We are unacquainted with the antiquity of this treat ment, but it was not less effectual than the embalming of the Egyptians. In one of these mummies lately exa mined, the features of the face were still perceptible : the skin of the whole body was well preserved, dry but pliant, and of' a deep brown colour. The hair was very long, black, and in good it could easily be detached from the head. In the jaws were thirty-two teeth, so firmly fixed as to require an instru ment, or considerable exertion to remove them. The back and belly were covered with hair, also in preserva tion. The scull was empty ; but the thorax and abdomen full of grain resembling rice.
Embalment seems to have been practised by the inha bitants of Peru, at the date of the invasion of the Spa niards, and was probably known front an ancient period. Acosta mentions the body of one of their sot ereigns so well preserved by a certain kind of rosin, as, he says, that it seemed alive. We are farther informed, that Garcilassa de la Vega, previous to going to Spain in 1578, was permitted to sec his deceased ancestors, whom he found as when alive in a sitting posture, their hands crossed on their breasts. In this state they had continued 200 years ; but the mode of accomplishing their preservation is not explained.
On descending to more modern history, we find that the art of embalming has been customary throughout Europe, though for the most part restricted only to ex traordinary occasions ; but with respect to the exact process observed, history is in general silent ; neverthe less it was probably different from the method followed by the Egyptians, as the preservation of the body was not designed to be equally permanent. The following mortifying picture of the mortality of the great, is found in the older chroniclers regarding the embalm= of Henry I. of England, who died in the year 1135 at Cha teau-Lyon, in France : " He was removed to Mary's Abbey at Rouen, where next night his swollen carcase was opened by a skilful person, and embalmed. His brain, eyes, tongue, and intestines, were taken out and deposited in an urn, in a church which had begun to be erected by his mother, but was completed by himself. The body being washed with wines, and copiously sprin kled with salt, was sewed up in a bull's hide to confine the smell, which was now so intolerable as to affect the assistants ; and one who had been hired for a great reward to cleave the king's head with an axe, in order to extract the putrid brain, died from the horrible stench, though his own. head was well wrapped round with linen cloths. His body was then brought to Caen, and placed in the church, where that of his father was deposited. Yet notwithstanding the quantity of salt, and the successive hides enveloping it, a black and fetid matter exuded..
which was received in vessels beneath the bier, and thrown awry by the attt ndants in disgust." The body was afterwards brought to England, and entombed in Abbey, where it was discovered a few years ago.
It has been conjectured, that during the middle ages, or somewhat later, two modes of embalming were adopt ed. The one consisted chiefly in making deep gashes in the body, preceded or followed by lotions of spirits, wines, or vinegar, and the application of a great quan tity of salt. In the other, the body was simply immersed in sonic balsamic solution, entirely excluding the access of air. We can easily credit the former, but there is greater difficulty in believing the latter. It is true, that tombs are sometimes opened, wherein bodies are found partly surrounded by a fluid. Such was the case in 1683, when the body of King James V. of Scotland, who died in 1542, being inspected in the vaults of Holyrood Chapel, is described to have been "coloured black, with the balsom that preserved it, which was lyke melted pitch." The l y of Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, more recently discovered, exhibited a similar appear ance, conjectured to be float immersion in some solu tion. Still later, the coffin of Edward IV. of England, who (lied in 1482, was discovered containing the skeleton entire in the year 1789. Some long brown hair lay near the scull, and some of the same colour but shorter, was on the neck. In the bottom of the coffin was a liquid about three inches deep, wherein the feet and part of the leg bones were immersed, as had been seen in other instances. Some of this liquid was analysed, in expec tation of finding the ingredients, but it proved to be no kind of pickle as commonly credited, in which the body had been immersed for preservation ; and, on the whole, it was concluded to have been produced by the dissolu tion of the body itself. The fact, however, is not clearly proved ; and a singular discovery was made about the middle of the preceding century at Blom, in Auvergne, of a body swathed in fine linen, externally imbued with a thick balsam. The extremities were swathed up sepa
