the art of preserving dead bodies from putrefaction. It was much practised by the Egyptians of ancient times, and from them seems to have been borrowed by the Hebrews. It consisted in opening the body, taking out the intestines, and filling the place with odoriferous drugs and spices of a desiccative quality. Joseph gave orders for the embalming of the body of his father Jacob, Genesis 50:1-2; and Moses informs us that the process took up forty days. Joseph himself also was embalmed, Genesis 50:26 . Asa, king of Israel, seems to have been embalmed, 2 Chronicles 16:13-14 . See BURIAL .