ce Proper.

In this apartment, there are sepulchral lamps in the same material as
the Etruscan vases, and idols not a few. Besides these, there are
numerous Roman fibulae (a sort of brooch) and bracelets, found at
Treves, and others dug up in England. There are likewise many Roman
antiquities, which have been recently met with at Hoy Lake, near
Liverpool. But we must not attempt to enter into details; let us mount
to the floor above, and notice the contents of the apartments there.

The first room on the second storey is the Mummy Room; and there rest,
side by side, royal personages and humble individuals, male and
female, who, about four thousand years ago, breathed the air of Egypt.
Except by their cerements, and the inscriptions on the cases, who
could tell which had been the greater?

The plan adopted for the display of these human mummies--for the
Museum contains the preserved remains of the ibis and hawk, the cat,
and even the dog, a rare subject for the embalmer, besides the bodies
of other inferior animals--is to remove the outer case and covering,
then to place the inner case upon the floor; above it, resting on
supports, the body; and above that again, the lid, enclosing all
within plates of glass, so that the spectator may go round the mummy,
examining it in all directions, and likewise the case, within and
without, on which the hieroglyphics are inscribed. Before we describe
the mummies so laid out, let us explain briefly the process of
embalming. Herodotus is a great authority on this matter, and we
cannot do better than follow him.

In the first place, the embalmer was a medical practitioner, and
legally pursued his craft. The deceased was taken to his room, and
there the process of preservation was conducted; not, however, till
the agreement had been made between the relatives and the embalmer as
to the style and cost; for there were three methods of embalming,
suitable to different ranks. This having been determined, the operator
began, the relatives having previously retired. In the most expensive
kind of embalming, the brain was extracted without disfiguring the
head, and the intestines were removed by an incision in the side:
these were separated and preserved. The body was now filled with
spices--myrrh cassia, and other perfumes, frankincense excepted; and
the opening was firmly closed. It was now covered with natron for
seventy days; and at the expiration of that time, it was washed and
swathed