EMBALMING, the art of preserving dead bodies from de cay. The custom of embalming had its origin in Egypt, probably as early as the 1st Dynasty. As practised by the Egyptians and other peoples of antiquity and by modern races of relatively low culture, embalming is usually spoken of as "mummification." The art was probably suggested by the natural preservation of bodies buried in predynastic times in the desert sands in Egypt. Bodies so inhumed survive to-day in a wonderful state of preservation owing to the total exclusion of air and moisture by contact with the sand. The adoption of more elaborate funerary offerings ne cessitated roomier graves, and bodies were thus no longer covered with sand but exposed to air and consequently decomposed. This led to the attempt to achieve by art that which unaided nature accomplished in simple sand-burials. Embalming in Egypt reached a high stage of development, its greatest elaboration being accom plished at the time of the 2 i st Dynasty (see MUMMY) . The practice survived in Egypt until the Byzantine period, and throughout its long career the embalmers had two objects in view : the preservation of the body from decay and the perpetua tion of the personal identity of the deceased. The motive was a belief in the physical survival of the dead.
Outside Egypt embalming has a wide geographical distribution, and in many places it has survived until recent times, although it is everywhere tending to disappear. The Guanches of the Canary Islands mummi fied their dead in a manner closely resem bling that of the Egyptians, and there are traces of the custom, or debased survivals of it, in many parts of the African contin ent. In Indonesia, Australia, Melanesia, and Polynesia embalming in various forms has been practised principally for chiefs and persons of importance, the best pre served mummies being those of the Torres Straits Islands. In North, Central, and South America mummies have been found, many specimens having been discovered in ancient sites, particularly those of the Inca civilization.
References to embalming occasionally occur in classical literature. Herodotus (ii.
85-88), Diodorus Siculus (i. 91), Plutarch (De earn. esu and Sept. Sap. Cony. xvi.), Porphyry (De Abst. iv. 1o), Plato (Phaedo xxix.), Lucian (De Luctu), Strabo (xvi. 2, 45), Cicero (Tuscul. Disp. i.), and others, mention Egyptian embalming. Herodotus also mentions methods practiced by the Persians (i. 140), the Ethiopians (iii. 24) and the Scythians (iv. 71). Tacitus (Annals, xvi. 6) states that Nero's wife was embalmed "according to the manner of foreign kings"; Statius (Si/v. iii. 2, 117) affirms that the body of Alexander the Great was embalmed with honey, and the same material was employed to conserve the corpse of Agesipolis I. during its convey ance to Sparta for burial, according to Emilius Probus and Cornelius Nepos. The early Christian writers inveigh against the custom of embalming as a pagan usage (e.g., Augustine, De Diversis, xii. Serm. 12o) .
Embalming was occasionally practised in Europe during the middle ages. Thus in 1135 the body of Henry I. was embalmed by a method recalling that of the Egyptians : incisions were made in the body, the viscera removed, and aromatic substances were introduced into the vacant body-cavity. Although in the mean time embalming was often practised, it was not until the end of the 17th century that any real scientific research into the matter had been made. The methods of embalming devised by Ruysch of Amsterdam (1665-1717) and others, arose out of experiments made to discover a satisfactory means of preserving anatomical preparations. Numerous methods, each claiming perfection, were propounded during the i8th and 19th centuries : the substances used included essential oils, alcohol, camphor, pitch, salt, and corrosive sublimate. Gypsum was also used as a dehydrating agent.
Embalming is declining mainly owing to the rapid growth of cremation. Modern embalming is accomplished by the injection of drugs into the vascular system without removing any organs (see MUMMY).