An account of a mummy infpe&ed at London, 1763, by Dr. Hadley, Dr. Wellafton, Dr. Blanchard, Dr. Hunter, Dr. Petit, the rev. Mr. Egerton Leigh, and Mr. Hunter; in a letter from Dr. Hadley to Dr. Heberden; from the Philofophical Tranfactions for the year 1764.

T

HIS mummy is the first article in Dr. Grew's catalogue of the rarities of the royal fociety. He informs us that it was a prefent from Henry duke of Norfolk, and was an entire one, taken ont of the royal pyramids. He then proceeds to defcribe the manner in which the feveral parts were wrap 'ped up; but this he has not done exactly, as moft of these very parts had evidently never been opened, till the prefent examination of them, when they were found in a very different ftate from that in which they are reprefented by him.

It had been greatly injured before it came into our hands; the head had been taken off from the body, and the wrappers with which it had been united having been deftroyed, the cavity of the thorax was found open towards the neck; and part of the upper cruft, with the clavicles, having been alfo broken away, the heads of the offa humeri prefented themfelves, covered with a thin coat of pitch.

The feet alfo had been broken off from the legs, and were fixed, by wires, to the end of the wooden cafe in which the mummy lay.

The outward painted covering, which reached from the upper part of the cheft nearly to the bottom of the legs, had been removed, and faftened on again by a great number of ordinary nails, driven up to the head, into the fubftance of the mummy. This had moft probably been done by thofe who had orders fome years fince to repair it; and by this, and by the manner in which they had faftened on the feet, they feem to have done their work in a moft clumfy manner.

This whole external covering of the fore part of the mummy confifted of feveral folds of broad pieces of linen cloth, made to adhere together, by fome viscous matter, which had not yet loft its property; and the whole had received an additional degree of ftrength and fubftance from the coat of paint laid on. The figures, which were not entirely defaced, were of the fame kind with those which all the writers on this subject have described.

There were not the leaft remains of hair or integuments on any part of the head; and fome parts of the fkull were quite bare, particularly about the temporal bones, which had the natural polifh, and appeared, in every refpect, like the bones of an ordinary fkull. To other parts of the fkull adhered feveral folds of pitched linen, which, together, were near half an inch in thicknefs; on removing them they were

found

found to have been in actual contact with the bone; fo that the integuments must have been taken away before the wrappers were at firft applied.

The under jaw was loft; and the fuperior maxillary, fpheroidal and ethmoidal bones were broken away; the foramen occipitale was ftopped up with pitch, which which alfo the inner part of the fkull was lined this feems to have been poured in at the foramen, and made to apply to the feveral parts of the infide of the fkull, by turn ing the head in different directions; the wave of the melted pitch from fuch motion appearing very plain. The infide of the kull was in many places covered very thinly, and, in fome few, which the fluid pitch had miffed, it was quite bare. The pitch, which topped up the foramen occipitale, had on it the impreffion of one of the vertebra of the neck; and externally about the foramen adhered a confiderable quantity of pitch.

The outward painted covering being removed, nothing but linen fillets were to be feen; which inclofed the whole mummy.

These fillets were of different breadths; the greater part about an inch and a half, thofe about the feet much broader: they were torn longitudinally; thofe few that had a felvage, having it on one fide only; the uppermoft fillets were of a degree of fineness nearly equal to what is now fold in the fhops for 2s. 4d. per yard, under the name of long lawn; and were woven fomething after the manner of Ruffia theeting; the fillets were of a brown colour, and in fome measure rotten. These outward

fillets feemed to owe their colour to having been fsteeped in fome gummy folution, as the inner ones were in pitch.

The fillets immediately under the painting covering lay in a tranfverfe direction; under thefe, which were many double, they lay oblique diagonally from the fhoulders to the ilia. Under these the fillets were broader, fome nearly three inches, and lay longitudinally from the neck to the feet, and alfo from the fhoulders down the fides, on which there was a remarkable thickness of these longitudinal fillets: under these they were again tranfverfe, and under thefe again oblique.

