Embalmer

“ The cause of death is vitally necessary. In some cases, the ordinary contents of the embalmer's grip or hand bag are sufficient for the usual needs. In other cases, extra material of various kinds are necessary, for instance, the rubber floor covering for the carpet in dropsical cases ”

“ But a wound inflicted within two hours after death may resemble very closely one received during life. In general, unless a wound is old enough for the edges to present inflammatory changes, the embalmer must be very careful in asserting its antemortem or postmortem character. ”

“ They must have possessed an intimate knowledge of drugs, to have enabled them to select those of an antiseptic character suitable for the preservation of the mummies. That their practical knowledge of anatomy must have been considerable is proved by the skill with which they removed the more perishable parts of the body in the process of embalming. The embalmers, says Ebers, were all enrolled in a guild which existed down to Roman times, as is shown in various Greek papyri. ”

“ But the parcels, examined by an expert, contained no trace of organic remains, proving how much the Egyptians depended on magic imitations and make-believe. It was not until the New Kingdom that the processes of embalming reached a high degree of elaboration. Later still, in the last millennium B.C., it seems that even the bodies of the poor were pickled. The embalmers were accustomed to keep the corpse in all for seventy days before burial (cf. Gen. I. 3; Herod. ii. 86) , to be soaked, wrapped in linen bandages, and put in the coffin. ”

“ The third kind of embalming is only for the poorer classes of society. They inject the body with a fluid named surmata; they put the body into natrum for seventy days, and they afterwards return it to those who brought it. As to ladies of quality, when they are dead, they are not immediately sent to the embalmers, any more than such as are beautiful or highly distinguished; these are reserved for three or four days after death. They take this precaution lest the embalmers might pollute the bodies confided to their care. ”

“ The Greeks and the Romans, among whom we have particularized some examples of embalming, practised it in a coarse and imperfect manner. The examination of their method would be here without interest.
In order to recover some traces of this art, we must refer to De Bils, Ruysch, Swammerdam, Clauderus, &c. They only boast of their astonishing success, without giving us the means of studying their methods. What we do know of them suffices only to make us doubt, as we have seen, the perfection of their processes. ”

“ Tho interesting and important subject of embalming, and of preserving and preparing anatomical objects, though much improved of late, is by no means exhausted. It has long been our desire to turn our attention in a special manner to such researches, and to have instituted numerous experiments, but imperative duties, and unexpected events, have interfered with such views for the present—we are not without a hope, however, that some one of our countrymen, more fortunately situated, will push his discoveries in a direction which affords so admirable a field for distinction. ”

“ It is not permitted to let them remain longer in the salt. The seventy days elapsed, they wash the body and entirely envelope it in linen and cotton bandages, soaked with gum Arabic, commi, which the Egyptians used generally in place of glue. [I] The relatives now reclaim the body; they have made a wooden case of the human form, in which they enclose the corpse, and put it in a chamber destined for this purpose, standing erect against the wall. Such is the most magnificent method of embalming the dead. ”

“ Among the Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, and all modern nations, we see the honours of embalming accorded to kings, princes, and men of distinction; but no tomb that has been opened, has rendered a single mummy so perfect, as those which we admire among the Egyptians; and if some rare and distant examples inform us of a durable preservation, the marvellous and extraordinary details accompanying it causes us to doubt the fact itself. ”

“ These people had established invariable rules and a certain method for the process of embalming. We remark, in effect, that the labour of those who were charged with embalming the dead, consisted in two principal operations, very distinct: the first, to subtract from the interior of the corpse all that might become a cause of corruption during the time allotted to dry it; the second, to secure the body from any cause that might subsequently occasion its destruction. ”

“ One of the ancients informs us that the Egyptians took so much pains for the preservation of the body, believing that the soul inhabited it so long as it subsisted. Cassien, on the other hand, assures us that they invented this method because they were unable to bury their dead during the period of inundation. Herodotus, in his third book, observes, that embalming had for its object the securing of bodies from the voracity of animals ”

“ It results, if we are not mistaken, from the analogy of so many carefully made observations, a consequence to which we might not have arrived by long continued reasoning: simple embalming might have been practised among the Egyptians from the earliest period of their civilization, without a very exact knowledge of the laws of preservation of animal matter, and before the other arts were far advanced. A description of the Plain of Mummies by M. de Maillet, will give to this opinion, already so firmly established, the value of a demonstrated truth. ”

“ They informed me, that decomposition only took place when the bodies fell by accident to the ground; which was owing to the humidity occasioned by the snow, which occasionally entered with the currents of air through the windows of the morgue. [G] (Note communicated by Dr. Lenoir.)
The existence of the mummies of the sands, is attested by numerous travellers, and all the authors who have written on embalming mention them. They are every where found, where an arid and burning atmosphere deeply penetrates the masses of fine sand, easily agitated by the winds. ”

“ I have long believed that the practice of embalming arose only from tenderness to the remains of relations or friends, and to this opinion I am more inclined, because it seems impossible that this care should have been general: had all the dead been embalmed, their repositories must in time have been more spacious than the dwellings of the living. ”

“ What obdurate Hearts and pitiless Eyes can then bear such a miserable Object, when Embalming so easily prevents it, by rendring the Body sweet and decorous, retaining still its natural Form, Feature and Shape? Again, if we consider the natural and innate Desire most People have of being bury’d in their own Tombs and Countries, |Necessary for Transporting Bodies.| we shall find there is a necessity of Embalming such Bodies, the better to convey those that die in Foreign Parts to their Native Soil. ”

“ An additional subject of interest to all classes will be acknowledged in the facts and observations elicited by the arduous and industrious researches of the author, whilst investigating the new process of embalming, which has led to such happy results to the students of anatomy and natural history. ”

