XIII. An essay on Egyptian mummies; with observations on the art of embalming among the ancient Egyptians

Abstract

In the year 1821, Sir Archibald Edmonstone, whose interesting work on two of the Oäses of Upper Egypt has been so favourably received by the public, presented me with a mummy, which he had purchased at Gournou, on the 24th of March, 1819, from one of the inhabitants of the sepulchral excavations on the side of the mountain, at the back of which are the celebrated tombs of the kings of Thebes. It cost about four dollars. There was no outer case to it; and it is difficult to conceive how the beauty and perfect condition of the surface of the single case in which the mummy was inclosed, could have been so well preserved without any external covering. It appears from Sir Archibald’s testimony, confirmed by my own observations, that the mummies which have a second, or an outer case, like the one bought at the same time by Sir Archibald Edmondstone’s fellow traveller, Mr. Hoghton, and now lying unopened at his seat near Preston, in Lancashire, have been folded, externally, with greater care than the one about to be described; and that the outward folds are ornamented with variegated stripes of linen. These observations accord with those made by Jomard and Royer. The first, or inner case, too, of those mummies is covered with a kind of paper, on which the figures and hieroglyphics are painted with much greater brilliancy of colour. Similar remarks apply to the mummy presented to the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow, by Mr. Heywood, a Smyrna merchant, the second or inner case of which is said to be of wonderful beauty and brilliancy.