Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1877-11-09
Ancient RmbalmIng.

Herodotus and Didodorous tell of
three modes of embalmment preva-
lent in Egypt. The first was very
costly, answering to about $4,000,
exclusive of such gems, jewels and
gold as love or prodigality might
lavish upon the dead; the second,
$500; the third within the reach of
all. AS to the extent to which
gems and jewels were wound up i'll
cerecloth to deck the dead, there is
the instance of the queen lately
found at Thebes, whose ornaments
were shown in the British Exhibi-
tion of 1860. They are now in the
Pacha's Museum. Their intrinsic
value alone-that is, to break up
and melt downs some thousands
of dollars. 1t is curious, in reading
the two historians accounts of the
Egyptian embalmer, to observe in
divers matters the foreshadowing of
the modern undertaken in his ways.
The different degrees of woe were
then, as now, sounded according to
the depth of the purse. Just as it is
now, when the furnisher will under
take for you any graduation of sor-
row, from the simple elm coffin and
pauper funeral up to the flourish
and parade of plumed hearse, weep
ing mutes and prancing steeds, so
with the Egyptian. Only the man
ner was different. When a be-
reaved meurner, they tell US, went
into one of these Egyptian shops,
the unctionaries would show him
different models in wood, highly
and artistically finished, or other
wise to represent the mummy and
coffin. there were painted pat
terms of mummies in their multi
colored cases to choose from. The
various costs according to pattern,
were then stated. The customer
chose his model and the bargain
was struck He then went home
and sent back the dead body, and
the body remained with the en-
balmer until the whole process was
completed. The number of days
requisite for embalming was as We
gather from both historians, seventy
or seventy-two, and this tallies with
the Scripture account (Gen. l., 81
for, doubtless, the immediate pro
cess only occupied part of the time,
the rest beng given to the ritual of
mourning. The processes for en-
balmment are related very categor-
ically. In some things they hardly
commend themselves to our present
sentiment of what is respectful to
the dead. The chief secret seemed
to consist in certain chemicals in
jected into the veins and body; in
certain washings and steepings in
natron, and in the filling up the
cavity of the body with myrrh and
other balsamic substances and spi-
ces. The brains were drawn out
through the nostriIs. Sometimes
the face and hands were gilt.
Certain jewels were laid on the
breast under innGmerable swathings
of linen. And then kind of pic.
tured shell received the body-a
sort Of close-itting case made to
open and shut lengthwise, after the
fashion of violin case. But when
the mummy was sent home-what
then? The family did not immedi-
ately part with it. On the contra
ry, they often kept their dead rela.
tive for long while, guest in his
own house. A room was set apart.
The mummy standing upright, as in
life, was enshrined in kind of
painted cahinet-a tabernacle,
starred over with innumerable hero
glyphics, and protected with great
painted scarabei and multi-colored
Cherubim, with their overshadowing
wings spread athwart the chest.
Hither, then, at intervals, the fami-
ly would come TO hold communion
with the dead. They would bring
fresh lotos flowers to enwreath their
silent relative, or strew about the
ground blossoms of asphodel and
papyrus. Numberless paintings in
the tombs of Egypt picture this af-
fecting scene-a mother and her
children kneeling in circle, with the
dead, in their midst, or wife, with
plaintive face and dishevelled hair,
embracing the placid-looking mum
my of her husband.