[ 12 ]
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[1], and the Κεδϱια of Didorus Siculus[2], was most probably the tar of the cedar; it is the substance laid by these authors to be used for embalming; Galen[3] mentions its power of preserving bodies; and [4] 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 [5] 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
