INTRODUCTION, p. 9--Embalming among the Egyptians--Cause and origin of this custom--Opinion of authors: Cassien, Herodotus, Diodorus Sicculus, Maillet, Bory de Saint Vincent, Volney, Pariset, etc.--First idea of embalming offered to the Egyptians by the mummy of the sands--Opinion of Count de Caylus de Rouelle--Plan of this work--Natural mummies--Mummies of the Guanches--Of the Egyptians--Of the Jews--Of the Greeks and Romans--Of modern nations--Mummies the object of superstitious dread--History of the Pole, Razevil--Mummy employed as a remedy in disease--Its marvellous properties--Officinal mummy of Crollius--In what embalming consisted among the Egyptians and Guanches--What it has been among the moderns--What my discoveries have made of it--Motives which have induced me to publish this work. CHAPTER I. OF EMBALMING IN GENERAL, p. 21--Tendency of bodies to decomposition--Variable, according to countries, species, and individuals--Fact reported by Ammien Marcellin--Consequences deducible from it, for the natives of hot countries--for temperate and cold countries--Facts observed by Maillet--Astonishing analogy observed in the caverns of Saint Michel, at Bordeaux--Various processes of embalming--With gum--With honey--With wax--The embalming of Alexander--Of Agesilas--Brine unknown--Fact of _Tulliola_, reported by Coelius Rodiginus--Another by Valateron--Embalming with aromatic and astringent substances--With resinous and bituminous substances--Empyricism of the moderns--Process of Ruysch, of Swammerdam--Note of Strader--Appreciation of these methods--Useful deductions to be drawn from them--Penicher thinks it impossible to embalm without emptying the large cavities--Fact in support of his opinion--My experiments to this effect on infants. CHAPTER II. NATURAL MUMMIES, p. 35.--Power of nature--Importance of seeking her ways in the study of her phenomena; to follow her lessons--Division of natural mummies--Mummies due to the particular qualities of the soil--Note communicated by Drs. Boucherie, Bermont, and Gaubert, concerning the mummies of Saint Michel, at Bordeaux; thermometrical and hygrometrical observations; chemical analysis; results--Similar facts observed at Palermo--At Toulouse--History of M. de la Visée--Mummies due to the general qualities of the air and soil--Mummy of the avalanches--Time of its duration--Mummification by a cold and dry wind--Morgue of the Great Saint Bernard--Note communicated by Dr. Lenoir--Mummy of the Sands--Testimony of Herodotus--Description of Father Kircher--In Egypt--In Mexico--These facts establish a simple connexion between the productions of nature and those of human industry. CHAPTER III.