Mesorat%20hashas for Shabbat 302:3

כל לאתויי מאי לאתויי הא דת"ר מביאין כלי מיקר וכלי מתכות ומניחין על כריסו כדי שלא תפוח ופוקקין את נקביו כדי שלא תיכנס בהן הרוח

— Ground may be confused with ground. but a corpse cannot be confused with ground.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The reason there is not because handling is forbidden, but lest he make ruts (v. p. 189, n. 3); and though that is impossible, since baths are provided with stone flooring. yet it is forbidden lest it be thought that it may likewise be done to an earth flooring. But no one will think that if a corpse may be oiled ground may be oiled too. ');">⁴</span> What does ALL add? It adds the following, which our Rabbis taught: Cooling vessels and metal vessels may be brought and placed on his [the corpse's] stomach, in order that he should not swell, and his apertures may be stopped up, in order that the air should not enter. And [thus] said Solomon too in his wisdom: 'Or ever the silver cord be snapped asunder' — this refers to the spinal cord; 'and the golden bowl be broken' — this alludes to the membrum; 'and the pitcher be broken at the fountain' — that means the stomach; 'and the wheel broken, at the cistern' — this refers to the excrements.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Eccl. Xli, 6. He translates galgal (E.V. wheel) as galal (dung). ');">⁵</span>

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