The Papyrus of Ani in the British Museum

Abstract

PERHAPS one of the most attractive and popular departments of science is that which treats of the early customs and beliefs of primitive man. Within recent years considerable attention has been directed to this subject. Not only have specialists, such as Mann-hardt, Waitz, Bastian, and Tylor, to mention a few prominent names, devoted themselves to the collection and classification of material, but a great body of the reading public have followed their labours with intense interest, and have embarked on a course of original inquiry on their own account. The chief reason for this widespread study of comparative religion is to be sought in the fact that no demands are made on the student for any special training in order that he may appreciate its methods and results. Let him but have the passion of the collector and a love for his subject, and he is fully equipped for his work; all he requires beside are books that will yield reliable information concerning the folk-lore or superstition of any early or primitive race. Readers of NATURE, therefore, will be interested in hearing some account of a remarkable work, recently published by the Trustees of the British Museum, which deals with the religion of the oldest nation in the world whose records have survived to the present day.

The Papyrus of Ani in the British Museum.

The Egyptian text with interlinear transliteration and translation, a running translation, introduction, &c. By E. A. Wallis Budge., Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities. Printed by order of the Trustees, 1895. (London: Longmans, Kegan Paul, &c.)