I3t
FROM THE BOSTON  JOURNAL  OF PHILOSOPHY AND
                     THE ARTS.
                  Sr&rriutfou

                        OF AN

        EGYPTIAN  MUMMY,

                    PRESENTED TO

   THE MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL  HOSPITAL;

                       WITH AN

ACCOUNT OF THE OPERATION OF EMBALMING,

                         IN

            ANCIENT AND MODERN TIMES.
        BY JOHN  C. WARREN, M. D.
Professor of Anatomy and Surgery, in Harvard University.
  This Mummy  was sent to Boston by  Mr Van Lennep,
merchant of Smyrna, to be given to some public establish-
ment as a mark of respect to the city.  This gentleman had
requested Mr Lee, British Consul in Alexandria, to procure
a mummy; and the latter, " having found," as he says in his
letter, " that no good ones, opened, were to be found in this
place or Cairo, commissioned a person going  to Thebes to se-
lect one, and he succeeded in procuring  the best that had
been seen for a long time."   On its arrival in Boston it was
placed in the charge of Bryant P. Tilden, Esq., and Captain
K. B. Edes, who thought they should best accomplish the in-
tentions of Mr  Van Lennep, by presenting it to the Massachu-
setts General Hospital, in order to aid the funds of this cha-
ritable institution*.  They requested my colleagues Doctors
  * It is understood that a considerable sum has been already received for
its public exhibition.
                     1 
2
Jackson and Gorham, with myself, to open the cases, and ex-
amine their contents; and afterwards the trustees of the Hos-
pital, having received the donation, desired me to  give a de-
scription of it for the satisfaction of the public.   The fresh-
ness  and fine state of preservation of every part, led some
persons  to  suggest that it might be one of those  fabricated
mummies, of which we  have heard.  These suspicions induc-
ed me to examine every thing belonging to it  with  great care,
that I might be able, if it proved genuine, to do justice to the
gentleman who presented  it, and to afford  the Hospital the
fair  benefit of its  exhibition.  The results of this investiga-
tion, together with two drawings made from the outer case, I
now beg leave to send you, for publication in  your Journal, if
you  find them likely to be  in any way useful.
   It is a curious  fact that the most perishable of substances,
the flesh of man, should present itself to us as one of the most
ancient  remains of human art: for there is nothing which
claims a higher antiquity  than  the mummies, not even the
catacombs  that  enclose  them, nor the pyramids  in their
neighbourhood.
   In the oldest and most venerable of  books, the practice of
embalming is more than once mentioned in the earlier periods
of the history of the Israelites.  This people, during their resi-
dence in Egypt, naturally adopted  the customs of that country.
When Jacob died, Joseph  commanded the physicians to em-
balm him.  The embalming required forty days, and the same
space of time was  uniformly required for this process by the
Egyptian embalmers.  " Forty days were fulfilled for him, for
so are fulfilled the  days of those that are embalmed." Gen. c.
 I. v. 3.: and in the same  chapter  it is said, that Joseph also
was  embalmed,  and put  in a coffin in  Egypt, v. 26.  Jacob
died in the year before our Saviour 1689; that is  3512 years
ago : and  as the practice seems to  have been well  established
at that period, it must  have existed long before; and been an-
terior to the time of the erection of the pyramids*.  In truth,
  * If we adopt the account of Herodotus, the pyramids were built by suc-
cessors of Sesostris :  the first by Cheops, who was the fourth king from Se-
sostris; and the second, lately opened by Beizoni, was built by Cephrenes,
the successor of Cheops : and in this account Herodotus is supported by Di-
odorus Siculus.  Sesostris lived in the year  3032: so that the pyramids
were erected scarcely one thousand years before  the christian era;  and
many hundred years after the deaths of Jacob and Joseph: in regard to
whom the practice of embalming is first mentioned in history. But Manetho 
3
these structures were elevated by the same spirit which in-
duced the Egyptians to embalm;—the desire to preserve and
secure the bodies of the dead.   This peculiar regard for the
inanimate remains of their  friends, arose from the extraordi-
nary belief, that the soul did not quit its corporeal habitation
at the time  of death ; but  continued  to  be connected with
the body, if it remained uncorrupted, until  3000 years were
elapsed, at the end  of which term,  the  soul  was allowed to
pass  to  another living  body.   If the body decayed at any
time short of these  3000 years, the  soul, having lost its place
of residence, was compelled to inhabit  the bodies of different
animals in succession, until its full term  was elapsed.
   Subsequently to  the time  when embalming is spoken of in
the  holy scriptures, the first mention  we  find of it is in the
historian Herodotus,  more than a  1000 years after.   This
author, having  himself visited  arid remained  some time in
Egypt, obtained from the priests  of the country a  multitude
of curious facts, and among others  a very minute account of
the mode in which they embalmed.
  " There are in Egypt," says  he,  " certain  persons  whom
the law has charged  with  the  operation of embalming,  and
who  make  a profession of  it."—Having  agreed  about the
price; in this manner they proceed to the most precious kind
of embalming.—" First, they draw the  brain through the nos-
trils, partly by means of a curved iron, and  partly  by wash-
ing it out with medicated liquids.   Then with a sharp Ethio-
pian stone,  they make  an  incision in the side, and  thence
draw out all the bowels;  which,  when they have cleansed
and  washed with  palm  wine, are covered  with odoriferous
places the building of the pyramids at a vastly earlier period, and attributes
them, at least the two larger, to some of the first Egyptian kings.  The third
pyramid is said to have been the work of queen  Nitocris, who reigned in
the year of the world 2332.  The learned seem to be of opinion that Ma-
netho is most to be trusted, in regard to the time of the pyramids ; because
these vast  structures  are entirely destitute  of  hieroglyphics, within and
without, and of course must have been made before the reign of Sesostris;
for at, and after his time, the Egyptian edifices were uniformly covered
with hieroglyphics, almost without exception.  It must be considered that
Herodotus was in Egypt soon after its conquest by Cambyses ; and could
hardly be mistaken in a remarkable fact, which happened only three or four
centuries before ; and that he expressly states there was an inscription on
the first pyramid in Egyptian letters,  mentioning the quantities of  various
articles of provision expended during this stupendous work.  Belzoni has
noticed, that some of the tombs, in the vicinity of the pyramids,  contain
stones placed with  hieroglyphics upside down, as  if they had belonged to
another edifice ; and it has been suspected that these might have formed the
•uter covering of the pyramids. 
4
substances.   Then they  fill  the  cavity  with pure myrrh
bruised,  cassia,  and other odoriferous substances,  except
frankincense, and afterwards sew it up.  When they have done
this, they salt the body, by covering it with  nitre (natron, or
impure carbonate of soda) seventy days ;  for it is not lawful
to salt it  any longer.  The seventy days being elapsed, they
wash the body, and envelope  it entirely with bands of cloth,
covered  with kommi,  which the Egyptians commonly use for
glue.  It is then given up to the relations, who cause a wood-
en figure to be made with the likeness of the  person, and hav-
ing placed the dead body in it, they put it in a recess devoted
to such purposes, standing straight up against  the wall. In this
way they prepare the dead in the most sumptuous manner.
  "■ Those who wish to avoid expense, choose a middle sort of
embalming.   They fill  syringes with an unctuous liquor, ex-
tracted from cedar, with this they inject the  belly of the de-
ceased, without making any incision, and without extracting
the intestines.  When this  liquor has been introduced by the
anus, it  is stopped up to prevent the liquor from  escaping;
afterwards the body is salted, for the lime prescribed.   The
last  day  they cause the injected liquor to issue from the bow-
els.   This has so  great power,  that it dissolves the stomach
and  bowels, and brings them out with  it.  The  natron  con-
sumes the  flesh, and  the  skin  and bones   only of the dead
person remain.   When they have done this they return the
dead, without further work-
   " The  third kind of embalming is for the poor.  Having
injected  the bowels with surmaia,  they salt  it seventy  days,
and then deliver it to those who brought it.
   " The wives of distinguished men, and such as are remark-
able for  their beauty, are not delivered to the embalmers until
the  third or fourth day*."
   The account of Diodorus Siculus, who was in Egypt 450
years after  Herodotus,  confirms in a great  measure the de-
scription of the latter, and gives some additional particulars.
   " The manner of sepulture is threefold, the most costly, the
moderate, and the most mean.   The first costs a talent of sil-
ver  ; the second twenty minae; the third almost nothing.
   " Those who make a profession  of burying the dead, have
learnt it from their fathers.—The first, whom they call the
scribe,  the  body  being placed on the ground,  marks about
the  left side how much should be cut.  Then comes the para-
* Herodotus, lib. 2. sect. 86.  Ed. Laing. 
5
chist, or cutter, holding an Ethiopian stone, who, when he has
cut as much as  the  law requires, immediately makes his es-
cape, and is pursued by all those who are present, with stones
and  execrations,  as if they  would turn  the sacrilege upon
him.—They then proceed as soon as possible to the prepara-
tion of the body,  and one,  passing in his hand, removes all
the viscera, except the heart and kidneys.  Another washes
them with palm wine and odoriferous  liquids.  Then  they
anoint the body for  more than thirty days with cedar  oint-
ment, and having seasoned it with myrrh and cinnamon, not
only to  preserve, but to guard it from insects, they return it
to the  friends.—Hence  many of the Egyptians, preserving
the bodies of their ancestors in magnificent little edifices at
their own houses, have  wonderful satisfaction in  looking at
the bodies of those who  have been dead for ages, but whose
lineaments  are  so well preserved, that they seem as if they
were still living."
