Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1825-08-20

| OPENING OF A MUMMf-EMbALMiN
The reading Of Doctor Granville's
Monograph on Egyptian Mummies
was concluded before the Royal Socie-
ty, London, on the 9th of April. We
are enabled to state briefly the princi-
nal object of this interesting commu-
nication, and allude to some OF the Gu.
rious facts it details on the subject OF
embalming.
1t appears, that in the year 1921, Sir
A. Edmondstone presented DR.. Gran
vile with mummy he had brought
from Upper Egypt, which after the re-
moval Of innumerable bandages, prov
| ed to be that of afemale, and more
perfect specimen Of the kind than any
that had heretofore been examined
DR.. Granville deemed this an excellent
opportunity Of investigating the yet
unsettled question of the mode of en-
balming by the ancient Egyptians, and
proceeded to dissect the Mummy for
that purpose in the presence OF several
medical and scientific friends: institute
| ing, al more recent period, several
experiments on its various parts and
envelopes, tending to discover the pro-
cess Of mummihcation, in which OBJ
ject he appears certainly to have sue
| ceeded.
This discovery he endeavored to
prove to the satisfaction of the persons
] present at the reading of his commune
cation, svnthetically as we'll as analyu-
cally, for after the meeting, an exhibit
ton of the dissected Mummy took
place in the library Of the society, where
every assertion contained in the paper
was illustrated by preparations, includ-
ing several preparations OF Initiative
| Mummies prepared by the author,
some of which bore the closest resem-
blance to the Egyptian, and had with
stood putrefaction for upwards OF three
years, though exposed to all the vicis-
STUDIES of a variable climate without
any covering or other precautionary
measure.
independently of this which is cvi-
IDENTITY The main object Of DR.. Granville's
researches, the author has been able to
advance many very curious facts con-
nected with the Mummy in question.
| He has for instance, given the dimen-
sions, which, by a singular coincidence,
| happened to be precisely those assign
| ed BY Camper and NNinkelmanp, TO the
celebrated statue Of the Medicean We
| nus, the prototype Of ideal beauty
These dimensions, moreover, prove,
that this Egyptian female did not be-
long to the Ethiopian race, thereby
contradicting the assertion OF some
writer's, who consider the ancient T.
gyptians to have been Philippians. lie
has also fairly made out the age at
which the individul died; and the dis
ease Of which she died, and he has rem
dered it evident, from anatomical de-
monstration, that she had borne chill
dren.
All these circumstances may be con-
sidered by some as possessing no inter-
est: but when it is considered that they
are deduced from minute and accu-
rate examination Of the body OF fe-
male, who, according to the best au-
thorities of the present day with res
pect to Egyptian antiquities, and judg-
ing of the excavation out OF which the
Mummy was taken, must have lived
about 5000 years ago; it will be admit
ted, that the preserving power Of the
mnmmifying process employed by the
ancient Egyptians, and now discovered
by DR.. Granville, must be great indeed.
This mummify ing process consists
in the thorough impregnation of every
part, soft or bard, with bees wax.
There are besides myrrh, gum, resin,
bitman, and even tannin, (another new
fact brought to ligh, by the author OF
this paper) in the composition OF the
Mummy: but none Of there, either
singly or conformity, appear to be suffl-
Gent without the beeswaX to preserve
the body, or convert it into perfect
Mummy. DR.. Granville has proved
this by successive steps and convinced
those who saw the exhibition after the
meeting, of its accuracy, by showing
one of the mates of the Mummy wholly
deprived of the wax by ebullition and
maceration, which was beginning to
purify, and which now looked no Ion
ger like its mummi6ed fellow, but more
like the preparation Of a recent speci-
men Of that part. /,
The disease of which the female died
was ovarian dropsy, and the uterine
system, with the sac that had contain
ed the morbid fluid during life, form
ing the Oldest pathological preparation
of its kind in existence, was exhibited
to the Society. The heart, lungs, dla-
phragm, one Of the kidneys, with the
ure,er, the gall bladder, and part OF
the intestines, were also shown.
! ATALL FRESHMAN.