The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1890-06-20
uMRolIINc a MuMMY.
Details of An Interesting z Exhibition which
Was Witnessed Ia London

A large and distinguished company
OF Euglishmen assembled in the botani-
cal theater OF University College Lon
don. recently. 10 witness the unrolling
OF mummy from Upper Egypt This
mummy, the London Times SAYS. has
for about half century occupied a
place in the college museum, bur it is
not known how il came into the possess
sion of the authorities. 1t was at length
decided To unroll it. and Mr.. +. A
Wallis Budge. NJ A.. of the British
Museum, was requested 10 undertake
the task.
The mummy was placed on a table
on the floor OF the tIieater and loosely
covered with cloth of fine linen OF a
faded purple color. which had formerly
constituted its outer wrapping. Before
proceeding TO perform the operation OF
unrolling the mummy Mr.. Bulge made
some predatory observations on Egyp-
tian mummies generally. He described
the principal methods of preserving the
human body bv mummificafion as three
in number. The first process required
that tie infestines should be extracted
and einbalmed in four pots dedicated
to four gods The body was then
soaked in nairon for seventy days At
the end of that time ii was washed and
then carefully bandaged in hundreds of
yards of linen. By the second process
the intestines were simply dissolved
cut by means OF natron and then mum
mitied- By the third process the body
was merely salted and put into a pit
Sometimes bitumen was used with
other substances to fill the cavity in
the body after the intestines had been
removed
AT the conclusion of his observa-
tions. Mr. Bulge proceeded to unroll
the mummy, which was closely swathed
in scores OF yards of thick. yellowish
linen of fine texture. The bands of
linen varied in width from four or five
inches TO about a foot. Some OF them
were laid lengthwise along the body.
others were wrapped round aud round
1t. At the beginning of the process of
unroiling there was \ very perceptible
sickly smell of aromatics. which, as the
work went on, gave place to a more
pronounced and decidedly disagreeable
odor. When a great part of the linen
had been removed. black stains. caused
by the bitnmen. became apparent, and
J nearer TO the body the wrappiugs had
: suffered considerably from contact with
this substance Two small pieces OF
; linen with fringes were discovered In
bore inscriptions more or less impaired
J by the biiumen-
..When at last the coverings had
been removed the body was found to
be of very dark brown color-so dark.
indeed. as to be almost black The
skin. where il remained was hard and
shiny. the arms and hands lay length
wise upon the abdomen. " lille the heart
and intestines were placed beneath the
knees The features when disclosed
stood out very clearly and were those
of very handsome person. but the sex
could not be determined. Glass eyes
had been placed in the head and there
was linen plug in the ear. Mr.
|, Bulge, at the conclusion of his task.
said that the mummy seemed to belong
TO period about 500 years before
Christ. 1t was filled with bitumen,
and nearly all the flesh was destroyed
in consequence. Parts of the skin re-
mained upon the breast and the bones
were still in fairly good condition. The
intestines. instead OF being put in pots,
as they usually were in the case of per
sons of high birth. were placed beneath
the legs.
1.-The persons could not have been o.
very great importance because there
was neither searabsens nor ring upoT
the finger. The incision on the lef
side was still found, and was one of the
most interesting features in the mum
my. The person appeared 10 have beer
called Bek-Rah or Bek-Ranef. The
: only inscription decipherable was th'
I name of Osiris, folded over the part o
: the stomach dedicated TO that god. anC
r PRAYER for the heart of the deceased
There was another piece of linen bear
5 ing the date, but the year has beel
: obliterated by the bitnmen. From thu
I quality of the linen, its fineness of text
: ure, and the fringes to the inscription
0 the mummy must belong to the bes
n period of Theban mummifying. proba
e bly, the nineteenth dynasty. The in
( scriptions were written in the hierog
| lyphics. The mummy was about tiv
n feet three inches in height. and was tina
of an Egyptian, probably one of tn
: class corresponding to the lower middl
e class of modern times. The body wi
E undergo further examination by scieu
r tific experts"