   The accounts of these ancient writers are in a great degree
confirmed by the  discoveries of  modern travellers.—The in-
cision is found on the left flank for removing the viscera,  and
the perforation in the ethmoid bone, for the extraction of the
brain.   We notice  the  appearance  of odoriferous gums, of
carbonate of soda, or some other saline substance; of banda-
ges rolled many times round the body, and of  the cases or
coffins,-carved into a resemblance of the deceased.  Asphaltos
or bitumen of Judea, so  often found as the preserving sub-
stance, is  not mentioned by either  of these writers; for the
kommi,  spoken of by Herodotus, as the matter employed to
glue on  the bandages, must have been gum arabic.  The use
of asphaltos as an embalming substance is, however, mention-
ed by Strabo, and some other authors.
   The effects  of the cedria,  the  liquor extracted from the
cedar, must have been misunderstood.  At least we do not at
present  know in what way a substance,  obtained from the
cedar tree,  could corrode  the  viscera so much, as  to cause
them to be discharged.  It has been \ery naturally and judi-
ciously suggested by M. Rouyer,  that  the corroding liquor
was the natron, or carbonate of soda, rendered caustic and dis-
solved.   Or we may come nearer to the account of the an-
cients, by  supposing 'that the  cedar tree was employed to
produce a caustic potass, to which this name, cedria, was ap-
plied ; and  that, after the use  of this, a resinous or pitchy
substance,  obtained also from the cedar, was thrown into the
cavity of the abdomen. 
6
   As to the surmaia, employed to preserve the bodies of the
poor, we are not able to determine its nature.  It might have
been the substance called  pis-asphaltos, or possibly turpen-
tine ; though we cannot believe that either of these,  merely
thrown into the  abdomen,  would have preserved the whole
body.  Mummies of the poor have been found in abundance,
placed in the sands near the sepulchral grottos of the great.
Some of these are tolerably preserved; yet appear to have
had no other embalming substance than a  covering of pow-
dered charcoal;  while others were filled  with pis-asphaltos.
Probably these and the others on whom surmaia was employ-
ed, were subjected to the desiccating power of the carbonate
of soda.
   M. Rouyer, one of the  savans who were in Egypt with
Bonaparte, made an exact examination of a great number of
mummies, with a view of ascertaining the  nature of the em-
balming  substances.   He informs us that near the ruins of
Thebes,  and in the neighbouring mountain, he found a great
many mummies  entire  and well preserved.  " It would be
impossible," says he, " for  me to estimate the prodigious num-
ber  of those which 1 have  found heaped  up, or scattered in
the  sepulchral chambers, and in  the multitude of cavities in
the interior of this mountain."
   He distinguishes them from each  other in a manner con
formable to the account of Herodotus, into those which have
an incision in the left  side, and those without.  The class
which have the  incision,  are again divided into those dried
by the aid of balsamic substances, and those which have been
salted.
   The mummies preserved by balsamic  and astringent sub-
stances are filled,  some with aromatic resins, others  with
asphaltos.
   The mummies filled  with aromatic resins are of an olive
colour: the skin  is dry and  flexible, like tanned leather, and
seems to form a common mass with the flesh and bones; the
features appear to be the same as during life.  The abdomen
and chest are filled with friable resins, which have no partic-
ular odour, but when thrown on burning coals produce a
thick smoke with a strong  aromatic smell.—These mummies
are very light, dry, and easy to  break; they preserve their
hair and teeth.   Some  of  them are gilt over the whole sur-
face of the body,  others on the face and hands.  They seem
to have been prepared with great care, and are unalterable
so long as they are preserved in a dry place; but when expos- 
7
ed to the air, attract moisture, and in a few days exhale a dis-
agreeable smell.
  The mummies prepared with bitumen are of a black colour.
The skin is hard and shining as if  it had been varnished.
The head, breast, and  abdomen, are filled with a resinoua
black substance, which  presents  the  properties of bitumen.
These are heavy, unalterable, and do  not attract  humidity.
Many of them are gilt like the first species.
  The mummies which  have an incision  in the left side, and
which have been salted, are likewise of two kinds, one filled
with resins, and the other with asphaltos or bitumen.   Both
of these are very numerous.  When exposed  to the air they
attract moisture, and are then distinguished  from the species
not salted, by being covered with a light saline efflorescence,
which appears to be sulphate of soda.
  The second class of mummies, which have not the incision
on the left side, nor  any other part of the  body, but  from
which the viscera have  been withdrawn through the anus,
are also distinguishable into two sorts: first, those which have
been salted and afterwards filled with a bituminous substance,
and second, those which have been merely salted.
  The first species of these are filled with a substance  called
pis-asphaltos,* less pure than  the bitumen  of Judea.  Not
only are all the cavities filled, but the surface is covered, and
every part seems to be penetrated with it; so that it might be
supposed the body had been  immersed in a cauldron  of the
bitumen, while in a state of liquefaction.  These are the most
common of all: they are black, hard, heavy, difficult to  break,
and have a disagreeable penetrating smell.   The bituminous
matter is fat to  the touch, less black and friable than asphal-
tos ;  dissolves imperfectly in alcohol; distilled, it gives an
abundance of fat oil of a fetid smell.
  The mummies, which are only  salted and dried, are not so
well preserved as those above-mentioned.   It is  rare  to find
them in an entire state; for most commonly the flesh is, to a
greater or less extent, separated from the bones, leaving them
quite clean and white.  The skin is white and  supple.   The
flesh, having been less dried, is sometimes converted into adi-
pocire, and Tumps of this matter are also found in the cavities.
  •The natural pis-asphaltos is, according to Dioscorides and others,* kind
of bitumen flowing from certain mountains.   It is found in various part* of
toe -world.                                           r 
8
 They are strongly impregnated with a saline substance, which
 appears to be principally sulphate of soda.
   Such is the result of the researches of M. Rouyer. Whence
 it appears that the most precious and most perfect mode of
 embalming, was, as  stated by the ancient authors, with the
 resins.  Next with asphaltos.   The third with  pis-asphaltos,
 The fourth and meanest  with saline substances.  It is proba-
 ble, however, though M. Rouyer does not appear to be of
 this opinion, that the saline substance was  equally employed
 in every mode ; but that  in the more perfect, it was carefully
 washed away before the resinous and bituminous substances
 were applied.
   Whatever was the mode of embalming, he found the cover-
 ings of the bodies much the same : varying only in the num-
 ber of thicknesses of bandage, or in  the  delicacy of its tex-
 ture.  Next the  body there  is  found a close shirt, laced  at
 the back and  made tight 'at the  neck.   The head is covered
 with a square piece of linen of  fine  texture:  the  centre  of
 which serves as a kind of mask;  sometimes there are five or
 six of these, one over the  other, and the last is gilt, and repre-
 sents the  countenance of the deceased person.  Every part
 of  the body  is enveloped by separate bands, impregnated
 with resin; the legs are brought together and the arms cross-
 ed over the breast, and confined in this situation by bandages,
 curiously rolled round the whole body, to the  number  of
 fifteen or twenty thicknesses.  The outer turns are covered
 with hieroglyphics, and secured by long bands artificially and
 symmetrically arranged.
   Under  the  exterior bands  are often  found  idols of gold,
 bronze, varnished earthen ware,  painted or gilt wood, rolls of
 papyrus containing  hieroglyphics,  and many other  objects
 which had a relation to religion,  or were associated with cir-
 cumstances dear to the individual while alive.
   It is  rare to find  mummies enclosed  in their cases; the
 pieces of  these  only being discovered.   Many bodies were
 placed in  the sepulchral caves, wells, and niches without; and
 those which had possessed cases, were generally thrown out
 of them.  Those cases, which served, says M. Rouyer, for the
 rich, and for persons of great distinction, were double.  That-
 which enclosed the body  was composed of a great number of
 thicknessses of a kind of pasteboard ; and this ^was enclosed
 in a second, made of sycamore wood or cedar.  They were
 accommodated to the shape of the body they enclosed.  The
outer case had a likeness of the individual.   It was compos- 
9
edoftwo  pieces only, an  upper and under, joined by pro-
jecting parts, secured with  cords, externally covered with a
simple layer of plaster or varnish, and ornamented  with hie-
roglyphical figures.
  Belzoni says, that such as could afford  it, probably had a
case made to contain their bodies, on which was written a
history of their life; while those in poorer circumstances had
their  lives written on papyri, rolled up and placed between
their knees.  In the appearance  of the cases there is a great
difference; some are  plain, others very much wrought, and
richly adorned with painted figures.  The cases were gene-
rally made of sycamore, and always bear a human face, male
or female.  A few contain a second within them, of wood  or
plaster.  The inner cases are fitted to the body of the mum-
my ; though some  of them appear to be  merely covers,  in
form of a man or woman, easily distinguishable by the beard
or breast.  The  wooden case is first covered with a layer of
plaster or cement, not  unlike plaster of Paris; and on this are
sometimes cast figures in basso relievo, for which they made
moulds.   The whole  case is painted, the ground generally
 ellow, the  figures and hieroglyphics blue, green, red, and
 lack, but the last colour is rarely used.  Some of the colours
appear  to be vegetable, as  they are evidently transparent;
and the whole of the painting is covered with a varnish which
preserves it effectually.
