em bahm'ing, the process of filling and surrounding bodies, particularly corpses, with aromatic and antiseptic substances in order to preserve them from corruption. The ancient Egyptians employed the art on a great scale and regarded it as a religious function. Other nations which practiced embalming, the Assyrians and Persians for example, seem never to have carried it to the point of perfection which the Egyptians attained (See MUMMY). In later times bodies have been preserved a long time by embalming, especially when they have remained at a low and uniform temperature and have been protected from the air. Of the various modern artificial means of preserving bodies, injections of a mixture of mercuric chloride, arsenic and zinc chloride into the blood vessels and cavities seems to be most effective. In most cases, of course, the object is the preservation of the body for a short time only. Embalming is very generally practiced in the United States, because it makes possible the transportation of a body, and because it destroys the danger of contagion.