The New York herald., 1850-06-13

body was surmounted by winged Beetle. holdio
the Creator Sun. Below il d sign, which Wa
a musical instrument, and the sign for the wor
prrstess. On one side was the god Of science, an,
behind il the West; the symbol on the other lid,
he could not lind out. Below, was the emblem o
the god of the dead, symbols of justice and cor
uiption. Below were the words, "Dedicated "a
Osiris, the god of the house of the living and the
dead" Below was, "The Syrian, or lhe de-
ceased beloved, the god Of the Western Heavens,
Got 7xoth-Anch-ph," which means eternal life.
Mr.. Gliddon now turned the matter over to the
scientific gentlemen present He stated, in refer
ence to the bandages, that every band ige sknown
in modern science had been found on mummies.
Professor-Agassiz, and Drs, Wyman and Jackson
then proceeded TO unroll the mummy. The height
was five feet four inches, and MIR. GIiddon said
that il one of the tallest female mummes he
all Of one kind and MIR. Glddon said all the cloth
found on mummies was linen. Professor Agassiz
said he had examined il with the microscope, and
found il TO be linen. Some large pieces taken
of, of coarser quality. After the outside dry
cloth was taken OIL, they came TO cloth that was
thoroughly gummed, (probably gum arabic) secur-
ed by two leather straps, which Mr. Glddon said
usually contained the name of the person Little
pieces Of wood were taken out, the ends Of which
were stamped with two figures Of deities.
A scarf was taken Ifi about ten feet in length,
with fringes on each end A large piece OF the
gummed linen was cut off, containing the leather
perfect preservation.
When the body was unrolled so as to disclose
the face, Mr.. Gliddon said il had been plunged in
boiling btumen, and even the eyes and the sock
cts burnt out After further unrolling, he brought
out and exhibited papyrus, which he said was a
leaf from The |" Book of the Dead" 1t was rolled
up, and MIR. Cliddon said it would have to be
damped, and carefully unroed before it could be
read. There was also found a .Scarubgus, or
winged beetle, the figure of which placed out
side on the head of the mummy The cloth being
removed from the face and upper part Of the body,
it was placed in glass case, and exposed in full
view of the audience
The boiling bitumen had reduced the body to
crisp, so hait as brittle burnt bone, and the
features were nearly destroyed. The arms
extended upon the sides, the hands resting upon
the abdomen. On the whole, it was rather dis
gustng object TO look upon, though interesting TO
men Of science, as a relic of antiquity while, to
the moralist, II suggests reflection upon the emp
tiness OF human greatness and the folly of attempt
ing 10 perpetuate the memory thereof by any mo-
numents of human device.
THIRD DAY
MIR. Gliddon delivered his last lecture on num-
MITIGATION at the fremont Temple, yesterday.
Since the previous lecture, the remains of the band
ages had be en- picked from the mummy aud bet
ter opportunity was had Of examining il to adyan-
tage.
Mr.. Glddon, in tracing the history of mummifi-
cation, said II had its origin in the early days of
Epypt. when bodies were buried in the sand Such
Were the chemical properties of the sand, that the
bodies dried up, forming natural mummes. When
the practice Of buiying in tombs was commenced,
il found necessary to bake them, to prevent
their decay ing, and from this the science OF mum
MITIGATION dated its progress.
To answer the objection made against the theory
Of extracting the brain from the nose, in the prepa
rations Of munnes, he had been allowed by DR..
Holmes 10 exhibit TO the audience head which
was prepared in that way in this city. DR.. Holmes
had also sent him the hand Of female, which was
mummiiied by drying, and had accompanied them
with note, which he read The nails and epder-
mis- were removed from the hand, when IL dried
readily.
MIR Glddon described the caves in which the
mummies were placed, in one of which he had
been down i50 feet in straight line. These caves
were the burial places Of a population OF half a
million, for 400 years, and from Tins might some
estimate be made Of the great number Of mummies
in them.
II had been asked how the age Of the munmes
could be asccrtaned. There were several means
Of determining this question-by the nomenclature,
calling the names Of persons after the reigning
kings-by the hyrroclyphics, forms OF collins,
figures Of d,ities, styles OF inscription, and the
Of painting the faces Of the deceased on the
collins. So also, in later times, the jaws Of mum
mics were tied up. This was not the practice in
more ancient times.
he showed that the annual cost of linen for mum
Riies must have been s3,3Jo,u1o year. The
highest style he supposed must have cost 81 I'D,
the next 500, aud the cheapest $40. This
was a revenue which the priesthood enjoyed, and
owing 10 which, be said, the art was persevered
long a time.
MIR. Gliddon again went over the inscriptions
upon the outer collin and the inner one, both
which he said indicated that the mummy was
female, but contrary TO his expectations he was
obliged to say that IL was not prestess, but man.
Some might infer from this, he SAID, that he was
either ignorant or designed 10 deceive the audience.
lie preferred they .hould TO the first conclu
sion, and he should take satisfaction from the fact
that accidents happened three thousand years ago.
well as in our own days. lie then went on 10
explain how such an accident might happen.
From the great length OF time required in all the
prepara alions-Inore than seventy days-it would be
found that in Thebes and Cairo at least 1000 bodies
would be in various stages Of embalmDg, and IL
would be no strange thing if male should be put
into the coffin designed for female. Several
cases Of the kind had before come TO his knowledge,
and ON that account he was not SO much surprised
AZ he would otherwise have been.
Mr.. Gliddon now proceeded to give the results
0f the examination. On piece OF the linen band
ages a hieroglyphc legend had been discovered;
but be had not as yet found time 20 deciphcr II. On
the leather straps were found two royal names.
One OF them sgnfed " the Sun-guardian Of the
world, approved by the sun" From these names
are ascer,ained that the person embalmed lived in
the days of Osocron, sixth in descent from the con-
queror Of Rshoboam; this was about nine hundred
years before Christ which took away four hundred
or five hundred years from the age he had atiri-
buiedto n. The scarabaus found on the breast
had been submitted 20 DIR. Burnett, who had de-
fined its species, and small insect found in tbs
linen, proved TO be OF species not known. The
metallic plate was examined by Mr. Hayes, and
proved to be tin. The bulb found, proved TO be a
species fbean.
Mr.. Gliddon closed his lecture by some reflec-
tons on the past, compared with the present time.
The audience then took another look at the no
longer female mummy, and departed. IL may not,
perhaps. he out Of place here, TO say that the
nouncement Of its being male. did not appear to