The Dickinson press., 1888-10-20
ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.
NOTIONS OF THE PEOPLE WHO
BUILT THE PYRAMIDS.

Their Theory Concerning "Doubles'-Ori-
gin of the Practice of Embalmins.
Bodies of Stone wood-Why Egyp-
tians Arc So Frequently NKutilated.
The oldest form the ancient Egyptians at
tributed to the soul was that of a shadow "a
double born with each person, and following
him through tho various stages of life, grow.
ing us he grew and declining as he declined
They applied this theory not only to human
beings, but also to gods and animals, trees
and stones. Everybody and everything was
held to have its double. even beds, chairs and
knives. Tho component particles of these
doubles were so minute and subtle that or
dinary people could not perceive them. Only
aSpccial order of priests or scers, gifted or
trained for tho purpose, could identify tho
doubles of the gods. and obtain from them
knowledge of past and future events. Tho
doubles of men and inanimate objects re-
NAMED securely hidden from sight in tho or
binary course of life. Still, they sometimes
left the body, endowed with color and voice,
and went away to manifest themselves at a
distance, after the manner of modern ghosts.
THE DOUBLES" AFTER DEATH.
After death the doubles maintained not
only the characteristics of the particular
man they had been associated with while in
the flesh, but were subjected to the common
wants and pains of humanity-to hunger
and thirst, to heat and cold, to fatigue and
lilness-with the aggravation that. whereas
the living have ways and means Of self pro-
lection against the evils which befall them,
the dead are utterly destitute. If left to
themselves they We're doomed to roam about
rl,n t1,a,, h,d
tho refuse of houses, with certainty of per-
ishinS after prolonging their miserable ex-
lstcnce for short time. If properly at
tended to-if provided with food and other
necessaries-they had q fair chance to live
on and on for an indefinite period They
did not become immortal; 1.-The splendid in
vention of Immortality" as prominent
American statesman has called it, was un-
known in primitive Egypt; but at least they
often had facilities for survival that were al
most equivalent to Immortality, as is pointed
out by Mr.. G. Maspero, in an interesting
contribution to The Princeton Review, cnti-
lied Egyptian Souls and Their Worlds"
from which the facts in this article are
mainly derived. 1t is easy to believe that
the germ of the latter conviction of another
and everlasting life was present in this crude
notion of double-a soul apart from tho
body-which might continue its existence,
under favorable conditions, for an unlimited
time
Since tho double was q perfect image of
the being to which it had been linked at
birth, it was natural that it should remain
near where the corpse was buried, and par
llcipatc in its dcstinies. Having grown with
the body, it ought logically to decay with the
body and thus there was reason to believe
that tho natural term of its existence after
the body's death might be measured by the
time required for the human frame to tlisin-
tegrate completely. Therefore, the Egyptian
savants decided the best means Of arresting
The decomposition Of the soul was to stop
the decomposition of the flesh, and to this,
Mr.. Maspero suggests, wo probably owe tho
practice of cmbalming. Tho drying up and
hardening of the mummy enabled it to last
for centuries, and to serve asu kind of stay
for its double.
STONE OR WOODEN BODIES.
But this expedient was not wholly satis-
factory, since even tho best of lnulnlnies
could not endure forevcr-and then what
would become of the double' The only way
they found out of this difficulty was to pro-
vide stone or wooden bodies against tho pos
sibiity of the mummy moldcring away.
Most of the statues discovered in Egyptian
tombs, Mr.. Maspero assures us, were only
bodies for the doubles of the men buried in
them To prevent them from being broken
to pieces or carried away, they walled them
up i'll dark cells-some standing, some sitting,
| venience; and all were us like tho model as
art could make them, that the soul might
!! more easily adapt itself to them.
There ,yoS no limit fo tLo ,,,,p,ba,. Of c,,rh
etligies but the piety or wealth of the surviv.
ing relatives; tho moro numerous they were
the better it was for tho dead One statue
was after all, only one chance of perpetuity
and =, 8, 10 or 20 statues gave the double 81
! many chances more. The statues in the tenn
/ piles had tho samo meaning as those in the
tombs; the doubles of kings or gods-not the
whole, but certain particles-were fixed upol
them by prayers and conservation, and ami
mated them Thus it was that they were able
to move head or arms, to answer questions
I and to give forth oracles. Statues wcre moi
nero works of art. they were things alive
and are even to this day, Mr.. Maspero de
clares, only the double of old has turned int,
a bad spirit in modern Egypt, and haunt
tho spot whero it was revered ages ago us
sanity soul or god. 1t is won't to frightel
men out of their wits, to drive them ravinl
mad, and sometimes to kill them. But i
loses its power when the body of stone witt
which it consorts has been mutilated Tha
is the reason, Mr.. Maspero informs us, VIII,
SO many statues in our museums display
broken nose or battered cheek; the fella
heen who found them defaced them in ortle
to lame the double in them and prevent
from doing any harm The tomb was tn
house of the double, and there on certai
days the family brought provisions of a
kinds-a custom which ultimately took til
form Of offerings that were mere painted Q
carved limitations Of natural meat and drink
-Globc-D Democrat.