The Egyptian texts supply no details of the methods employed in embalmment, but classical writers describe the processes at some length, and the mummies which have been unrolled and examined prove that their statements are on the whole correct. According to Herodotus (ii, 85) there were =three methods of embalming= in use in his time. In the =first= or most expensive =way=, the brains and viscerae were removed from the body, which was carefully washed with palm wine, and then sprinkled with powdered spices. The cavities in the head and body were next filled with pounded myrrh, cassia, etc., and the opening in the abdomen through which the viscerae were taken out was sewed up. A tank containing a solution of salt, or soda, was prepared, and the body was steeped in it for seventy days. At the end of this period it was taken out of the solution, dried, and anointed with sweet-smelling unguents; then the swathing with linen strips was begun. Sometimes, in the case of women, the cheeks and lips were painted, the eye-lids smeared with eye-paint, and other attempts made to give to the face the semblance of life before swathing. The fingers and toes were each swathed separately, then the legs and arms, and finally, when pads and wads of linen had been fixed in various places to keep the swathings in position, and to give to the mummy the traditional form of the mummy of Osiris, the body and head were wrapped up in large sheets of linen, which were held in place by stout bands. As each swathing was placed on the body, a priest who was specially appointed said the formula which applied to it, and in cases where a large number of amulets were used, these objects, which were intended to give to the mummy the protection of the various gods, were inserted, under his directions, in their proper places between the swathings. When the swathing of the body was ended, the name of the deceased was usually written in ink on one of the outer coverings.