Page:Philosophical Transactions - Volume 054.pdf/34

 It has been imagined, that the principal matter used by the Ægyptians for embalming was the asphaltus; but what we found was certainly a vegetable production. The smell in burning was very unlike that of asphaltus nor did it resemble that of the common pitch of the fir-tree: being rather aromatic.

It was compared with a variety of resins and gum - resins; but seemed not to resemble any of them, excepting myrrh; and that but very slightly.

In all probability, it was not a simple substance; but might be a mixture of the resinous productions of the country, with the pitch of that tree which they had in greatest plenty.

The Αλειφαϱ τȣ Κεδϱȣ of Herodotus, and the Κεδϱια of Didorus Siculus , was most probably the tar of the cedar; it is the substance laid by these authors to be used for embalming; Galen mentions its power of preserving bodies; and Dioscorides calls it Νεϰϱȣ ζωη. Pliny, speaking of the cedar, says; that the tar was forced out of it by fire, and that in Syria it was called cedrium: cujus tanta vis est, ut in Ægypto corpora hominum defunctorum eo perfusa servetur.

Some branches of the cedar were procured from the physic garden at Chelsea; and, being treated in the manner described by Pliny, yielded tar and