The fillets in general externally did not adhere to each other; but, though pieces of a confiderable length could be taken off entire, yet (from the great age) so tender was the texture of the cloth, that it was impoffible regularly to unroll them.

As the outward fillets were removed, thofe that next prefented themfelves had been evidently fteeped in pitch, and were, in general, coarfer, in folds, and more irregularly laid on, as they were more diftant from the furface. The inner filleting of all was fo impregnated with pitch as to form with it one hard, black, brittle mafs, and had been burned nearly to a coal. On breaking this it appeared in many places as if filled with a white efflorefcence, like that obfervable on the outside of pyrites which had been expofed to the air. This efflorefcence, however, had nothing faline to the tafte; and did not diffolve in water; but inftantly difappeared on bringing it near enough to the

fire to be flightly heated; and was foluble in fpirit of wine.

In the cavity of the abdomen we found several small pieces of bone, which had the appearance of dry oak, mixed with crumbled pitch; under this was found more folid pitch, which adhered to the spine. After cutting away the mafs of cloth and pitch which covered the thorax, we found the arms had been Jaid ftraight down by the fides of the cheft, and the ulna and radius bent upwards, and laid with the hands across upon the breast, the right hand being uppermoft.

The bones of the fingers were loft, but the metacarpal bones were found broken off, and fallen into the thorax,

The filleting which went round the upper part of the body, included the arms alfo; but they had evidently been firft wrapped feparately, then laid up in the position in which we found them, and the hollows which they formed filled up with pieces of pitched cloth.

In the cavity of the thorax there was also a confiderable quantity of crumbled pitch, and fplinters of dry bone; and, as in the progrefs of this examination we continually found that fome of the bones did, as we laid them bare, feparate into fuch splinters; it is very probable that this appearance is owing to the mummy's having been handled in a rough manner, and much fhaken, by the perfons who had driven it full of nails, when they were employed to repair the outfide of it.

On our first opening a way into the thorax, we imagined the ribs were destroyed; but, upon a more accurate examination, they were found entire: but so bedded in the

pitch, and fo black, and burned into the mafs, as to make it difficult to diftinguish thefe very different fubftances from each other.

The bones of the spine and of the pelvis were in the fame ftate with the ribs, only rather more burned.

There was a confiderable thicknefs of hard, folid pitch lining the cavity of the thorax; this had been evidently liquified, and poured in; and retained that gloffy appearance on its furface, which is obfervable on pitch that is fuffered to cool without being disturbed.

On breaking through this hard cruft of pitch, to examine the ver tebr and the ribs, the pitch which was under the cruft and nearest to the bones, was crumbly and foft; and, on being exposed to the air, grew perfectly moift in a very fhort time.

were

The lower extremities wrapped feparately in fillets, to nearly their natural fize, and then bound together, the interftices being rammed full of pitched rags.

On cutting through the fillets on the thighs, the bones were found invefted with a thin coat of pitch; and the filleting was bound im mediately on this.

The tibia and fibula of each leg were found alfo wrapped in the fame manner, and the bones in actual contact with the pitch: excepting in one or two places, where the pitch was fo very thin, that the cloth appeared to adhere to the bone itself.

The feet were filleted in the fame manner, being firft bound feparately, and then wrapped together. The filleting had been by fome accident rubbed off the

toes

toes of the right foot; and the nail of the great toe was found perfect; the laft joints of the bones of the leffer toes had been broken away; by which it appeared, that these bones had been penetrated, and their cavities quite filled with pitch. The filleting about the heel had alfo been broken away, and the bones of the tarfus, and fome of the metatarial bones had fallen out, and were loft; leaving the remaining filleting like a kind of cafe.

The fillets on the left foot were perfect, except on the heel, and where they had been divided from thofe of the leg; a small portion of the tendo achillis adhered to the es calcis, and fome of the ligaments to the aftragalus.

On cutting into the fillets on the fole of this foot, they were found to inclofe a bulbous root. The appearance of this was very fresh; and part of the thin fhin ing ikin came off with a flake of the dry brittle filleting, with which it had been bound down; it feemed to have been in contact with the flesh; the bafe of the root lay towards the heel.

