Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-05-20
Egypt's Mummies.

associated with the mysterious or parti-
ally unknown The high gift Of human
liberty and the endowment Of perfect
individuaIism enhances mans interest
in his fellow, well nigh in proportion
to the amount of mystery that hangs
about him; no matter In what state q
human being is--dead or aliVe-so
long as he is found with created a8so-
Citations. Detectives will sometimes
paw as much for dead mans body
as live one. Associations will
sometimes make dead Mummy more
interesting than a live Egyptian.
Egypt's dead still live to tell their
funeral tale and voice what manner of
men they were.
When an Egyptian died, in the days
of old, he was embalmed. His reason
for this was that he believed in a 'Fcor-
porai resurrection and wished to
preserve his body completely without a
defect. because in eternity he expected
to use this self same body forever.
We are now in the Museum, sur
rounded by Egypt's dead Mummies
resting in their last earthly Baskets.
1t is a grim, weird charnel house of
dead bones. Once most of this
smoked-ham flesh and these dry bones
were illustrious, famous, renowned,
known of other nations for great learn
ing and Wisdom-nOw heap Of
Wondering ruins which the wreck of
time viii ere long complete. We:read
on the coverings of these Mummies
and collins that they considered a man
was composed of four elements, first a
body which must be preserved perfect
to reach resurrection and hence we
have the remains of Tombs, Vaults
Pyramids, Pits, &c, to preserve them
perfect, unblemished until the resurrec-
ton, period ranging from 5000 to
10000 years when it was supposed
that all the four elements Of man
would unite for everlasting life. The
second element Of man was a soul
which after death wandered through
Hades or the underworld for cycle or
the same length of period. The third
element was intelligence which won
dered through space-the same length
Of time the soul was in Hades The
body must await the return Of the soul
and intelligence before it could resur-
rect. The fourth element of man was
designated appearance" called by the
Egyptians Ka. This appearance or
Ka dwelt all the time in the tomb with
the body. The Ka is preserved by
pictures on the tomb or on the cover
ings of the Mummy. One can count
the appearances" or Ka of the Mummy
from seven to ten times all of the same
size and shape, showing one individual
and painted in vivid colors and giving
the man his varied titles Death sep
crates all four elements which finally
united for everlasting life, provided
the body is not destroyed. An Egyp-
tan believed his happiness and eternal
life depended on keeping his body
actually preserved in some vault
through this cycle of years while the
soul groveled through purgatory and
the Intelligence kept its wandering
flight in space for 5 to 10000 years.
In this cycle of years it was believed
that the soul also passed through the
various grades of animal life. This
accounts for the worship Of the Cat,
Ibis and many different animals.
Hundreds of the animals may still be
seen perfectly preserved in the form Of
Mummies. They were kept sacred
in the sepulchres of the dead, in
Tombs, Pits, Pyramids, Vaults, SC.
With such beliefs institutions soon
arose to carry out It's designs. Hence
arose the ancienB process of embalming
1t is natural for men to believe like a
Thomsonian doctor, that for every
human desease there is a weed growing
somewhere on the hill that will cure it.
From such false views arose weed
hunters, herb doctors, searchers for the
philosophers stone which would turn all
metels into gold. So the Egyptian
made belief chat the soul groveled
for 5000 to 10000 years through the
underworld and various animal life and
the intelligence wandered through a
cycle of the same length to finally unite
with the same body and appearance
they left in the tomb. A process was
therefore necessary to preserve the
body perfect until their return.
The methods of embalming we can
now read from original writings of the
Egyptians. These writings are found
In the "Book Of the Dead written on
Pappgrus, of which zoos square yards
can be seen in the Berlin and British
museums, also on inside of Tombs in
vivid paint colors. The covering of
the Mummy itself is generally all
written over with figures, signes and
Hyeroglyphics The writing was
mainly done with brush and indellible
ink, made Of silver nitrate, which will
not fade. We learn from these writ
tinUs that the first process of embalm-