  This traveller  found, in some of the mummies, lumps of as-
phaltos,  weighing  two pounds.  The entrails he saw bound
up in linen and asphaltos; but Porphyry  says, that after the
entrails were removed from the body, the  embalmer  held
them up to the sun, addressing to  him a prayer, in the form of
invocation ;  he declared,  "  that the body  had not committed
any crime during life; but that what faults might be imputed
to it,  ought to be charged  to the bowels,  which* were then
thrown into  the  Nile."  For this account  Porphyry has the
support of Plutarch.
  The mummies of the priests are supposed, by Belzoni  to
be  distinguished by the peculiar care with which  they 'are
arranged.  The bandages are  strips of white  and  red linen
intermixed, covering the whole body, and forming a curious
effect of the two colours.  They have sandals of painted lea-
ther on  their feet,  and bracelets  on their  arms and  wrists___
He found  eight mummies in their cases, in the state in which
they were originally deposited.   The cases lay side by side
flat on the ground,  facing the east, in  two  equal rows, imbed-
i 
10
dcd four inches deep in mortar; which must have been soft
when they were deposited.
  The preservation of so many of these mummies is partly
attributable to the construction of the tombs in which they
were deposited. The solid pyramids, the sepulchres of kings,
were intended not more to prevent the intrusion of strangers,
than to exclude air and  moisture.  The capacity of the ca-
tacombs under the city of Alexandria, now untenanted, even
by the  dead, has always excited the admiration  of travel-
lers.  The numerous and profound excavations in the plains
of Saccara were the  cemeteries of Memphis; and the rocks
of the Lybian mountains were penetrated to form the necro-
polis of Thebes.
  In the last  number  of the Boston Journal of Philosophy
and the Arts, there is an  excellent description of some of  the
tombs.  We can form  a  notion of the  extent of these places
from  Belzoni,  who says, he reached the  inner apartments
through passages, sometimes 300, and even 600 yards,  or 1800
feet in length, formed in the solid rock.  These passages are
occasionally interrupted by thick walls, built for the  purpose
of closing them up; and they are  broken by apartments of
various dimensions, placed along their course, at different in-
tervals, which  served as separate  depositories  for the dead.
They also present, in many places, square or rounded per-
pendicular excavations  30  or 40 feet deep, in  the  form of
wells; on  descending  these,  other horizontal passages and
new apartments are found, some of which are ornamented in
the most magnificent style.   A  part of the wells  appear to
have been intended to receive and carry off such moisture, as
might accidentally find its way into the tombs.
  The walls of these apartments and  passages are so finely
adorned with  sculptures  and  paintings, that those travellers
who view them, are at a  loss for expressions of their  admira-
tion.   The sculptures  are generally raised from the rocky
walls of the caverns,  by cutting  away the stone which sur-
rounds the figure.  The paintings are sometimes executed on
the raised  stone, sometimes on the plain surface of the rock,
and often  in a very fine plaster, applied to the walls of rock.
The various  figures represent Egyptian  deities: the person
buried in the tomb, perhaps  a king or hero in  his  chariot,
leading a triumphal procession, and followed by hosts of cap-
tive enemies;  works of agriculture; of commerce; manufac-
tures ; feasts; games and sports;  battles and victories ; gene-
rally concluded with a funeral procession.   These paintings 
11
are very extensive; their colours are rich, and as fresh as if
lately done; so that travellers hardly know which  most to
wonder at, the beauty of the work, or the  perfectness ot its
preservation.
  " It was not till after marching three quarters of  an hour
in this  desert valley," says  Denon, " that in the midst of the
rocks we observed some openings, parallel with the  ground,
containing a door in a simple square  frame, with a flattened
oval on the  upper part, in which are  inscribed in hierogly-
phics, a beetle, the figure of a man with a hawk's head, and
two figures on their knees in the act of adoration.  As soon as
the first gate is passed, we discover long galleries cased with
stucco,  sculptured and painted; the  arches  of an  elegant
eliptical figure, are covered with innumerable  hieroglyphics,
disposed with so much taste, that notwithstanding the  singular
grotesqueness  of the forms, the  ceilings make an agreeable
whole, and a rich and harmonious association  of colours."—
The sepulchral chamber is sometimes surrounded by a pilas-
tered portico, whose galleries, bordered  with  recesses, sup-
ported in the same manner, and  lateral chambers hollowed
into  the rock, are  covered   with a fine and  white stucco, on
which  are coloured hieroglyphics,  in a wonderful  state of
preservation ;  for, except two of the eight tombs, which have
been injured by water trickling down, all the rest are still in
full perfection, and the paintings as fresh as when they were
first executed, the colours  of  the ceilings exhibiting yellow
figures, on a blue ground, are executed with a taste that might
decorate the most splendid  saloons.
  Among the  subjects represented are sacrifices, and in one
or more places are seen the figures of black men, decapitated,
standing upright,  with the head  at the side of the  body
streaming with blood.  Over the black men, stand one or more
red men stretching out their arms in the attitude of invoca-
tion.   These pictures concur  with a multitude of other facts
to prove, that  the ancient Egyptians were not  black  but red ;
and that the black figures were made to represent Ethiopians.
They can scarcely be intended for  any thing but an exhibi-
tion of human  sacrifices; and therefore lead us to suspect
that Herodotus was misinformed on this subject;  since he
expressly says, the Egyptians never have  human sacrifices.
Or it is possible the practice might  have been laid aside in his
time; and that the figures allude to the habits  of a much ear-
lier period, which the Egyptian priests would  be apt to deny 
12
to Herodotus, after they had become obsolete and unfashion-
able, in consequence of the Persian conquest.
  The finest of the tombs which have been lately opened, is
that of king Psammis, discovered by Belzoni.  This contains
a long series of archways, corridors, halls, and chambers, to
which M,. Belzoni has given names; as  the hall of pillars,
the chamber of beauties, of mysteries, &,c.   It had never
been opened by the moderns, though it  appears that .the Per-
sians, Greeks, or Saracens had penetrated, and afterward clos-
ed it up.   What the Persians spared, and the Greeks respect-
ed, M. Belzoni has contrived to  carry  oft'; for besides load-
ing himself  with  the smaller objects, found  in the tomb, he
has got out a beautiful alabaster* sarcophagus, which had pro-
bably contained the remains  of king Psammis, and this, to-
gether with  the colossal head of the younger Memnon, and va-
rious  other  articles which no body else thought of disturb-
ing, he has  packed up and sent  to England; and as if vexed
at not being able to  transport the tomb of king  Psammis,
with the  rocky mountain which contains it, he has ingeniously
formed, and set up in England, a representation of this tomb,
with all its grottos, pillars, and paintings.
  The most  interesting among the groups, discovered in this
place, is  a military and triumphal procession  of Egyptians,
with their prisoners.   The  procession  begins  with four red
men  with white kirtles, followed  by a hawk-headed divinity;
these are Egyptians.   Next follow four white men with thick
black beards, and a simple white fillet round their black hair,
wearing striped and fringed kirtles; these are Jews, and might,
says  the  Quarterly Review,  " be considered as portraits of
those, who  at this day walk the streets of London."  After
these are four negroes with hair of different colours, wearing
large circular ear-rings, having white petticoats supported by
a belt over the shoulder; these are meant to represent Ethi-
opians.  Lastty,  three white  men with smaller beards and
curled whiskers, bearing double  spreading  plumes in their
heads, and wearing robes or mantles spotted like the skins of
wild beasts ; and these are Persians or Babylonians.  Now it
appears from the  Biblet  that Necho, the father of Psammis,
went out of  Egypt to fight with the Babylonians or Persians.
In his way  through Judea he was attacked  by king Josiah,
and though  he contended with him reluctantly,  he conquered
* Since found by Dr Clarke to be arragonite.—Ed. B. J.
t 2 Chronicles, xxxv. 20. 
13
and  killed him, and  carried his son Jehoahaz prisoner into
Egypt.   The historian Herodotus states the same facts in a
manner singularly accordant with the holy scriptures, and
moreover, says, that king Psammis himself made a warlike ex-
pedition into Ethiopia : and thus we have explained  to us the
representation of the prisoners of the three nations, the Jews,
Babylonians, and Ethiopians.,
  The Egyptians were not the only nation who preserved the
bodies of the  dead.   The Guanches  of the Canary Islands
followed this practice  to a considerable extent.  They were
conquered in the fifteenth century;  yet there  remain great
numbers of bodies, prepared by them; a single cavern in
Teneriffe, having been found, when first opened, to  contain
about a thousand bodies.  Acosta and Garcillasso de la Vega
inform us, that the Peruvians possessed this art, that the bodies
of some of the Incas were found  in a state of good preserva-
tion, and quite hard  though light.  The New Zealanders of
the present day are wonderfully skilful  in their preservations
of the human body, though in other respects among the most
ignorant and miserable of savages.  The head of a chief or
great warrior is thought to transfer to his  enemies, if it hap-
pen to fall into their power, the  courage and strength of the
individual.  They are therefore  anxious to obtain and pre-
serve such heads ; and they are able  to succeed so well in
removing the causes of putrefaction,  that the  flesh is as solid
and  undecomposable  as wood; possesses an aromatic odour
like  that of newly dried grass;  and  perfectly  exhibits the
features of the individual. I have one  of these heads which
belonged to a New Zealand chief; it  might  at first view be
taken for carved work.   The hair  is wholly preserved ;
it was originally black,  and somewhat  finer  than that of
the  American  Indian, but is now  red inclining  to gray,
from age.  The forehead is narrow from side to side, and
very oblique,  though  extensive.   The  jaws prominent; the
teeth small.  The skin is of a dark red or chocolate colour,
tattooed over  the whole face ; and the  cartilages of  the nose
cut to a point, so as to give a frightful and  ferocious aspect to
the   face, more like that of a wolf than of a man.  The art
of these people probably consists in  first cleaning the part to
be preserved,  and expressing the blood; then exposing it for
some time to the steam of certain herbs, and afterwards dry-
ing it in smoke.   It is said that they  can prepare entire bo-
dies  in the same manner;  but  of this I  am not  well satisfied. 
