The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-10-21
A Study in skeletons.

When the ancient Egy ptians embalmed
their dead with so much care they dill Z
not suspect that thousands of years after
their tine other races would open tlieir;s
sepulchres aud sarcopbagi and 6nd there
in evidence of great value and sjgnif:g
cauce for the sexplica.ion Of modern
world problems. It was a custom of
those ancient Egyptians to bury seeds
and sometime plants with their dead.
They commonly made light bier for
the body of freshly cut green bonghs
with the leaves on, and itwas customary
in swathi1g the corpse with its mortuary
bandages to incIose this light bier in
them These plant remains, with many
others more purposely deposited on OF
about the bodies or in the sepnlchrals
chambers, have been resurrected recently
from many old tombs never before
opened, and the information they give is !
Interesting and instructive. Prof. /
William Carruthers, president of the
biological section of the British Associa.
tion,Fs discussed these discoveries in his
opening address, and while he refrainedS
from making any application of the facts
ascertained, the mere statement of them
is enough to demonstrate their scope andsi
bearing. s.
It results from the hermetic sealing Of
the plants and seeds referred to that they
have been preserved, for the most par, as !
fresh as when they were deposited; and
7ery fortunately their first examinaiion
has been made by an eminent botanist; 4;
DR.. Schweinfurth, who has fora quaEter
of a century been exploring the fora Of
the Nile valley. By putting these plants /
In warm water DR.. Schweinfurth has res
stored them almost completely. he
colors of the flowers are still present.,
even the most evanescent, such as the
violet Of the larkspur and knapweed, and
the scarlet of the poppy the chiorophylla
remains in the leaves and the sugar IN
the pulp of the raisins." DR.. Schwein.
furth has determined no less than fifty.
nine species, and what is most remark
able is that the characteristics OF nearly
every one of these species are identical
with those of the same family at the
present day. An exception exists in the
case of certain vine, the under surface
of whose leaves was formerly clothed
with white hairs, which are no longer
found. But the great majority OF the
plants, seeds, and even the weeds discov.si
cred in the tombs, resemble in all respects
the modern species, and when ne realize
that this fact indicates stability of forms
and character during from four to five,
thousand years, it will be seen that the :.
facts possess strong suggestiyeness in re-:
lation to the evolutionary theory. u
Barley 5, 400 years old has been found
by Marietta Bey in grave of the fifth
dynasty, at Sakhara. This barley is pre-.
cisely similar to the grain of today.
The increase of agricultural science has
produced no apparent improvement in
the grain during that long period, nor has
it changed from its primal type in any
wey. A garland was found in another
tomb, of Wild celery. "The leaves, flow
ers and fruits of the wild celery have
been examined with the greatest care by
DR.. Schweinfurth, who has demonstrated
in the clearest manner their absolute
identity with the indigenous form of this
species now abundant in most places in
Egypt" No doubt it is true that the
periods required for the cooling and
gradual stocking of the earth with yege.
tation and animal life by modern geology
seem to afford ample space for the eyolu-
ton of species. But when We find that
large number of plants have undergone
no changes at all in five or six Thousand
years, it is apparent that the evidence
though not in any sense conclusive,
makes against the hypothesis which is
most generally accepted at present: But
it is possible to go very much further
back than Egypt ? for evidence. Plant.
remains have been found in sedimentalg
deposits older than the glacial Drift
giving them an age of from $4,000 to
100000 years-and those plants pre-
sent no differences from the same species
as they exist to-day. 1t may be said,
therefore, that the testimony of ancient
plant remains, so far as it goes, seems to
oppose the evolutionary hypothesis, or at
least to require the assumpiR Of psr-
haps even longer periods for L., an
than the most liberal estimates ofS1e.
modern geologists have allowed for the.
earth's formation.-Neao York Tribune.