is proved by the skill with which they removed the more perishable parts of the body in the process of embalming. The embalmers, says Ebers, were all enrolled in a guild which existed down to Roman times, as is shown in various Greek papyri. In the wall-cases 30-33 in the upper floor of the second Egyptian room of the British Museum, there is a set of Canopic jars which held the intestines of the human body, which were always embalmed separately. They were placed near the bier and were four in number, each one being dedicated to one of the four children of Horus, the genii of the dead. The stomach and large intestines were dedicated to Amset, the smaller intestines to Hâpi, the lungs and heart to Tuamâvtef, and the liver and gall-bladder to Kebhsenuf. Poor people had to be content with mere models of these vases.[139] The dissectors were the _paraschistes_, who cut open as much of the body as the law permitted with an Ethiopian stone. As soon as one of them had made the requisite incision he had to fly, pursued by those present, who cursed him bitterly, and flung stones at him. It was considered hateful to inflict any wound on a human body; and however necessary the act might be, the agent incurred the greatest odium. The Egyptian doctors knew very little of anatomy as a science; they were, however, acquainted with the fact that the blood-vessels had their origin from the heart, and that the blood was distributed to the body from that organ. There is an interesting treatise on the heart in the Papyrus Ebers. In another medical papyrus we find the following anatomical details concerning the blood-vessels:— “The head of man has thirty-two vessels; they carry the breath to his heart; they give inspiration to all his members. There are two vessels to the breasts; they give warmth to the lungs—for healing them, one must make a remedy of flour of fresh wheat, herb haka, and sycamore _teput_—make a decoction and let the patient drink it; she will be well. There are two vessels to the legs. If any one has a disease of the legs, if his arms are without strength, it is because the secret vessel of the leg has taken the malady,—a remedy must be made.... There are two vessels to the arms; if a man’s arm is suffering, if he has pains in his fingers, say that this is a case of shooting pains.... There are two vessels of the occiput, two of the sinciput, two of the interior, two of the eyelids, two of the nostrils, and two of the left ear. The breath of life enters by them. There are two vessels of the right ear; the breath enters by them.” It is uncertain whether by the term vessels the Egyptians understand the arteries, the veins, the nerves, or some imaginary conduits.[140]