The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1862-07-15

tuc WORN o. cIeAlioh was uOhc, ulu not
The Lord God himself plant a garden and
place therein vi guileless souls, TO de-
light in its beauty, and TO guide its
growth? And when through disobedi-
cnce punishment became necessary. was
il not a part of that punishment that the
crring ones were sent out Of the garden
into . land that brought forth thorns and
thisilesg Queen Amytis wanted a gar
den, and the king said she should have
one. lt was built within the palace
walls, There was never seen such q
pleasure ground as this; vast numbers of
pillars arched and vaultcd, cemouted with
the in~dcstructiblc asphaltum, which made
whole columns like one stone Zoe
strength, sustained terrace alb.r terrace,
each higher than The ono before IL, tili the
last stood four hundred feet from the
ground. Upon these various platforms
were planted exquisite oriental shrubs,
fragrant flowers, and waving palms; a
great pyramid Of verdure, which looked
at a distance like a symmetrical noun
tain. ia the last excellence Of culture.
Artificial irrigation was a pet sci
cncc among the aucients, and water for
the garden was raised by machinery
rom the Euphrates four hundred feet be-
low. Amyiis was content with her
mountain garden, people came from dis
tani nations 10 see them. aud even the
self-satisfcd Greeks, who always thought
wisdom would die with them, acknowl-
edged them to be worthy Of a place
among the wonders OF the world. When
Belshaztar had succeeded to the king
dom Of his grandfather, and was feast
ing a thousand of his mobiles in the very
palace that Nebuchadnezzar had bnilt
Shy the might OF his power for the glory
Of his majesty" while they drank wine
and praised the gods of gold and OF silver,
in the same hour came forth fingers of a
mans hand and wrote upon the plaster Of
the wall Of the kings palace. That was
the last night Of the last medean king.
Amytis aud NcbuchadnCzzar are names
Of the past; The gardens and great works
Of masonry, with all. their admirers,
crumbled into common dust centuries
since; but still about the ruins Of Baby
lon are found scattered fragments OF the
ancient bricks, and mmberless pieces OF
the asphaltum, in which they were laid,
az untouched by time, as when they were
first gathered upon the cool edges of the
Fountain Of Is.
The Babylonians were not alone in their
use Of bituminous substances; for the
Egyptians, it they employed them less
largely, used them more perpetually and
more strangely. These Ethiops must
have been an extremely eccentric people;
square in their features, crooked in their
morals, and utterly z,g-zag in religion.
Thtir spiritual state was quite obscure
they ordaiHed priests of polywOgs, and
offered oblations to blue-tailedilies, with
serene Joy at their own piety. Among
many other peculiaritios Of doctrine, they
appear 10 have had q violent prejudice
against allowing dust TO return TO dust
under thoimpression that the disembodied
spirit came back to its earthly tenement
after a lapse Of years. From this belief
arose the practice of embalming the dead
in which process great quantities Of btu
men were used. Not only was every hui
man being that died embalmod, but alsC
all The animals, reptiles, and insects thai
werc considered sacred.
To comprehend in any measure the
enormous amount Of material required
by the universal custom, we must remem.
Dor the swarming population of Egypt
the average number of persons TO thu
square mile, was greater than the denses
population Of modern times. Memphis
where six dynasties of kings dourisheC
and declined through a thousand years
was a nation by itself; and Thebes wa.
even greater-its area covered twenty
two miles, ITS vast tide of life flowed
daily in and out Of one hundred gates, an,
its armed men out to battle in tim
of war, in banU twenty-five thousan'
through every gate. The mountain
about Thcbcs, especially Gornoo, are tun
nclcd in every direction, with the ono,
gorgeous scpulchsrs of the Theban kings
and the palmer ones of the multirudcs.
Tn those days there was a large elias
OF men trained to the trade, sNililul an,
shrcwd, who drove a thriving business il
embalming. They kept patterns Of COT
fins, and mod lies of mummies, preserveu
with moro or less elegance, which the.
showed to their patrons. The bereaye0
customer decided upon the style Of EN-
balming, and the number of collins, &c
cording &, his affection and the state q
his purse. A three hundred dollar nam
my would be neat, but not tasteful; cigh
hundred dollars for one that was stylish
Twelve hundred dollars secured somethin
d .ledly rich, and one az fifteen hun
-d.-Ldollars was gorgeous. Theypald the
money and took their choice. The lirs
step Of the process of emhalming, was I
hook the brains out at the uostrils wit
a crooked iron, and the subsequent pro
cecdiugs arc unpleasant TO describe.
, is enough for a people that does not praC
tice The art, TO know that the body wa
!, discmboweIcd with'carc, its contonts pre-
D served with tenderness, its cavities file
with preparations Of spices and petrolI
um, and that il was then exposed 60
certain degree Of heat, which sent N
rcsinou5 eNhalaiions into every fiber an
1 tissue. To be thoroughly embalmed, q
I Egyptian must undergo nearly as man
, contrary experiences as n London chrC
{ nometer before ii is pronounced infail
bic. He was heated and cooled, s0ake
s and dried, shaken mp and allowed to SCI
% tie; he was bound in linen bandages fro
% o quarter 20 a half mile long, accordir
io his rank, vanished with Petroleum
y eilded ON the end Of his nose aud Il
& tips Of his toes, laid in a coffin with
Is beetle at tho top and a lizard at the DO
d tom, and To. a first chop mummy. Notl
I ing could be more soothing 10 sOrroWir
e friends: the consciousness of posscssiT
, the best gotten up mummy Of the seas,
5 could no, fail 20 alleviate the decpe
a giief. The dear departed was carried
The tomb Of his ancestors, and set q
a against the wall 60 await tho return
p the soul, A number of sacred vas,
a surrounded him, Containing the conten
a afogcsaid) which constituted a priya
"a and limited anatomical museum Of h