“ For embalming, Plutarch, Herodotus, Diodorus Sicculus, Stacy, Pliny, Cicero, Porphyrus, Prosper Alpin, Cassien, Clauderus, Penicher, Baricel, Rodiginus, Corippus, Gryphius, Crollius, the Reverend Fathers Kircher and Ménestrier, De Maillet, Volney, Rouelle, the Count de Caylus, MM. Pariset, Rouyer, Bory de Saint Vincent, and numerous other authors, have furnished me with descriptions and materials, which I was obliged to put in order and bring before the eye of the reader, in order to present to him a useful lecture, and in some sort preparatory to my own ideas. ”

“ The numerous facts which we have brought together in this chapter, appears to us most calculated to fix all the questions relative to embalming which long discussions and reasonings have lost sight of. They prove that bodies, placed in the bosom of the earth, covered only with a few feet of sand have been preserved for ages ”

“ Nevertheless, judging from the great incisions, perforations, the flesh hacked and stuffed with perfumes, the arbiter would have been justified in deciding that the hog-butcher possessed superior claims to any of his competitors for practising embalming. We shall be convinced, in reading the following notice, that the pretensions which we claim in favour of an honest artist, are neither ridiculous nor extravagant. ”

“ It is necessary, in effect, to preserve to the tissues in embalming, a freshness and suppleness which is lost by desiccation, at the end of some months, in the subjects injected for the use of the anatomist; it is necessary, above all, to secure to the body, in this latter case, a more prolonged preservation: the facts which I can show, will prove that I have attained my end. ”

“ On the other side, the men also girdle themselves, and strike their breasts; after this ceremony they carry the body to the place where it is to be embalmed.
Certain men according to the law have charge of the embalming, and make a profession of it. When a body is brought to them, they show the bearers models of the dead in wood. ”

“ One of the best definitions of a coat of arms that I know, though this is not perfect, requires the twofold qualification that the design must be hereditary and must be connected with armour. And there can be no doubt that the theory of armory as we now know it is governed by those two ideas. The shields and the crests, if any decoration of a helmet is to be called a crest, of the Greeks and the Romans undoubtedly come within the one requirement. ”

“ All the mummies are enveloped nearly in the same manner; there is no other difference than the number of the bandages which surround them, and the quality of the linen, the tissue of which is more or less fine, according as the embalming was more or less precious. The body embalmed, is at first covered with a narrow chemise, we find only one large bandage enveloping the whole body. The head is covered with a piece of square linen cloth, of a very fine texture, the centre of which forms a species of mask ”

“ The sentiments to which the authors above cited attribute the origin of embalming among the Egyptians exist in every man, viewed either as a social or isolated being. One individual may be induced to embalm the bodies of his relatives or friends by motives of superstition ”

“ I have not remarked, what Maillet asserts, caverns specially destined to the sepulture of men, of women, and of infants; but I was surprised to find so few infant mummies in the tombs which I visited. These embalmed bodies, among which we meet with nearly an equal number of men and women, and which at first view appear to resemble each other, and to have been prepared in the same manner, differ, nevertheless, in the various substances which have been employed to embalm them, or in the arrangement and in the quality of the linen employed to envelope them. ”

“ In my sleep an old grave man appeared to me, and said, "Hearken, Agib; as soon as thou art awake dig up the ground under thy feet: thou wilt find a bow of brass, and three arrows of lead, that are made under certain constellations, to deliver mankind from the many calamities that threaten them. Shoot the three arrows at the statue, and the rider will fall into the sea, but the horse will fall by thy side; thou must bury it in the place where thou findest the bow and arrows: this being done, the sea will swell and rise to the foot of the dome. ”

“ The ornament in question is a group of statuary in bronze, elevated upon a marble pedestal and basement, representing Lord Nelson expiring in the arms of Victory. One foot rests on a rolling foe, and the other on a cannon. Victory is dropping a wreath on the dying admiral’s brow; while Death, under the similitude of a hideous skeleton, is insinuating his bony hand under the hero’s robe, and groping after his heart. A very striking design, and true to the imagination; I never could look at Death without a shudder. ”

“ Nor does it signifie much which way the Body be dissolv’d, in regard it comes to the same End without Embalming, and that such Tombs, how splendid soever, are but in effect Cenotaphs or empty Sepulchres, except that they are full of Stench and Rottenness: |Funeral-Expences insignificant without Embalming.| We must therefore look upon it as the most extravagant Vanity to erect Pyramids, Obelisks, Tombs, &c. for preserving an empty airy Name and meer Shadow, while we neglect to keep any Remains of that noble Workmanship the Body, whereby to distinguish Man from Earth and Dust. ”

“ Primitive Roman Armour.
Armour, Arms. In almost every deposit where prehistoric remains are buried, we find clubs, hatchets, arrows, hammers, or other arms, mostly, even in the stone age, carefully ornamented. The ancient Egyptians were armed with “the bow, spear, two species of javelin, sling, a short and straight sword, dagger, knife, falchion, axe or hatchet, battle-axe, pole-axe, mace or club, &c. Their defensive arms consisted of a helmet of plate, or quilted head-piece, a cuirass, or coat of armour made of metal plates, or quilted with metal bands, and an ample shield” (Wilkinson) . ”

“ But the Sands of Egypt being much more hot, from the reflection of the scorching Sun, are capable of Preserving Bodies without either Salination or Embalming, and that only by exhaling and drying up the Humidities and adventitious Moisture, insomuch that it has occasion’d no small Contests among some Authors, which of the two is the truer Mummy, that dry’d in the Sands, or that which is Embalm’d with Balsams and Aromatics. ”