This discovery immediately brought to mind a paffage in Prof per Alpinus*, and gave fome appearance of probability to a relation, which, as he himself infinu ates, might give great reafon to doubt his veracity. Speaking of the ftone image of the fearabaus, which was found in the breaft of a mummy, he adds: Incredibile dictu, rami rorifmarini qui una cum idolo inventi fuerunt, felia njque adeo viridia recentia vifa fuerunt, ut

ea die a planta decerpti & pofiti apparuerint.

The fillets were removed from this foot with great care; they were muchimpregnated with pitch, excepting about the toes; where the feveral folds united into one mafs, being cut through, yielded to the knife like a very tough wax. The toes being carefully laid bare, the nails were found perfect upon them all; fome of them retaining a reddith hue, as if they had been painted; the skin also, and even the fine fpiral lines on it, were still very vifible on the under part of the great toe, and of the three next adjoining toes. Where the kin of the toes was deftroyed there appeared a pitchy mafs, refembling in form the fleshy fubftance, though fomewhat fhrunk from its original bulk. The natural form of the fleth was preferved alfo on the under part of the foot, near the bafes of the toes. On the back of the toes appeared feveral of the extenfor tendons.

The root just mentioned was, bound to the foot by the filleting that invefted the metatarsal bones; no more of this filleting was cut away, than was juft fufficient to fhew, without removing from its place, a fubftance which had been preferved in fo extraordinary a

manner.

On cutting away the fillets which covered the rarfus, the bones adhered ftrongly together; and were covered with hard pitch, with which they feemed thoroughly impregnated.

On cutting away this outward pitch,thereappeared very diftin&tly

the

the tendons of the peroneus anticus, and pofticus, the tendons of the extenfor digitorum longus, and the tendon of the tibialis anticus; and befides these a confiderable por tion of the ligaments of the tarfus. On examining the cafe formed by the pitch and fillets, which had covered the right foot, and out of which the bones had been taken, there was a very plain mould left, in which there had been inclofed another root fimilar to that we had difcovered in the left foot; and in which fome of the external fhining fkin of the root ftill remained.

During this whole examination, if we except what was difcovered in the feet, there were not found the least remains of any of the foft parts.

All the bones of the trunk were bedded in a mafs of pitch; and thofe of the limbs were covered with a thin coat of it, and then fwathed in the fillets; which (as has been mentioned) in fome places, where the pitch was very thin, feemed to adhere to the bone itfelf.

The cavities of many of the bones, on being broken, were found quite full of its fubftance; the metacarpal bones were fo; as were the radii, and many others: the ribs, as was before mentioned. were impregnated with it; and fo burned, as to be with difficulty diftinguished from it: in which fiate alfo were the vertebra, and the bones of the pelvis.

The pitch had also penetrated into the cellular part of the head of the thigh bone; the fmall bones of the toes were quite full: but it had not entered into all the me

tatarial bones.

From experiment it has been found, that, bones and flesh being boiled in common pitch, it will pervade the fubftance, and fill the cavities of the former: and the latter will be fo impregnated with it, as to be reduced to an uniform black brittle mafs, not in the leaft resembling flesh.

This treatment, however, will not account for the state in which this mummy was found; for, if the flesh had not been previously removed, though its appearance would have been entirely changed, yet the filleting could never have been found in contact with the bones.

From this laft circumftance it is most likely, that the body, excepting the feet, had been reduced to a tkeleton, before it was laid up; it is alfo pretty certain, that it muft have been kept fome time in boiling pitch, both before and after fome of the layers of the in nermott filleting were laid on.

The feet feem to have been fwathed, at least in part, before they were committed to the hot pitch; and this feems to have pervaded the bandages, the fiefh, and the bones.

It has been imagined, that the principal matter ufed by the Egyptians for embalming was the asphaltus; but what we found was certainly a vegetable production. The fmell in burning was very unlike that of asphaltus; nor did it refemble that of the common pitch of the fir-tree; being rather aromatic.

It was compared with a variety of refins and gam refins; but feemed not to refemble any of them, excepting myrrh, and that but very flightly.