14
  Natural mummies are bodies preserved  without the aid
of artificial means.  They have been found  in various parts
of the world, and under different  circumstances.   In the
exhumations of the great cemetery at Dunkirk, in France, a
number of bodies  were found  in a state of  preservation, in-
termixed with others in full  putrefaction.  Particular soils
have a preservative, or rather a desiccative operation, and they
appear  to be especially such  as abound in limestone.  In
Toulouse, in France, there are one  or more churches, the
cemeteries of which are said to possess this power.  The ope-
ration of such soils is illustrated by an experiment made on
two tritons.  These small salt-water animals were placed, one
in an empty glass vessel, the  other in one  containing some
muriate of lime.   On the second day the latter was found to
be completely dried up; while the other remained  alive until
the fourth.   Heat  and  cold  both prevent the process of
decomposition, though in different ways.   The bodies of tra-
vellers in the burning sands of Africa, when buried  by vio-
lent winds, are frequently dried and converted into mummies.
While, on the other hand, various individual cases have oc-
curred in those  who  died in  cold  weather, and  whose bo-
dies  remained frozen for some time, of a desiccation suffi-
cient to prevent the progress of putrefaction.   We have an
opportunity  of seeing this  process in venison, frozen, and
kept in  our apartments, which becomes dried,  and unde-
composable to a  certain extent. Whether we  are to impute
to the last cause, or to some other, the singular preservation
of a gentleman's body near Boston, I am unable to determine.
This body has been buried between twenty and thirty years,
and is still so entire that the features of the  face are at once
recognised by those who knew him while  living.  I have
examined it,  and  found the  skin  quite  firm  and strong.
The flesh of the  arms is solid.  The walls of the abdomen are
perfect, and emit a hollow sound, as if the viscera had been
removed or decayed.   The skin is of a brown colour, and is
constantly moist, though  not  wet.   The  cellular  membrane
under it is not fat, nor in the state of spermaceti, but precise-
ly resembles the grain of the under surface of leather.  This
gentleman died,  I believe, in the winter.  He was about 80
years old, and very fat.  The body was not opened, nor were
any means taken to preserve it; and  other bodies placed in
the same tomb long since, are  completely decomposed, even
to the separation of the bones.   It is remarkable  that there
is no worm, nor insect of any kind, seen in the coffin, or on the 
15
body.   The tomb is  in  the open air, placed  somewhat on
the side of a hill, facing the west, and the soil is rather ot a
dry  nature.  Although the  fatty  substance has now entirely
disappeared, it is probable  it had a principal agency in the
preservation  of this body,  penetrating and preserving the
muscles and other parts,  while the desiccating process was ac-
complished.—The greater part of natural mummies are form-
ed by the  conversion of the flesh into adipocire, or sperma-
ceti.  This transmutation which  has, within the  last thirty
years, been discovered in various  situations as the effect of ac-
cident, has also been successfully  imitated by placing flesh in
wet places, and especially by exposing it to a small stream of
running water.   This has the effect of converting it, after a
considerable  time, into a spermaceti,  that may be advanta-
geously employed in the  arts.  Manufactures of spermaceti,
on a large scale, are successfully  carried  on in this manner,
particularly in Spain*.—All  kinds of  bodies are not equally
susceptible of this decomposition.  I suppose that those abound-
ing with fat, and in which the muscles are  tender, are the
most proper subjects ; but I  have  noticed in thin as well as in
corpulent persons, who had  lived in a very sedentary man-
ner, that the muscular flesh has been  nearly converted into
spermaceti during life, so as to be ruptured by a very slight
violence.
   False Mummy is a term originally applied to a substance
fabricated  so  as to resemble  the embalming matter of the
true  mummies.   Some  centuries since,  the  asphaltos  and
resins which  had been used for embalming, obtained great re-
putation in Europe as medicinal substances, especially in hy-
pochondriac  and nervous affections.   The consumption was
so  great as to exhaust the  repositories of  Saccara; and  the
necropolis  of Thebes was not then opened to a considerable
extent.  The Arabs and Jews succeeded in preparing the bi-
tumen of Judea  in such  a manner as to answer the purpose
of genuine mummy, for a length of time, until  the discovery
of the fraud, and the improvements of a later age, entirely put
a stop to  this branch of commerce.   Another kind of false
mummy is  a  wooden  effigy of a  man  or  woman, which has
  * During the worst periods of the  French revolution, when intercourse
was cut off from the rest of the world, this fabrication was attempted in
France ; and it was thought a good revolutionary bon mot, in allusion to it,
to say, " that some who had  been of no use while alive  might be made
after their death, to illuminate the world." 
16
been sometimes discovered in the catacombs, arranged pre-
cisely in the way of the  true mummies, and intermixed with
them.   Whether  these were  the falsifications  of  Egyptian
embalmers, or whether it was  one of the singular  fancies of
that people, which  produced this kind of image, we  are not
informed*.  A third false mummy is a poor attempt to imitate
the true, by piecing together  parts of different bodies, bun-
dling them coarsely in rags, and  enclosing them in a white-
washed coffin.  These boxes sometimes contained a bone or
two, swathed in the form of a mummy.   So gross an imposi-
tion actually passed, without being understood, for a consider-
able time.  It does not appear  that there ever has been  a
thorough  and operose attempt to counterfeit a mummy with
all  its  parts;  nor in truth can such an attempt be  profitable
until the catacombs shall have  been rifled,  and emptied of
thousands of bodies still remaining.
  The science of the  moderns  has never been directed to
the preservation  of the dead,  except  for anatomical pur-
poses ; of course the  practical  perfection  of the art of em-
balming does  not  exist  in  so  high a degree, as among the
ancient Egyptians.   It is, however, probable that a due ap-
plication of the discoveries in anatomy and chemistry, would
admit of our  accomplishing the process  in  a more  perfect
and elegant  manner,  than  they  have  been able to do.—
Some attempts of  the kind have been made from  time to
time with sufficient  success.   The bodies of  kings are gene-
rally embalmed in  Europe,  and we have examples of  their
having  been wrell  preserved  for  two  or  three centuries.
When the remains of the French monarchs, in the Abbey St.
Denis, were disinterred,  under  the inspection  of the brutal
Robespierre,  the body  of  Henry IVth,  who was  assassi-
nated in 1602, was  found so perfectly preserved that the fea-
tures of the face remained, and were seen to possess a decided
likeness to his statue on the Pont Neuf in Paris.  At the  same
period the body of Marshal Turenne presented itself in fine
preservation,  and  it was thought worth while  to exhibit it,
  * Perhaps these effigies are alluded to by Herodotus, where he speaks of
an Egyptian custom, which might be revived at the present day, with salu-
tary consequences.  He tells us, " that in the feasts of the rich, when they
depart from supper, some one carries round a wooden image of a dead man,
painted and carved to an exact likeness, and showing him to each of the
guests, says, ' Look on this, drink and take delight, for such shalt thou be
after death.1 » 
17
in a glass  case, for the space of a year, after which, some
persons contrived to have it removed from the public  gaze
and  deposited in a tomb in the  splendid chapel of the
Invalids.   No account has been  transmitted of the  man-
ner in which these  bodies  had been treated; and it was
not even known  until  the period  when  it was disinterred
that the body of  Turenne had  been  subjected  to the
embalming process.   The  French  surgeon  Dionis,  who
lived at the time Turenne was killed, in 1675, gives a very
particular  account of the operation  he performed for em-
balming the body of the Dauphiness of France.  But this
appears to have been  so very inadequate  that  we  can
scarcely  believe  it to  have accomplished its  object,  even
for a few years.  He opened the  cavities and removed the
viscera, then,  after cleansing and  washing the parts with
alkohol, he filled them  with an aromatic powder made of
a multitude of herbs, and with another made of gums : the
same was done with'  the  limbs  by making incisions in dif-
ferent  parts : the surface of the body was anointed with a
liniment of spirits of  turpentine, styrax, &c, and  then the
body was swathed in bandages and placed in a leaden cof-
fin.  The  aromatic plants could  have  the  effect  of  only
retarding the  decomposition  of the body a few days, by
imbibing its moisture: and the anointing  with  the liniment
could scarcely be expected to do as much.
   Different operations may be employed for  the preserva-
tion of the  bodies of  our departed friends.  If it is desired
to preserve the body for a short time only,  in order to de-
lay the period of its burial, the following  course may  be
adopted.   The viscera should be  removed and placed in a
separate  receptacle.   Then  the limbs and neck must  be
compressed to expel the contents  of the blood vessels,
which  are  to  be carefully absorbed by  sponges  and  re-      *
moved.  After this is done, the  body must be made as dry
as possible; cloths dipt in a solution of corrosive sublimate,
of the strength of two ounces to a pint of alkohol, are to be
laid in  all the cavities, and the skin is to be carefully sewed.
