compositions of embalmers; and that by a pretty contradiction, giving
life as it were to the dead, and destroying the worms which are living;
and as it does where any goods are kept in chests and presses of the
wood, excepting woollen-cloth and furs, which 'tis observ'd they
corrupt. In the mean time, touching the manner of these operations, as
it concerns the preservation of the dead, see more where we speak of
cypress, &c. The effects being ascrib'd to the extream bitterness of the
resinous juices, whilst the odor is most grateful: The worthy Mr. Ray
mentions the powder and sawdust of cedar to be one of the greatest
secrets us'd by our pollinctors and mountebanks, who pretend to this
embalming mystery; and indeed, that the dust and very chips are exitial
to moths and worms, daily experience shews us; tho' none in mine, than
the dry'd leaves and stalks of _Marum-Syriacum_, familiarly planted in
our gardens: What therefore the late traveller Dampier speaks of cedar,
which he has seen worm-eaten, could neither be that of Libanus or
Bermudas, but haply of Barbados, Jamaica, or some other species: note,
that the cedar is of so dry a nature, that it does not well endure to be
fastened with nails, from which it usually shrinks, and therefore pins
of the same wood are better. Whatever other property this noble tree is
deservedly famous for, it is said to yield an oyl, which above all
other, best preserves the monuments of the learned, books and writings;
whence _cedro dignus_ became one of the highest eulogies: But whether
that of the ingenius poet,

_Notandus minio, nec cedro charta notatur,_

refers not to the colour rather, which was usually red, and perhaps
temper'd with this bitter oyl (as some conjecture) let our antiquaries
determine: The horns and knobs at the ends of the rolling-staves, on
which those sheets of parchment, &c. (before the invention of printing,
and compacted covers now in use) as at present our maps and geographical
charts (peeping out a little beyond the volume) were likely colour'd
with this rutilant mixture.

Touching the diueternity of this material, 'tis recorded, that in the
temple of Apollo Utica, there was found timber of near two thousand
years old; and at Sagunti in Spain, a beam in a certain oratory
consecrated to Diana, which has been brought to Zant, two centuries
before the destruction of Troy: That great Sesostris King of Egypt had
built a vessel of cedar of 280 cubits, all over g