rately, and the hands and feet inserted into small cases filled with balsam. As the body was quite entire, this balsamic substance, which was extremely fragrant, could not have been produced by any deliquescence of the parts. Whether the Europeans could actually embalm bodies in equal perfection with the ancient Egyptians, seems to have been a point of controversy in the begin ning of the preceding century ; but it has been concluded in the affirmatis e, and different receipts are given, con sisting principally in emptying the cavities, in copious lotions, in partial desiccation, and in the abundant use of aromatic and balsamic substances. We do not here speak of anatomical preparations, for these are of a dif ferent kind from what is understood by embalment ; and injecting wax into the veins, so successfully practised since the time of Ruysch, the reputed inventor, seems totally unknown to earlier ages. But either by the means of art, or by that aberration which sometimes occurs from the ordinary course of nature, the conservation of human bodies has been complete after the departure of animation. The approaches of death are not always an nounced by convulsions, nor does a distortion of the fea tures necessarily follow. Examples are seen, where no thing but placid quiescence proves the transition from life, while the mortal remains are preserved from decay. Thus St Jerome says of Paulina, a noble Roman lady, ,4 Quodque mirum sit, nihil pallor mutaverit faciem, sed ita dignitas qutedam omnia compleverat ut Putares non mortuam sed dormientem." What is surprising, her countenance, not in the least changed by paleness, pre serv«1 its dignity, so that she might rather have been thought asleep than dead." In the pontificate of Inno cent VIII. about the year 1454, the body of a female was found in a marble sarcophagus at Rome, which must have reposed there for ages, yet the joints were flexible, the flesh was pitted by the touch, and resumed its figure when the pressure was withdrawn. This is not confined to the warmer climates, as repeated examples have proved in these kingdoms. In the year 1497, while some workmen were digging the foundation of a wall within a church of London, they Lound a coffin of rotten timber, wherein lay the body of a woman whole of skvnne, and of bones undissevered ; and the joyntes of her arms plyable without breaking of the skynne." An inscription denoted, that it must have lain there above 170 years. In the same city, about the year 1737, three coffins were accidentally laid open at the depth of 18 feet from the surface. One dated 1665, contained the body of a man perfect and soft, just as if breath had depart ed ; another, the corpse of a female, in a similar condi tion ; and the third, that of a child, entire and beautiful as wax-work, the eyes being open and clear. But with in twelve hours after their exposure, all these bodies began to decompose, which is an invariable consequence if not counteracted by desiccation. We cannot affirm, that artificial means had been employed in preserving the semblance of life in any of these instances. But in others it has not been wanting. Thus a few years ago, the decay of a wooden coffin at Kilsyth in Scotland, having laid open a leaden one to view, some sacrile gious individuals, in tearing up the latter, removed the lid of another included within it. This exposed the body of a female, whose countenance scarcely indicated the cessation of life : every feature was fresh and entire, and the limbs full and perfect as if still animated. At her knee lay an infant, with a glow of colour resembling vigorous health. The surrounding substances were in equal preservation. The shroud was complete, and the ribbands binding it, as vivid in hue as if recently ap plied. The coffin had contained a liquid, which, now partly evaporated, had become vapid, and odoriferous substances were interposed between the corpses. These proved to be Lady Kilsyth and her infant son, who, 77 years before, had been accidentally killed in Holland, and, being embalmed, were sent to Scotland to be entombed. \Vith still greater certainty we know, that an inhabitant of London, to enjoy an annuity devised to his wife, in terms equivalent to as long as she should remain upon the earth, had her body embalmed on her decease, and was accustomed to exhibit it with great unconcern to strangers. In another recent instance, where a French officer had lost the object of his warm est affections by sudden death, in the prime of youth and beauty, he caused her body to be embalmed in the most skilful manner. The semblance of life in sleep was restored ; even the bloom of animation was pre served. The body was constantly kept in a glass case in his bed-chamber, where it appeared as if only repo sing.