"The original of ancient customs," said Imlac, "is commonly
unknown, for the practice often continues when the cause has
ceased; and concerning superstitious ceremonies it is vain to
conjecture; for what reason did not dictate, reason cannot explain.
I have long believed that the practice of embalming arose only from
tenderness to the remains of relations or friends; and to this
opinion I am more inclined because it seems impossible that this
care should have been general; had all the dead been embalmed,
their repositories must in time have been more spacious than the
dwellings of the living. I suppose only the rich or honourable
were secured from corruption, and the rest left to the course of
nature.

"But it is commonly supposed that the Egyptians believed the soul
to live as long as the body continued undissolved, and therefore
tried this method of eluding death."

"Could the wise Egyptians," said Nekayah, "think so grossly of the
soul? If the soul could once survive its separation, what could it
afterwards receive or suffer from the body?"

"The Egyptians would doubtless think erroneously," said the
astronomer, "in the darkness of heathenism and the first dawn of
philosophy. The nature of the soul is still disputed amidst all
our opportunities of clearer knowledge; some yet say that it may be
material, who, nevertheless, believe it to be immortal."

"Some," answered Imlac, "have indeed said that the soul is
material, but I can scarcely believe that any man has thought it