DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4023#0163
OF THE MUMMIES. 117
I could not be asTured, whether the brain had been drawn out by the nos-
tols, as Herodotus relates it, till \ saw the mummy that was sent to the Count
*>£ Caylus, and I perceived that in reality the cranium had an hole made at
*he extremity of the nostrils, and that the end of the orbit on the right side was
dually open. It is eafy therefore to interpret Herodotus in a sense more
favourable than that which presents itsels at the first reading; sor it might be
imagined that he meant, they evacuated the brain through the noftrils, as is
there had been a natural opening that penetrated into the capacity os the cranium.
I am satissled, that it was the carcases found in the sands os Egypt,
and which are (till found there, in such a state of dryness and levity that they
feem to have been tanned, which gave rise to the notion amongft the Egyptians
°f drying bodies: you may see one of these bodies preserved in the cabinet os
laint Genevienve.
The preservation os bodies being with these people a point of religion, it-
Was necessary that the bodies os the lower sort os people should be equally pre-
served. Have they been embalmed ? This is very dissicult to be believed, con-
sidering the great number os inhabitants os the country. M. de Mail let
draws me out os this dissiculty, and shews me, in his hiftory os Egypt, what
Was the fepulture os the common people*
H e says, " That he has seen a great number os bodies laid upon beds os coal, Letter vii/I
trapped only with some swaddling cloths, covered with a mat, upon which lies p?se »8i.
*and seven or eight seet thick."
This sepulture may be considered as a kind os embalming, which the
Egyptians contrived also, in imitation os the bodies dried in the sands;
the poor were ssattered, by this means, that their bodies would be at lead as
durable as those os the rich, who were embalmed sumptuously.
I think I have shewn, that all the art os the Egyptian embalrners confined
lri two disserent labours; that in the sirsr^ they removed all the different liquors
ai*d sat srom the carcases, by means os the alkali fait, and that by this means
they dried them so much, that there remained nothing but the fibrous parts:
* have likewise shewn, that in the second labour they applied upon the whole
body refinous and bituminous fubstances, by means os swaths os cloth, in or-
^r to defend thefe bodies from the contact of the air, and by consequence srom
httmidity; it was by fatisfying thefe two views that the Egyptians slattered
tuemfelves with rendering the bodies extremely durable, and with preserving
them from corruption. The mummies that are preferved in cabinets, are so
^any prooss of their fuccefs; there are fome of thefe bodies that were embalmed
at least two thoufand years ago. And it may be conjedured, that the raum-
^es that are ftill enclosed in their chambers, and which do not communicate
^th the air, efpecially thofe that have chefts, will laft ftill a long series of ages.
■'•his conjecture is not without foundation. I am going to mention a lingular
a<^> which we owe perhaps to the fuperftition oi the Egyptians, and which
H h shews
I could not be asTured, whether the brain had been drawn out by the nos-
tols, as Herodotus relates it, till \ saw the mummy that was sent to the Count
*>£ Caylus, and I perceived that in reality the cranium had an hole made at
*he extremity of the nostrils, and that the end of the orbit on the right side was
dually open. It is eafy therefore to interpret Herodotus in a sense more
favourable than that which presents itsels at the first reading; sor it might be
imagined that he meant, they evacuated the brain through the noftrils, as is
there had been a natural opening that penetrated into the capacity os the cranium.
I am satissled, that it was the carcases found in the sands os Egypt,
and which are (till found there, in such a state of dryness and levity that they
feem to have been tanned, which gave rise to the notion amongft the Egyptians
°f drying bodies: you may see one of these bodies preserved in the cabinet os
laint Genevienve.
The preservation os bodies being with these people a point of religion, it-
Was necessary that the bodies os the lower sort os people should be equally pre-
served. Have they been embalmed ? This is very dissicult to be believed, con-
sidering the great number os inhabitants os the country. M. de Mail let
draws me out os this dissiculty, and shews me, in his hiftory os Egypt, what
Was the fepulture os the common people*
H e says, " That he has seen a great number os bodies laid upon beds os coal, Letter vii/I
trapped only with some swaddling cloths, covered with a mat, upon which lies p?se »8i.
*and seven or eight seet thick."
This sepulture may be considered as a kind os embalming, which the
Egyptians contrived also, in imitation os the bodies dried in the sands;
the poor were ssattered, by this means, that their bodies would be at lead as
durable as those os the rich, who were embalmed sumptuously.
I think I have shewn, that all the art os the Egyptian embalrners confined
lri two disserent labours; that in the sirsr^ they removed all the different liquors
ai*d sat srom the carcases, by means os the alkali fait, and that by this means
they dried them so much, that there remained nothing but the fibrous parts:
* have likewise shewn, that in the second labour they applied upon the whole
body refinous and bituminous fubstances, by means os swaths os cloth, in or-
^r to defend thefe bodies from the contact of the air, and by consequence srom
httmidity; it was by fatisfying thefe two views that the Egyptians slattered
tuemfelves with rendering the bodies extremely durable, and with preserving
them from corruption. The mummies that are preferved in cabinets, are so
^any prooss of their fuccefs; there are fome of thefe bodies that were embalmed
at least two thoufand years ago. And it may be conjedured, that the raum-
^es that are ftill enclosed in their chambers, and which do not communicate
^th the air, efpecially thofe that have chefts, will laft ftill a long series of ages.
■'•his conjecture is not without foundation. I am going to mention a lingular
a<^> which we owe perhaps to the fuperftition oi the Egyptians, and which
H h shews