The treatment of the mummy and the various ceremonies in connexion with embalmment were undoubtedly magical in origin. As each bandage was laid in its exact position certain words of power were uttered which were supposed to be efficacious in the preservation of the part swathed. After consecration the priest uttered an invocation to the deceased and then took a vase of liquid containing ten perfumes, with which he smeared the body twice from head to foot, taking especial care to anoint the head thoroughly. The internal organs were at this juncture then placed on the body, and the backbone immersed in holy oil, supposed to be an emanation from the gods Shu and Geb. Certain precious stones were then laid on the mummy, each of which had its magical significance. Thus crystal lightened his face, and carnelian strengthened his steps. A priest who personified the jackal-headed god Anubis then advanced, performed certain symbolical ceremonies on the head of the mummy, and laid certain bandages upon it. After a further anointing with oil the deceased was declared to have "received his head." The mummy's left hand was then filled with thirty-six substances used in embalming, symbolical of the thirty-six forms of the god Osiris. The body was then rubbed with holy oil, the toes wrapped in linen, and after an appropriate address the ceremony was completed. [1] _Etudes de Mythologie et d'Archéologie Egyptienne_, Paris, 1893, vol. i, p. 106. [2] I hope to elaborate this theory more fully in a later work. [3] For a very full account of Fetishism see my article in the _Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics_. [4] Lefébure, _La Vertu et la Vie du Nom en Egypte_. [5] This expression _Maā kheru_ etymologically means 'acquitted,' and is a legal term. [6] See Budge, _Egyptian Magic_, p. 20. [7] See A. Waite, _Hidden Church of the Holy Grail_, pp. 533 _et seq._ CHAPTER VIII: FOREIGN AND ANIMAL GODS: THE LATE PERIOD Foreign Deities