages eut out of cotton cloth, which they
smear with gum, a substance the Egyptians generally use instead of paste.
The relations, having then received back the body get a wooden case, in the shape
of a man, to be made ; and, when completed, place the body in the inside ; and then,
shutting it up, keep it in a sepulchral repository, where they stick it upright against the
wall. The above is the most costly manner in which they prépare the dead. For such
as choose the middle mode, from a désire of avoiding expense, they prépare the body
thus : they first fill syringes with cedar oil, which they inject into the belly of the de-
ceased, without making any incision, or emptying the inside, but sending it up by the
seat ; they then close the aperture, to hinder the injection from flowing backwards, and
1 This is copied from Pettigrew.
2 Pettigrew wrote natrum.