sius published so far back as
1842. This text, which is now generally known as Chapter CLIV of the
Book of the Dead, is entitled "The Chapter of not letting the body
perish." The text begins:--

"Homage to thee, O my divine father Osiris! I have come to thee that
thou mayest embalm, yea embalm these my members, for I would not
perish and come to an end, [but would be] even like unto my divine
father Khepera, the divine type of him that never saw corruption.
Come, then, and make me to have the mastery over my breath, O thou
lord of the winds, who dost magnify those divine beings who are like
unto thyself. Stablish thou me, then, and strengthen me, O lord of the
funeral chest. Grant thou that I may enter into the land of
everlastingness, even as it was granted unto thee, and unto thy father
Temu, O thou whose body did not see corruption, and who thyself never
sawest corruption. I have never wrought that which thou hatest, nay, I
have uttered acclamations with those who have loved thy KA. Let not my
body turn into worms, but deliver me [from them] even as thou didst
deliver thyself. I beseech thee, let me not fall into rottenness as
thou dost let every god, and every goddess, and every animal, and
every reptile to see corruption when the soul hath gone forth from
them after their death. For when the soul departeth, a man seeth
corruption, and the bones of his body rot and become wholly
loathsomeness, the members decay piecemeal, the bones crumble into an
inert mass, the flesh turneth into foetid liquid, and he becometh a
brother unto the decay which cometh upon him. And he turneth into a
host of worms, and he becometh a mass of worms, and an end is made of
him, and he perisheth in the sight of the god Shu even as doth every
god, and every goddess, and every feathered fowl, and every fish, and
every creeping thing, and every reptile, and every animal, and every
thing whatsoever. When the worms see me and know me, let them fall
upon their bellies, and let the fear of me terrify them; and thus let
it be with every creature after [my] death, whether it be animal, or
bird, or fish, or worm, or reptile. And let life arise out of death.
Let not decay caused by any reptile make an end [of me], and let not
them come against me in their various forms. Do not thou give me over
unto that slaughterer who dwelleth in his torture-chamber (?), who
killeth the members of the