The Red Cloud chief., 1888-07-13
EMBALMING THE DEAD.
The Ancient Method Fer Superior
to That Of To-Day.

From the point Of pccuniary gain to I'm
Ger;aliers embaiE:ng has no advantage
owe the icing methods commonly employed,
says the New York Press. 1t: superiority
over the icing custom is claimed because Of
the protection afforded to undertakers spc-
ciaily and the public generally against III.
lection of any disease with which the dc.
ceased may have died.
The unQucstIonable adoption Of embalm.
ing processes for keeping bodies during
Transportation and Of public men whose
bodies are kept in state for prOtracted
periods has within the past few years be-
com of pronounced frequency. and it is
somewhat pertinent testimony to the truth
OF the nothing ner: under the sun " adago
that this prehistoric practice after lying in
oblivion for ages should be renovated and
clothed by modern science and brought to
renewed activity beneath the critical judg-
ment of the current century.
Even yet in common thinking we have
Tot learned to disassociate the term from
its memories as u lost art; and with tho
mention Of the word the fancy instinctively
pictures vague visions of shriveled num-
mics curio:sly swathed in discolOrcd linens.
of pyramids and Obclisks covered with
hieroglyphs, and of the superstit;ous rites
and ceremonies belonging to that dim and
mysterious past when the worship Of Osiris
and Isis and all the t~utelary gods was foar-
ishlng on the bcnks Of the Nile.
The imagination fits through the long
vista Of thirty-siX centuries to the time when
the Sphinx and pyramids were young, and
we seem to perceive the kolchytS and his
assistants engaged in their gloomy and
sOmber occupation within the dread pre-
cincts of tho Metropolis.
With the ancient Egyptians this artificial
preservation Of the dead was fraught with
dread Importance. for, according to their
beliefs, the soul held such relations with
its earthly envelope that although freed BY
death. it would, after a cycle Of ten thou
sand years, rc-cltcr it. provided the body
ready to receive it, but if not the
migratiOns Of the spiri. We're endless, and
1t became a homeless wandcrer in the
neither Wcrld.
The rite ACQUIRED further religious n
ton with the Egyptians, who seem to have
been the innovatOrs Of the art. By the
legend of Osiris. whose body was en-
balrncd by bis soE Amebis, Isis having
found the body after his death By the hands
of Typhon. AL classes were ~embalucd
and also the sacred animals. though these
b. simpler and less expensive processes
than men.
Among the peculiar and apparently uuex-
ulaina5,e custoE's va that b. which the
corpse OF a male va given a. once into tbs
Charge of the cmhaimcrs, while females
were kept until decomposition had begun.
Those engaged il The work Of mummy
making formed a distinct caste. the calling
being hereditary. and It's secrets transmit
ted from father 10 son: they had their
homes within the boundaries of the Gene
tcrics. and ,hcir society was summed as
Conforming.
Tic loves; order OF the class called paras-
Chitsc were regarded with particular nali--
nance. and considered 10 DE accurscd spirits
predestined to their work in penarcc Of sins
during Il former existence. They
were hCpelesslv uncleaD. and To touch their
person or 10 enter their abode was defile-
ment. Their duty it was to make tnc in
cision in theb body preparatory to its discm-
after it had been marked with a
reed pen by n scribe. Immediately upon
the accomplishment of their duty they were
pursued and pc!ted with stones to the door
of their hut by the friends of the deceased.
A higher division. termed ~tarachcnta. re-
moved the entrails, with the exception Of
the kidneys and the heart. The removal of
latter organ was supposed to destroy.
all possibility of the souls future residence
in the body, and to sentence it to eternal
misery-lt was the heart which was weighed
and Judged of its sins when the soul carc
Osiris. The brain was drawn out
through the n~ostrils, and after the cavities
had been washed in palm wine the body was
in natron for seventy days, after
which it passed to the charge Of the Kol-
the highest order of embalmers, who
had charge of the tonbs and masses for the
dead. and were regarded moro favorably
than the paraschitae or ~tsrachent2; to them
belonged the really prcservative work,
which was done by filing the brain and alb
cavities with spices, aromatic herbs
and various ingredients, the exact nature
and proportions of which were carefully
FROM general knowledge. The incision
then scwcd Up. the body tightly band
,ged and wrapped in linens, secured by
gums, after which il was ready for sepul-
.ure. But the mummies were often kept in