Abstract
Egyptian Mummies THE Gentleman's Magazine of April 1837 relates that “on March 6 at the close of a series of six very interesting and instructive lectures on Egyptian antiquities delivered at Exeter Hall by Mr. Pettigrew that gentleman unwrapped a mummy presented for the occasion by Mr. Jones of the Admiralty. The inscription on the outer case differed from that on the inner. Both stated the party to have been a female, but the names and genealogies were different, and the latter stated the mother of the deceased to be living when her daughter died. It might be that the wrappings would settle this point; which, however, they did notâ for no name was found on them, as often occurs. The mummy was Greco-Egyptian, and embalmed after the ancient manner, the bowels being extracted by an incision on the left flank, and the brains probably through the nostrils, as the nose was much broken. The legs were separately bandaged, and the ankles bound by strips of painted linen, about half an inch in breadth. The figures were not hieroglyphic, but simply ornamental. Bands of the same kind surrounded the arms, which were crossed upon the breast; and a similar circle went round the neck, with a thin golden scarabaeus in front. On each knee was also a thin piece of gold, resembling the lotus-flower; over each eye the providential eye of Osiris of the same material, and another golden ornament upon the top of the ridge of the nose. The upper wrappers were not voluminous, and of coarse nankeen-coloured linen. Then came a complete envelope of asphaltus, and below that the usual disposition and extent of linen robes. On the soles of the feet were slight sandals, transversely striped, black, white, and red, exactly like those painted at the bottom of the inner cases. The finger- and toe-nails were gilt, and there were rings on the fingers.”
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Science News a Century Ago. Nature 139, 601 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139601a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139601a0