This operation, which may be performed  in an hour, will
preserve the flesh from putrefaction  for many days.  The
preservation may be rendered  more perfect by  throwing
some of the mercurial solution into the principal blood ves-
sels.  If it is to be kept a considerable time, it should be im-
mersed in a solution made of corrosive sublimate in spirit
placed  in a wooden trough, the  cavities being opened so as 
18
to expose the viscera to the action of the liquid, and*" in  this
situation  it may  be preserved from  putrefaction,  for  any
length of time, provided fresh portions of sublimate are added
from time to time, and the waste of liquid properly repaired.
  By a  more complicated and expensive process we  are
able to imitate  and surpass the  art  of the  Egyptians; to
give not  merely durability to the human frame, but even to
revive its extinguished colour, and so far to restore the ex-
pression of the face, as to give  some  resemblance to  life.
This mode of embalming has  also the  advantage over  that
of the Egyptians, in allowing  us  to see and  even touch the
body, instead of its being swathed in bandages and covered
for  ever from the sight.  It is to be remembered, however,
that we do not possess the uniform temperature and the  dry
atmosphere of Egypt:  circumstances that make an incalcu-
lable difference in  the  decomposition of  all decomposable
substances.   In Egypt, it has been said, it never rains;  and
in fact the rains are very slight and rare.  Hence is it  that
the monuments of that country have retained such wonderful
perfection,  while others equally  solid erected  a  thousand
years after, have long since crumbled into dust.  Not only
the mummies of Egypt, but their catacombs and even the py-
ramids, would probably have been torn in pieces long since
by  the frosts, heats, and rains of our climate.  Having  thus
the inconvenience of climate to contend with, we cannot ex-
pect to gratify our  ambition of excelling the Egyptians in
the actual duration  of our mummies ; unless indeed  we were
to deposit them in deep and rocky  recesses, rendered inac-
cessible to  air  and moisture,  and to the variations in  the
temperature of the atmosphere.
  The operations should be commenced as soon after death
as may be; although they will succeed at any stage short
of actual putrefaction.   The chest is to be opened  by saw-
ing the sternum and introducing the pipe  of an anatomical
injection  syringe  into  the left ventricle  of  the heart.   A
liquid is to be prepared, consisting of alkohol with corrosive
sublimate dissolved in it, in the proportion of four ounces to
a pint of liquid;  and with this the vascular system is to be
fully  injected.  On the following day, the  pipe  is to be
opened, and as much  of the liquid, as remains in the large
vessels, allowed to escape by turning over the body.  Then
an injection is to  be prepared  of white spirit varnish with
one-fifth  part of  turpentine varnish, coloured  with vermil-
ion, to be injected in  the same  manner as the  first.   In 
19
three or four hours after, a coarse injection is to be em-
ployed, to fill the large arteries; and  this may consist o
the common cold injection, or the body may  be immersed
in warm water, and a hot injection thrown into the blood
vessels.  When the coarse injection has become hard, the
abdomen  is to be opened by an incision of the lmea  al-
ba;  all  the viscera  are  to  be removed,  and after  being
cleansed they are to be deposited in a  separate  vessel,
containing a  solution similar  to that in which  the  body
is to be immersed.   The  brain  is to be  removed by  an
incision  of the scalp  and sawing  the skull  in the usual
mode : then the brain is to be  treated  in the same manner
as the other viscera,  with the addition to a pint of the mer-
curial solution, of four or five  ounces of muriatic acid.   It
might  be supposed  that the thickness of the  brain  would
prevent the solution  from penetrating deep enough to affect
it; but  I have sufficient  evidence  to  the contrary, in a
brain prepared in this manner,  dried  and varnished  fifteen
years  ago,  and which is now as perfect as when prepared.
The viscera being disposed of,  the body is then  to  be
placed, with the  face downward, in a wooden  trough, con-
taining  a solution of corrosive sublimate in alkohol,  in the
proportions already named, that  is, four ounces of the salt
to a pint of the liquid; and  some additional pieces  of the
salt are to be put in from time to  time, in order to repair its
consumption by the dead body.  If the subject be adult, it
must remain  in  the  solution at least three months:  at  the
expiration of this time it is to  be removed and thoroughly
washed.  The orbits of the eyes,  the  organs  having been
removed, are to  be moderately filled with pieces of linen ;
the  checks are to be distended  with  the  same  substance;
the  other features to be arranged in as agreeable a manner
as circumstances  permit; the lips  especially  may be a
little separated,  to display the teeth.  The great cavities
must be made as dry as possible, and this is effected very
easily,  from the desiccating property of the oxymuriatic
solution: then the organs, previously dried,  are to  be re-
stored  to  their  proper situations, and the remaining inter-
stices filled with  linen,  dipt in  spirits of turpentine, or some
*>f the cheaper gums.  Before the body has dried, the ca-
vities  are to be carefully  sewed up, so as to  present their
 natural shape, having a dependent  orifice  to each cavity to
 drain off the remaining  moisture.  After this,  it is to be
 suspended on cords, in a current of air to dry it.  The de- 
20
siccative process goes on  rapidly, and the parts must be
constantly watched, to prevent their being distorted.  When
the drying is completed, eyes of enamel are to be placed,
and  if the features are not satisfactorily  exhibited, they
may be improved by the skilful addition of wax and paints,
of proper colours.   The hair will be preserved and is to be
adjusted; then the body  is to  receive, at due intervals,
three or four coats of turpentine  varnish;  and being in-
vested in a  becoming  robe, is to be  fixed  in a glass case
made air tight.  No insects will approach a body prepared
in this  manner; and if it be  newly varnished every few
years, it  will remain the same, for an  unknown length  of
time.
   In  this way we might, for a  moderate expence,  preserve
the appearance of those forms  which have been associated
in our minds  with agreeable occurrences, and we might gra-
tify the  curiosity  of a  remote  futurity,  by transmitting  to
them  the bodies and even the  features  of those who have
been  distinguished among us by their virtues, their patriot-
ism, or public usefulness.
   The mummy presented by Mr Van Lennep to the Mas-
sachusetts General Hospital was enclosed in a large deal
box.  On opening this,  the outer coffin or sarcophagus ap-
peared, as represented  in  the  plate.  It is  a wooden box,
seven feet long, and of a breadth proportioned to the length,
like the proportion of the human body.   The upper  part of
it is carved, in a very striking  and  peculiar style,  to repre-
sent a  human head; and, as it appears from  the  authors
who have described  the customs of the Egyptians,  it was
intended to  be  a likeness  of  the  deceased person.  The
head  is covered with a striped cloth or turban, on the up-
per part of which is painted a globe.   The face has the
character which has  generally been  considered as belong-
ing to the Egyptians. The skin is of a  reddish colour, the
eyes black, nose broad, but not badly proportioned, mouth
well formed.  The face is broad and short; it has a very
agreeable expression, approaching to a smile.  The  shoul-
ders are invested with a highly ornamented mantle,  on the
fore part of which the turban is seen  depending.   Below
the mantle,  in the middle, is  seen the winged globe,  by
some  considered as  the sign for eternity:  by others  as
the emblem  of  Agathodaemon  or Chnuphis of the  Greek
authors, the  oldest representation of the divine power ad-
mitted by the Egyptians ; and  it may therefore be believed 
21
to be significant of the immortality of the soul of the de-
ceased, or else to be the symbol of the divine protection.—
On each side of the globe are seen hieroglyphics.--ln  the
second compartment or tablet, below the globe, we have the
representation of a most singular group,  exhibiting the last
judgment of the  deceased and his reception by various
divinities.  According to  Diodorus the body of every per-
son,  from the king down,  underwent  this ceremony.   Two
and  forty judges  were collected on  the banks of a canal,
where the  relations appeared; and a boat being prepared,
before the body was put in it, any one might bring forward
accusations  against the deceased,  which, being examined
by the judges, if found to be  true,  prevented the body from
possessing  the  honours of a public  funeral :  but if  they
were thought false,  the accusers were severely punished;
then the relations finished their mourning, pronounced the
praises of the deceased, and declared him about to enjoy a
happy eternity with the pious in the regions of Hades.   In
the rolls found  with  mummies, on the coffins and  in  the
tombs,  this judgment is  almost always  pictured by  the
figure  of a balance in the form of a cross, near which two
personages are  standing and apparently weighing the merits
of the  deceased:  seeming  to officiate  as his good and  evil
genius, each wishing to draw the scale  to his own  side.
Finally the scale of the good genius preponderates ; judg-
ment is given in favour of the  dead person, and he is then
to be introduced to the company of the gods.   As a pre-
liminary to this honour,  he is invested  with some of the
insignia of Osiris if a  male, and of Isis if a female.
   In this tablet, we notice four personages on the  left, who
are  looking  to  the right,  and two persons  on the  right,
looking to the left. Behind the last of these, that  is, on the
extreme right, is seen the balance, in the form  of a cross,
with a Cerberus as the evil genius sitting on  its left and a
hieroglyphic  representation of  the  friendly divinity on the
right.   In the second  coffin, to be destribed afterward, this
balance is more distinctly and  fully represented; the Cer-
berus  is seen on the left ;  but on the right  of the balance
appears the friendly divinity  in person, bearing the head of
a wolf.  The figure  next the balance without any other
garment than akirtle, is supposed to be that of the deceased,
coming from judgment, under  the  protection  of a divinity
who has hold  of his hand and seems to  have taken  him
under his protection,  in order  to present him to the assem- 
22
bly of deities.   At the head of these is the serpent, sup-
posed by  some  to have been regarded  as  the  good angel
by the Egyptians.  Next follows the great Osiris, the prin-
cipal deity  of the Egyptians, designated by his mitre, and
his staff or sceptre, the emblem  of power; he has the atti-
tude  of receiving the new comer presented to him.  After
Osiris are seen four, or on the inner case five, other person-
ages, bearing  the heads of a dog, a baboon,  a hawk,  a
wolf  respectively, supposed  to  be  representations of the
important divinities  Anubis,  Macedo, and  others.  These
paintings therefore confirm and illustrate the account of the
judgment after  death,  transmitted to us by Diodorus Si-
culus.
