The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-06-11
From he Boston Daily Advertiser, June s..
The Mummy.

The last meeting for the examination Of the mum
my held yesterday, and the large hall was
filled at carly hour. To great many of our
readers we need not state that a disclosure was
made Of a fact which was great disappo ntment
TO the lecturer well as the audience. II proved
that the "Witsfess tcdS a man" Mr.. Gliddon ex-
pressed very properly and manfully his embarrass-
Inent and unpleasant feeling at this result, and
pressing his desire to be accused OF ignorance ra-
ther than knavery in the matter, gave very plau-
sible theory Of the mode in which the deception
performed upon the family Of The deceased, three
thousand years ago, long before he was deceived
himself We have hesitation in saying, after
due consultation with those who ought to know,
that We believe that Mr.. Gliddon had every reason
TO believe the mummy that which he announced it
10 be- and that there is doobt that il is genuine
mummy. We also believe that his interpretations
Of the inscriptions, 40 far they have been made,
may be relied upon an honest attempt at transla
ton, and an approximation TO the true meaning as
near as can be expected. The decyphering OF the
papyrus found upon the body may add new fea
ture 70 this curious subject. We copy the report of
the lecture, which the Traveller gives
Mr. Gliddon commenced at twelve O'Clock to-
day, mt the fremont Temple, with some remarks
ON the origin Of mummihcation, which he traced TO
the practice Of burying in the sand which in Egypt
contained alum. nitro, and another salt, that pre-
served the bodies. He fixed the age Of this mum
my. by the coffin and mode Of embalmng with
bitumen, and by other marks, TO as late a date as
|, 500 years Is. &. Mummies continued 10 be made
10 late as the fourth or fifth century, A. d., and
tltft Uiurt nave pttu indny oOU
balmed during the 4,O0U years continuance Of the
practice, expense OF $50 millions of dollars,
which went TO the priests. His opinion was, that
the practice at first adopted from convenience,
and that il owed IL continuance partly TO the fact
that IL brought a revenue to the priests.
la regard 20 the present mummy, the outer case,
the inner coffin, and the carving Of the face on
both, were those Of a female and 40 was the in
scnption. But the body turned out 10 be that Of n
man. But mistakes, he said. would occur in the
beat regulated families and where there were
900 bodies hand at the time, il no
wonder that should occasionally get into the
wrong coffin. he then read the letter Of Mr.. Har-
rio. who obtained the mummy, who said this kind
Of case generally contained the best kind Of mum
my. II had been authenticated, also, on the way.
The coffin that Of first class mummy, but the
wrong body had got into a.
Mr. Giddon said he had discovered. on the lea
thcr straps the breast, the Of the king
la whose reign this mummy made, which was
OsOrcon Hf. who was the 9th defendant from Shi-
slIak. the conquerOf ~ Rehobosm, which was about
600 years, ". e. lie remarked, also, that, with or
every corpse, there was buried an image Of the
mummy, NJ a testimony that the person had been
embe lmed and be exhibited one OF them which he
had found in Egypt. aud which that Of the
mother Of this king, Osoroor M In whose reign
this mummy made
Mr.. q. then concluded with some moral refiec-
tone. with a comparison Of the people of whom the
specimens here exhibited were remains, with our
selves and our ancestors. showing that they were,
like us, u the Caucasian family. The house was
crowded sgain ~ its utmost capacity Illustrating
the Yankee disposition to 80 the end Of matter,
especially when they have paid for the privilege.