Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1877-07-18
Longevity Of Seeds.

MANY are tllt stories tOlu OF seeds
taken from the hands of mummies or
found IN Their cerementS, which vegita-
ted after having been thus inferred for
hundreds and even thousands of years.
Such stories are either apocryphal or
absolutely without foundation-not
that the persons relating them intend
to deceive, but they themselves are de
ccived through taking things for grant
ed without bestOwlng thought upon the
matter, or referring it to the investiga-
ton Of scientific men. 1t is well known
that the Arabs, who are by no means
saints, fully understand the art of get
ting up mummics and other Egyptian
antiques for the European and Ameri-
can markets.
Some of the receptions practiced in
this line appear quite ludicrOus, rs in
the case of the mummy unrollcd at
Boston some years ago. This, before
being unrolled, was thought from the
inscriptions on the sarcophagus to have
been an Egyptian princess Of high dis
tinCtlon; but when unrollcd, before Il
large audience of distinguished ladies
and gentlemen, it proved to be an indi-
vidual of the opposite sex. The prin-
cess remains had no doubt been de
stroyed by the Arabs for the sake Of
the gold ornaments and perhaps other
valuables upon them, and another
mummy placed III the Sarcophagus to
make a good sale of that. In all such
operations of changing mummies it is
probable that some of the grain used
l,,- l, 6. IL
selves or for feeding their horses, drops
into the sarcophagus or into the folds
of the wrappings of the mummy, and
when found Is supposed to be coeval
with it in age.
Notwithstanding this, it is true that
many seeds, when deeply buried in the
ground, or placed in situations where
they are shielded from the influences
necessary for termination, viii main
tain their vitality for long periods of
time, in rare cases for fifteen or sixteen
centuries. Professor Lindlcy cites Il
case of the termination of raspberry
seeds found in the abdominal cavity of
Il skeleton buried in coffin thirty feet
below the surface of IN ancient tumu-
lus or barrow in England. With the
skeleton We're also found some coins of
the Emperor Adrian, so that it was
probably 1900 or 100 years old. An
other instance Is known of the vegeta-
ton of seeds which were found in
Scotland ut the bottom of sand pit
twenty-five feet deep the geological
formation of the land showing that they
must have lain buried there for over
2OOO years. 80 also number of skele-
tons were found in France, deeply bur
led in the ground, the head of each
skeleton resting on II small heap or pill
low of seed, which subsequently germ
mated. Collateral circumstances
showed that these graves were of Rom
an origin, and that the skeletons must
have been those of bodies inferred
there 1900 or 1900 years previously.
We see further instances Of such vi
tailty in the termination of seeds upon
land which has been turned up from Il
great depth. In Zealand when some
marshes were drained, species of cy-
pcruS or rush made its appearance in
great abundance, although it had ncv-
cr before been seen in the neighhOr-
hood After draining and ploughing
the fcnS in Cambridgeshire, England,
large quantities of field and white mus
tard sprang up, although not previously
known there. \ late instance Is that of
the removal of the Stag of the Laurium
silver mines in Greece, which have not
been worked for over 1900 years On
removing the Stag, Il new species of
glaucium or horn-poppy made itS APP
pearancc After fire in tire spruce
and fir forests of some sections of this
country, a luxuriant growth of rasp-
berries comes in, and after these come
birches In Monmouth County, New
Jtrsey. the appication of greensand