   The  third  tablet consists  of hieroglyphic writing, ar-
ranged  in columns, extended from above downward, as was
the manner of the Egyptians.
   The  fourth, represents  the hearse bearing the coffin  of
the deceased.  The hearse has the form of a  quadruped,
perhaps a lion ;  a style of furniture  very much affected by
the Egyptians.  The coffin  is  represented as  carved at the
head.   Below  the hearse are four vessels, containing  resi-
nous  and odoriferous substances, employed in  embalming.
At the head and foot are seen the tutelary hawk, or vulture,
with  stretched out wings,  as' if to protect the  hearse, and
between them is an eye with a tear, the symbol for mourning.
   The fifth tablet consists of hieroglyphics.
   The sixth, placed on the  projecting foot of the coffin, ex-
hibits a series of  red  and  white  stripes,  twenty in number,
which may be supposed to indicate the age of the deceased;
on  the  base,  supporting these, stands the  tutelary hawk,
surrounded  by  hieroglyphics, and  among  them  is distin-
guished the eye with a tear.
   The second plate gives a view of the inside of this case.
On the bottom is  represented the  figure of the great Osiris.
He is here invested with the  hawk's head,  although some-
times he appears with a human head, ,but never  that of any
other animal.  He is characterized also by his mitre,  and
by a staff with  a crook at the lower end,  the  symbol of
power.   On each  side is depicted the figure of a young fe-
male, intended probably to represent the deceased person
in her new character of I sis;  for the symbol of Isis, a throne,
is seen on the head, and we cannot suppose the figure intended
for Isis herself, as this goddess is seen on the inner coffin with
different ornaments.  In the manuscripts found with the mum-
/ 
                          23

rnies, and in the coffins, the deceased individual is constantly
represented in a new and more elevated character, on entering
a new state of existence; and is therefore invested with the
ornaments and attributes of Osiris if the subject were a male,
and of Isis if a female.   In this instance she appears with the
throne, a form known to be symbolic of the goddess Isis.  At
the upper part of the coffin, on the inside, above the female
figure, are seen a number of hieroglyphics, larger  than the
rest, and drawn  with peculiar distinctness.  At the top  is
the  winged globe; below this, a knife or hook, the instru-
ment by which the os ethmoides was perforated to extract
the brain; next follows a hand,  that of  the operator or em-
balmer;  and then a circular figure containing a cross,  said
to be the symbol  of Egypt.   The  circular mark  surround-
ing the figure of Osiris is that of a serpent beginning and
ending in a globe,  intended  perhaps as symbolic of  eter-
nity.
  The outer coffin described  above, contains  an inner cof-
fin of the same form and of smaller size,  bearing the  princi-
pal figures seen on the outer.  Instead of  the winged globe
and hawk, the top and bottom are ornamented with a figure
of Isis with wings widely expanded,  as a protecting deity.
Some of  the  hieroglyphics of the outer case are replaced
by figures, intended to represent priests, in various attitudes
of adoration or supplication.   The external surface  of the
inner coffin is covered on  the sides  and back with hiero-
glyphics of a large size executed with less care than those
on the anterior surface.
   Both of these coffins are composed of sycamore  wood, in
a state of fine preservation.  It is  decayed only where the
plaster has been broken; and  in such places  the decay is
limited, the decayed part being reduced to powder, while
that which surrounds it is not affected.  Both coffins are
covered with  cloth cemented to them by gum ; the outside
of this cloth  is coated  with a fine white plaster, on which
all the figures are painted.  The colours of the latter are
yellow, red, blue  and  green  on a  white ground;  they are
well  preserved and bright, especially those of the inner cof-
fin.  The bottom of the outer has no coating  of cloth, but
the wood bears marks of having been  set in a bed of  plas-
ter, which, of course, sufficiently guarded it.  Each of the
coffins  is dug out of two  pieces of solid wood,  one for the
top, the other for the bottom ; secured together by  project-
ing pieces of the one received into  corresponding cavities  of 
24
 the  other, as is seen pictured  on the edge of the coffin in
 Plate II.   Both of these cases had been opened  by cut-
 ting through  the cloth opposite the junctures of the cases.
 This was probably  done by the Arabs who discovered
 them in the catacombs, in order to ascertain if any gold or
 other valuable reliques were enclosed with the body.
   This mummy is about five feet long,  heavy, and solid to
 the  touch.  A single cloth of a yellowish colour  enveloped
 the  whole body from head to foot, being confined closely
 and neatly to the body by a number of transverse bands of
 a white colour, under which lay the reliques of correspond-
 ing dark coloured bands, so much decayed as to crumble to
 atoms on  being touched.  The dark bands were  broader
 than the white, so as to exhibit their edges  and produce an
 ornamental effect; but the colouring substances had caused
 them to decay,  while the others remained entire.   At the
 feet lay a large heap of beads, composed of green and yel-
 low porcelain, partly connected  by threads, whose decay
 had caused  the network to  fall  in pieces.  A green net-
 work like this  is  seen covering the bodies of Osiris, in
 Plate I., and the winged Isis on  the inner case :  and there
 is no doubt it wras  intended  to invest the whole of the body
 for some  religious  purpose.   As the  beads could not be
 shown in their disconnected state, they have been put toge-
 ther and placed  on  the  mummy,  though not in the original
 form, but  as  well  as  circumstances  permitted.  Some  of
 the beads  are still  very firm,  others crumble on  a slight
 pressure.
  In order to  examine the state of the body, I cut through
 the external cloth,  wrhere it covered the head,  and  found a
 great many  turns  of  bandages  about  three inches  wide,
 rolled  around, to  the  number of twenty-five  thicknesses.
 The outer cloth  and the outer turns of bandage were in fine
 preservation  and  of considerable strength.   They  exhi-
 bited marks  of  having been imbued with  some glutinous
 substances, intended to preserve  them ; and to which is to
 be  attributed the  yellow colour.  The  inner turns  were
 more decayed as they were nearer to the body; those next
 it were quite  rotten, and so closely cemented to the surface
 as to be separated only by  a laborious  process.  The ce-
 menting substance is asphaltos, the same in which the body
 is  embalmed.  This  substance was quite dry, hard,  and
brittle.  Imbedded in it, on the nose, was found a beetle, and
near this another small insect, whose character could not be 
y
                            25

  determined.   The beetle was a sacred  animal, in high esti-
  mation among the Egyptians,  and seems to have occupied a
•  distinguished  rank in their theology, from the  conspicuous
  place assigned it in the zodiac of Tentyra  and  other great
  monuments.   It  is generally connected with and appears
  to be holding a globe  between its claws, and has been sup-
  posed to be the symbol of fecundity.
    The skin of the face being  exposed,  was dry, hard, ot a
  black  colour, and  its texture readily distinguishable, al-
  though deeply imbued  with  the embalming bitumen.  It
  was  wrinkled as if it had been exposed to the action of
  great  heat, or pressure while in a soft and  yielding state;
  and the latter cause has produced a distortion  of the fea-
  tures, from the  right to the  left side.   The sockets of the
  eyes are filled up, the  eyelids preserved; but the eyebrows,
  together with  the other hair,  is removed or  destroyed near
  to the head, probably  by the  action of heat;  just enough of
  it remaining however  to show that  it was  not black nor
  crisped or woolly, but of a brown or reddish brown colour.
  The teeth are perfect, so far as they can be seen;  quite white,
  and shaped  like those  of the European, contrary to the
  opinion of some learned men that the  Egyptians  had the
  incisor teeth pointed like the  canine or  dog teeth.  (V. Blu-
  menbach, &c.*)   The ears are small,  and well filled with
  embalming substance.  The skin of the scalp has the same
  appearances as that of the face.—Being unwilling to disturb
  the coverings of cloth and bandage, I left every  thing on
  the body in the same state as it  issued from the sepulchre
  of Thebes.  The bandages about the neck were afterwards
  cemented together, to prevent the air from entering, and the
  head of the mummy was invested with a cloth  formed into
  something like those represented on the heads of the cases, in-
  stead of the turns of bandage which had originally enveloped
  it.—Every part examined was deeply impregnated with the
  embalming substance,  which  proved, on examination,  to be
  asphaltos, the bitumen of Judeat.  When the bandages were
  first opened, no great odour issued from the body; but after
  * This subject will be adverted to hereafter.
  t Jlsphaltos is a black, inflammable, bituminous substance, like pitch ;
chiefly found  floating on the surface of the Dead Sea, or Lacus Asphal-
tites, in Judea, on the spot where stood anciently the cities' of Sodom and
Gomorrah.
4 
26
it had been  exposed a few days, a very strong and peculiar
smell was perceived, and continued to exhale, until the body
was enclosed in a case made very tight.  The  exposure to
air did not,  however,  alter the skin otherwise,  than to pro-
duce a whitish  saline efflorescence on its surface, which con-
sisted of sulphate and carbonate of soda,  and this, being
wiped  off, did not re-appear  when the body was placed in
its case.
