Religio medici : to which is added, Hydriotaphia; or, Urn-burial; a discourse on sepulchral urns / by Sir Thomas Browne ; with a preliminary discourse and notes, by J.A. St. John. 1841.

  • Browne, Thomas, Sir, 1605-1682.
Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Religio medici : to which is added, Hydriotaphia; or, Urn-burial; a discourse on sepulchral urns / by Sir Thomas Browne ; with a preliminary discourse and notes, by J.A. St. John. 1841. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    durations. Others, rather than be lost in the un- comfortable night of nothing, were content to recede into the common being, and make one par- ticle of the public soul of all things, which was no more than to return into their unknown and divine original again. Egyptian ingenuity was more un- satisfied, contriving their bodies in sweet consist- ences, to attend the return of their souls. But all was vanity, feeding the wind, and folly.(169) The Egyptian mummies, which Cambyses or time hath spared, avarice now consumeth. Mummy is be- come merchandize; Mizraim cures wounds, and Pharaoh is sold for balsams.(l7°) In vain do individuals hope for immortality, or any patent from oblivion, in preservations below the moon: men have been deceived even in their flatteries above the sun, and studied conceits to perpetuate their names in heaven. The various cosmography of that part hath already varied the names of contrived constellations: Nimrod is lost in Orion, and Osiris in the dog-star. While we look for incorruption in the heavens, we find they are but like the earth ; durable in their main bodies, alterable in their parts: whereof, beside comets and new stars, perspectives begin to tell tales. And the spots that wander about the sun, with Phaeton’s favour, would make clear convic- tion. (169) Omnia vanitas et pastio venti, vijfxij ave/xov, fiuoia]- niij ut olim Aquila et Symmachus. V. Drus. Eccles. (I7°) Alluding to the ancient use of mummy in physic, as vended by the Jews in those days.—Douglas.