Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-07-29
EGYPTIANS
SOMETHING ABOUT rEErR ANCIENT RE-
LIGIous RrrKs.
Peculiar Bslisfs-After Dssth--EfiE ies--
Trsditions--A Tall Laddsr--A Glass
Of Thinkers

founded, we cannot definitely and thor
oughly know; but thanks TO the re-
searches of certain class OF students,
and to the records discovered in the
pyramids or the memphite Kings, we are
able to gain fair general understand
ing OF the subject. 1t may be
taken for granted, to begin with.
that the oldest form they attributed
to the soul was that of shadow
double horn with each person,
and following him through the
various stages OF life, growing as he
grew and declining aS he declined. They
applied this theory no. only to hnman
beings but also TO gods and animals.
trees and stones Everybody and every
thing was held to have its double, even
beds, chairs, and knives. The compo-
nent particles of these doubles wero SO
minute and subtle that ordinary people
could not perceive them. Only Especial
order of priests or seers, gifted or
trained for the purpose, could identity
the doubles OF the gods, and obtain from
them q knowledge OF past and futuro
events. The doubles Of men and inani-
mate objects remained securely hidden
from sight in the ordinary course OF
life still they sometimes left the body
endowed with color and voice. and went
away to manifest themselves at distance
after the manner of modern ghosts.
After death the doubles maintained
not only the characteristics OF the par
ticulsr man they had bson associated with
while in the flesh, but we're subjected to
the common wants and pains OF hui
manity-to hunger and thirst, 10 heat
and cold, to fatigue and illness-vith the
aegravation that, whereas tho living
have WAYS aud means Of self-proteotion
against the evils which befall them, tho
dead are utterly destitute. IL left to
themselves they wero doomed to roam
about the places they had inhabited and
feed upon the refuse OF houses, with
the certainty Of Perishing after pro-
longing their miserable existence for
short time. II properly attended to
if provided with food ard other Reeessa-
ries-they had fair chance 10 live on
and on for an indefinite period. They
did not become immortal " the splendid
invention OF immortality" as a promi-
ment American statesman hos called it,
WAS unknown in primitive Egypt; but at
least they often had facilities of survival
that were almost equivalent to immor-
tality, as is pointed ont by Mr.. q. Mas
pero in an interesting contribution to the
Princeton HevietO for July, entitled
"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 later conviction Of
another and everlasting life was present
in this crude notion OF double-a soul
apart from the body-which might con-
tinue its existence under favorable con-
ditions for an unlimited time.
Since the double was perfect image
OF the being to which it had been linked
at birth, 1t was natural that il should re-
main near where the corpse was buried
and participate IN its destlnies. Having
grown with the body, it ought logically
to decay with the body, and thus there
WIS reason TO believe that the natural
term of its existence aftor the body's
death might be measured by tho time
required for the human frame TO disin-
tegrate completely. Therefore, the
EgyDtian 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, we probably owe the practice OF
embalming. The dryingup and hardening
Of the mummy ensbled 1t TO last for CEN
turies. aud to serve as O kind Of stay
for its double. But this expedient was
not wholly satisfactory, nnce even the
best of mummies could not endure for
overland then what would become of
the double? The only way they found
ont OF this difficulty was to provide stone
or wooden bodies against the possibility
Of the mummy moldering 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 mp in dark c9lls-eome
standing, some sitting, some squatting.
according 70 taste or eonYenience-and
all were as like tho model as art could
make them, that the soul might more
easily adapt itself TO them.
There Was no limit 10 the number OF
such efiigies but the pisty or wealth OF
the surviving relatives the more nu-
merous they were, the better 1t was for
tho dead. One statue was, after all,
only one chance Of perpetuity, and two,
three, ten, or twenty statues gave tho
double so many chances more. The
statues in the temples had the zane
meaning as those in the tonbs; the
doubles of kings or gods-not tho whole,
but certain particles-were fixed upon
them by prayers and conservation, and
animated them. Thus it was that they
were able to move head or arms. to an
swer questions, and 10 give forth orAcles
Statues were not mere works OF art ;
they were things alive, and are
even to this day, Mr.. Naspero
declares, only the double OF old
has turned into bad spirit in
modern Egypt, and haunts the spot
where it was Tevered ages ago as saint
" soul or god. 1t is wont TO brighton
men out of their wits, to drive them
raving mad, and sometimes to kll them.
But it loses its power when the BODY OF
stone with which it consorts has been mu-
tilated. That is the reason, Mr. Maspero
informs us, why so many statues In our
museums display broken nose or bat
tered cheek the fellaheen who found
them deiaeed them in order to lame the
double in them and prevent it from do
ing any harm. The tomb was the house
OF the double, and there on certain days
the family brought provisions OF all
kinds-a custom which ultimately took
the form of offerings that were mere
painted or carved limitations OF natural
meat and drink.
According to another creed, however,
the soul was not attached 10 the tomb |;
il was obliged to go to regions which had
been selected for the dead to dwell in,
under the rule OF special gods These
regions lay mostly in the direction Of
the sunset, though some Of them
stretched from north TO east. The prin-
cipal one was in the Libyan Desert, and
was called To-SokGri, the land of Soka-
RE. The jewellers there wore no mere
1nrbls. olipotno IN cof-reea INIT indie