   The appearances  about this  mummy accord so perfectly
with those which have  been generally described by travel-
lers and authors, as  to leave no doubt of its being  genuine.
The figures  on  the cases, the colours, the subjects,  the cha-
racters, the  plaster, the wood, the cloth investing the body,
the arrangement of the bands, the embalming substance, the
body itself,  all  agree with the descriptions which have been
formerly published,  and carry marks of the  labours of an-
cient Egypt. Among  the peculiarities  not  already noticed
is  the texture of the cloth; it is wrought in a very even and
workmanlike manner, and the threads of which it is  com-
posed, are doubled and twisted.  The painted colours retain
that brightness, so  often spoken  of  by  those who  have
examined the catacombs.  The style of the  figures is truly
Egyptian, and   could hardly be  imitated by modern  art.
For more perfect satisfaction, the different parts composing
it  were submitted  to artists  and  men of science, who per-
fectly  agreed in identifying them with the  corresponding
parts of other mummies.  Professor Everett, whose exten-
sive science and observation  particularly qualified him as a
judge, and my  other colleagues, Doctors Jackson,  Gorham,
Channing, and  Bigelow; also, George Blake, Esq. Dr Web-
ster, and various  other  gentlemen, examined  the  differ-
ent objects  before they were enclosed in cases, and though
some of them had been previously sceptical, they were per-
fectly satisfied  after  making their examination.  I  mention
these circumstances because the accidental  coincidence in
time of its appearance in  Boston, with the intelligence of an
imposition in natural history  lately practised in Europe, had
rendered many persons suspicious of the true character of
this mummy.—If,  in addition to  what is stated above,  any
farther  confirmation of its  genuineness were required,  it
might  be obtained from  the consideration of the facts that
the  British  consul in Alexandria,  who  selected it,  must un-
doubtedly have been an  adequate judge in this case;  and 
27
 that  the  fabrication of such  a work by the ignorant and
 sluggish  inhabitants of Thebes, and  its Necropolis, would
 have been attended with greater difficulties, than the acqui-
 sition of  many mummies from the catacombs.
   Some  mummies in the cabinet of Dresden, which have
 been described by Winckelman, corresponded generally with
 this ;  but had peculiarities not unworthy of  notice.  They
 were four in number; two only are particularly described,
 one a male,  the other a female.   The  former had its ban-
 dages painted with the figure of a  man in the prime  of
 life,  with a  curled beard; his head enveloped with gilded
 bands, on which were represented precious stones.  About
 the neck, a chain of gold was painted ;  various  other orna-
 ments in  different parts, and  the  fingers were set off  with
 rings.  The  feet  and legs  were naked, excepting that the
 former were covered with a  kind of sandals.   These ap-
 pearances designate the body of a  priest;  for it is  well
 known this  order of men  were most highly honoured by
 the Egyptians.  They were the physicians, law-givers, and
 ministers  of religion when  alive, and on their death  their
 bodies were treated with greater honours, and covered with
 more ornaments than others.   The patera in  the hand  and
 the sandals on the feet,  are especially  appropriated to the
 mummies of  the priests.
   The most  remarkable thing about this mummy is the in-
 scription  on  the  breast in Greek characters,  ETWTXI.
 This inscription, or one very nearly like it, has  been found
 in other places, as an epitaph or a valedictory address, or the
 conclusion to a letter; and appears  to mean, Live happy!
 or perhaps in this  instance, Be happy! The word  is un-
 doubtedly Greek, and a question arises,  how it should come
 to be placed on the body of an Egyptian priest.  Winckel-
 man judiciously suggests that  this might be the  body  of  a
Carian or  Ionian, who had  been naturalized  in Egypt, and
admitted to the mysteries of the priesthood; or is it not pro-
bable it might be intended to distinguish one of those Egyp-
tians,  whom  king  Psammetichus placed in the care of the
lonians and Carians, settled in Egypt,  for the  purpose  of
having them  thoroughly  educated in the Greek  language ?
These, when  grown up, served as interpreters, and as some
of them probably belonged to the order of priests, the in-
scription might be placed on the body as a mark of distinc-
tion for this kind of learning. 
28
  All other inscriptions on  the coffins, the bandages and the
papyri of the mummies, are pure Egyptian.   The latter are
generally, I believe, in the  common or enchorial characters,
the former  in  the  sacred or hieroglyphic.   In the  last
Quarterly Review may be  found an account of these  two
kinds of writing.  It  appears that  the Egyptians  had  two
kinds  of writing,   one   which  was  used  for  common
purposes, and  the other  sacred.  The  former,  being in
most  common use, has  been denominated  enchorial,  from
greek words signifying in  the country;  this is  found  in the
manuscripts or papyri, deposited in the coffins of mummies,
and appears, when compared with  the other, to be a sort of
running  hand.   The hieroglyphic or sacred  characters
were  employed for sacred and mysterious subjects ; for in-
scriptions in the temples, on  the obelisks,  and  other monu-
ments.  The hieroglyphic writing is well  known to be sym-
bolical ;  the pictures  of objects are by it  made to represent
words or ideas;  but as it appears probable that in many in-
stances the same idea is expressed  by different objects, and
different ideas by the same object, the true meaning being
gathered from the connexion of these objects, this writing
would be difficult to decypher  even if we understood the
ancient Egyptian tongue.  The enchorial characters  have
by some of the learned been thought to be alphabetical, like
the modern languages of Europe; but a more  close exami-
nation shows that they are in many instances the same as
the hieroglyphics, of course there is strong reason to be-
lieve, that the  enchorial letters are  derived from and are
probably a corruption  of the  hieroglyphics.   We   have
therefore no more reason to expect to succeed  in decypher-
ing these than the others.
   The  Rosetta  stone, discovered by the  French in Egypt,
which fell into the hands of the English, and is now deposit-
ed in the British Museum,  contains  a triple inscription;  that
is, an inscription in three different kinds of characters, hier-
oglyphic, enchorial   and greek.   It has  been ascertained,
that these different  inscriptions are intended to express the
same ideas, of course they afford an opportunity of compar-
ing the two first with the last; and in this way the mean-
ing  of a considerable number  of hieroglyphics  has  been
satisfactorily  made  out.   Among  them are the  names of
deities,  kings, animals,  &c.   A French author has  gone 
29
so far as to give us an alphabet of Egyptian letters, both en-
chorial  and hieroglyphic.  Although these discoveries are
calculated to afford much gratification  to the learned, it is
not  probable  that  they will unfold to us  any  profound
views of the literature and  science of Egypt, as well for
reasons  hinted at above, as because  all its  writings, so
far as we can judge, are very limited in the nature of their
subjects.
  The inscriptions on the cases of the Hospital mummy are
altogether  hieroglyphic*.  They are placed  in columns, to
be  read from above downward, and  from right to left.
No attempt has been made to decypher them,  from the belief
that with  our present  means this would be  impracticable.
But as the attention of  the learned is very much excited by
the discoveries already  alluded to, and great efforts are now
making to enlarge the bounds of the knowledge acquired, it
is not improbable that before long,  some  part of these in-
scriptions may be understood, and their meaning unfolded to
the public.
  Inquiries  have  been made, whether this mummy had ori-
ginally and natively the black colour it now possesses ; and
this has led to the general question, what was the national
colour and  race of the  ancient Egyptians ?  The question is
not easily answered.  There are few points  in which  the
authorities  for opposite opinions  are so strong  and distinct.
The writings of the Greek historians and poets  are in sup-
port of the opinion, that the Egyptians were negroes;  while
the paintings, the sculptures, the mummies, and their appen-
dages, lead to a very different conclusion.  These discordant
facts and authorities have caused a corresponding difference
of opinions among modern writers; some of  whom appear
convinced that this nation were genuine negroes, and others
consider the facts  abundantly sufficient to prove  that they
had no alliance to the sable race of Africans.
  At the head of the authorities  in support  of the opinion
that the Egyptians were negroes, is to be  placed the histo-
rian Herodotus, whose famous passage relating to this point
is  generally known.  After  describing the  expeditions of
Sesostris, he makes a question, whether, when on his return
he left a part of his army on the river Phasis, at the eastern
J^j^sj&Xr*of ta were enchoriai'but -«» 
30
border of the Black sea, and settled a colony, from whom
the Colchians  were derived.   For, says  he,  the  Colchians
appear to be  Egyptians, and after  mentioning some  other
reasons for  his belief, he says it had occurred to him that
this opinion was  well founded, because the Colchians are of
a  " black colour  and wooly haired."  (teXayxooes eidi  xai
ovXoTQixes.  Of course  it would follow  that the  Egyptians
were of a black  colour and woolly haired; and in another
instance he  alludes to the blackness of their complexion.
   In the learned  work,  entitled  " Researches   into  the
Physical History of Man," by Dr Prichard, the Greek  au-
thorities are collected in support of this  hypothesis.   From
him  it appears  that, besides what has been cited from
Herodotus,  there are two passages in iEschylus, one in Pin-
dar, and one  in  Lucian, which  speak of the Egyptians  as
black coloured.  The passage in Lucian  does not, however,
appear to go so far as he thinks; it is the  description of a
young Egyptian ;—" besides being black, he  had  thick lips
and was too slender  in the  legs,  and that his  hair and the
curls bushed up behind, marked him to be of servile rank.'''1
We should infer that if these appearances marked him to be
of servile rank, the better class of Egyptians had  not these
marks, which were considered to be distinguishing traits of
a " servile rank."   Then the  better sort of Egyptians  were
not black, but there were among them persons of this colour
who lived in the  capacity of slaves.  Such seems to me to
be the meaning of the passage ;  but  I leave to others to de-
termine whether  this be  the most correct construction.
