Embalming

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

em-bam'ing, the art of preparing dead bodies to prevent their decay. It was practiced in Egypt as early as 4000 B. C. A special class of low grade priests or physicians were employed. They embalmed not only human bodies, but cats, crocodiles, the ibis, ichneumon, and other sacred animals. It cost a talent of silver, or over $1,000, to embalm the body of a person of rank. The interior of the body was filled with myrrh, cassia and other preservative materials. The body was then steeped for seventy days in natron or carbonate of sodium found in the lakes of the Libyan Desert and Upper Egypt. It was then wrapped in linen bands, well waxed, and was deposited in an artistically constructed wooden coffin or sarcophagus. Joseph, it may be remembered, ordered his servants to embalm his father, Jacob. So well was embalming done, that it has been possible during the last century to photograph the shrunken faces of the ancient pharaohs, whose mummies, as the prepared bodies are called, were discovered in the royal burial places of Egypt. After the lapse of from 3,000 to 4,000 years, the palm of the hand and the sole of the foot are still flexible and soft to the touch. A number of American museums possess well preserved Egyptian mummies and sarcophagi. A mummy found in a sandstone grave on the west bank of the Nile, and now preserved in the British Museum , is considered the oldest body known. Flint knives show that the burial took place in the stone age . Less expensive methods were employed to preserve the bodies of the poor. In brief they were salted and dried. The custom ceased about 700 A. D. One author estimates that not less than 700,-000,000 Egyptian mummies were disposed in the caverns and cliff burial places of the Egyptians. The exceedingly dry climate had much to do with the success of the preservation of these mummies. Much of the spice and embalming material was brought from the eastern countries by caravan. Various embalming materials were used by different nations. The Assyrians used honey. The body of Alexander the Great was embalmed in wax and honey. Other materials were the pitch of the cedar tree, asphalt, salt, gypsum, and saltpeter. Embalming has been employed successfully in England also. The body of King Canute, laid away in Winchester Cathedral in 1036, was found in a good state of preservation in 1776. The body of William the Conqueror and his wife Mathilda were still recognizable at Caen five centuries after their burial. In modern times the art of embalming is practiced by undertakers chiefly to preserve bodies for a limited period of time. Zinc chloride, arsenic, and mercuric chloride are among the agents employed. As they are rank poisons, great care is necessary in their use. Embalming materials one and all are merely germicides--anti-bacterial agents. Many tribes of American Indians elevate the bodies of their dead upon scaffolds, and endeavor to preserve them as long as possible by a process of drying. See Charlemagne ; Mummy ; Pyramids