   Independently  of Lucian the authorities mentioned above
seem to lead us irresistibly to the conclusion that the Egyp-
tians were of the negro race; especially when it  is noticed
that there is not a single ancient  author to favour a different
hypothesis.   This  conclusion  we should therefore  adopt,
were there  not,  on the  other side,  evidences of a different
character, derived from  monuments, temples, statues, sculp-
tures, paintings, and the Egyptians themselves, as represent-
ed  by their mummies.
   In the publications of Winckelman, Denon, and others,
especially in   the  great  French work, " Description  de
l'Egypte*" there are many hundreds  of Egyptian  figures  of
persons in  every rank of life.   Scarcely  any of them bear
the features  of the African race.  The great sphinx near
the pyramids is a remarkable exception ;  it is described by
Denon and  some others, as having the  African character; 
31
but the head of the grand  and majestic  statue of Memnon
has not the slightest mixture of the negro; and may serve
as a contrast to  the former.  The  other figures with a tew
exceptions, which will be  noticed,  are  all European; the
capitals of  columns,  the statues  about  the  temples, the
figures in the tombs, both those in fresco and bas relief, are
of the same character.  What is perhaps more remarkable,
because more distinct, that  the painted figures of Egyptians
are of a red colour and not black.   This alone would be a
very strong reason for believing that the red colour and not
the black, predominated among the Egyptians.  But we are
more forcibly impressed  by this, on noticing,  in  a few  in-
stances, individuals of a black colour.   Such are seen among
the  captives  of king  Psammis,  mentioned already; those
which I have noticed are generally represented in a state of
inferiority or punishment.  One has his hands tied behind him
to a post; others are seen decapitated; but I have not noticed
any blacks  among the representatives of kings  and heroes.
The faces carved on the coffins of our mummy are red.  We
conclude that these blacks were either captives  or slaves.
  The most convincing description of  facts must be derived
from the  mummies themselves.  The characteristic marks
of the head of the negro are well known and discriminated;
the prominent jaws, low forehead, and compressed temples,
are among the peculiarities of this race, not to be mistaken.
Some writer has said that we ought not to expect to see the
most strongly marked  characters of the negro in the Egyp-
tian, but  rather  a sort of transition head,  intermediate to
the European and African races. These would be singular
negroes, with a red complexion and a form of head like the
whites.
  On examining the head of our mummy we found the jaws
not prominent like the negro's; the forehead  not  slanting
and the breadth across the temples sufficiently  ample.  The
remains of the hair are not woolly but strait, and of a yel-
low colour.  A mummy at Roxbury, in the vicinity of Bos-
ton, belonging to Ward Nicholas Boylston, Esq. has a fine
conformation of head.   This  was  purchased  by the pos-
sessor in Egypt and sent to England, where being opened at
the custom house, it was  so much  exposed as to injure the
covering, and the  flesh has in a great measure decayed from
the bones.  The forehead is  elevated and  large,  the  jaws
filled with fine teeth, not prominent, and the head altogether
of the European  or Caucasian form.  The two Egyptian 
32
skulls, represented by the distinguished Blumenbach in  the
Decades Craniorum, are  also  European*.   The  heads of
the mummies in the " Description de I'Egypte" are drawn
off nearly full size and  with great  distinctness.  The com-
plexion of these mummies  is olive, the hair of the female is
long, flowing, and handsomely arranged; that of the male is
very much in the style of the  hair of Roman heads; and
the whole character of the head and face  is more Roman
than  African.  The most general and decisive facts are those
stated by the celebrated Cuvier. " I have examined in Pa-
ris and in the various collections of  Europe  more than fifty
heads of mummies, and not one among them presented the
characters of the negro  or  the hottentot."  We have there-
fore no difficulty in  concluding that  this celebrated people
were not negroes, that the configuration of their heads was
European, and their  skin of a red' colour, like that of the
Hindoos.  The few instances of black figure and formation
are the representations  of  slaves or  prisoners, brought to
Egypt, as at the  present day from  the  interior of Africa.
The  modern population of Egypt consists principally, it  is
well known, of Arabs, Turks, and of the swarthy Copts, the
supposed descendants of the ancient Egyptians, with a small
number of black slaves.
   The antiquity  of this mummy may be a subject of curious
speculation, but we are not  to expect to  arrive at any very
precise conclusions  in  regard to it, till the characters  on
the sarcophagi have been decyphered.   In the beginning of
this  paper it has appeared  that the operation of embalming
was  performed at a very early period of Egyptian history,
earlier, than the era of the construction of the pyramicfs,
and  there  can be no question  it  was continued until  the
conquest of Egypt by Cambyses.   From the foundation of
the monarchy by Menes or Misraim the son of Ham to the
time of this conquest is about eighteen hundred years.  The
practice of embalming was perfectly established when Joseph
  * Blumenbach made a singular discovery in regard to the incisor teeth
of some mummies.  He says that the crown of their teeth instead of
being sharp is thick like a truncated cone ; and that the crowns of the
canine teeth are  like those of the grinders.  Such forms, if it is pre-
tended they are original, are contrary to all example and analogy.  The
incisor teeth of some of the natives of the South Sea Islands are  filed
so as to be pointed ; and in many heads of those people, as well as in the
aboriginals of our own country, the incisors, being worn down by long
use, present the appearance described by Blumenbach. 
33
was in Egypt, in the year of the world 2262, that is six hun-
dred years after the foundation of the monarchy ;  and it is
fair to suppose, thfc it might have been in use three hundred
years, that is, half the term from the first king to that time. In
this way we shall get  the  number of about Ween  hundred
years, as the terniJof the existence of this practice  down to
the Persian conquest.   Some  modem authors  have believed
that at that time^a change was made in the national customs,
that the use ofembalming, and even the worship of their gods
were totally Abolished.  The last opinion is evijfiffly not well
founded, sinie not only the Greeks adopted ^jhej Egyptian
deities beforj and after the conquest by AlexapHer; but the
Romans, it is well known, took a large number of Egyptian
gods  into their mythology, and some of them were treated
with  distinguished favour. Whether as much can be said
of the preservation of the dead appears to me very doubt-
ful.   Winckelman is  strongly-, inclined to the affirmative
opinion, and quotes not only. Herodotus, but Diodorus Sicu-
lus and Lucian, in support of his hypothesis.   The  two for-
mer, in speaking  on this subject, employ the  present time,
as if the custopa  were actually existing; but  it may be no-
ticed that this form of expression is frequently used by them
in the relation of customs which must have  ceased to exist;
as for example in the part of Diodorus, immediately  pre-
ceding the passage where he describes the  operation of em-
balming ;  he spfl&s of the Egyptians as actually paying di-
vine honours to their kings, when in fact it. is probable there
were  no kings  existing in Egypt at the  time he was there.
For he was in that country, as well as we can judge, in the
time of Julius Caesar or of Augustus; before  whom Egypf
had been  repeatedly in the possession of the Romans, and
it does  not  appear that the shadows of Ttings set up by
this people  still  existed; or if they  did, it is not probable
they were treated " as partakers of the divine nature, the
sources of the greatest benefits*."  Winckelman also cites
a passage  from St Athanasius  to this effect,  that " in Egypt
they had the practice  of enveloping theljbdies of pious  men
in bandages, and especially the martyrs,  and of keeping
them  in their houses, as the Egyptians had done." It ap-
pears quite as probable?that the custom alluded to  is rather
that which was practisecTby the Jews ajnd the early Christians
of simply swathing the  boq!ies in bandages;  otherwise we
V. D. Siculus, p. toi; Ed. Wesselingii.
         5           v 
34
should have had a more frequent and distinct mention of so
remarkable a practice in the works of the fathers of the
church.  On the whole, it seems probable, that the use of
embalming was in a great measure broken up by  the Per-
sian power, at the period of the conquest, although it might
have been occasionally employed to a much later day.
  The paintings and inscriptions  on the sarcophagi of the
mummy belonging  to the Hospital, with all their accompa-
niment of bandages, sycamore wood, and sacred beetles, are
in the purest Egyptian style ; and although their fine condi-
tion prevents us from referring it to the  earliest times, it
was probably embalmed before  the  Persian  conquest, or
between this period and that of the acquisition of Egypt by
the Macedonians.
  In adverting to the different topics, which have seemed to
be  connected with the original subject of inquiry, I have
been  led  into details not  at first contemplated.   The re-
mains of ancient Egypt are like the ruins of another world,
and excite the most profound interest as well from  their an-
tiquity  as  their unparallelled  magnificence and sublimity.
All that relates  to  a people who could erect such works,
and with science so inadequate as we  suppose  them to have
possessed,  is wonderful:  yet scarcely more   so than that
the very  individual  artificers  should be brought  down in
person  to  the  present age.   If we could for a short time
bring back the spirit  which once animated, and, according to
the Egyptian doctrine, still inhabits these bodies, what won-
ders would be revealed; but unless such a miracle were to
happen, we, and the generations that follow us, will be com-
pelled to look to a  different state of existence  to unfold the
arts, the sciences, the history, and the religion of this mys-
terious  nation. 
Plate I

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