Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1891-01-01
UNROlllNc A MUMMY.
Details of An Interesting Exhibition which
Was witnessed In London.

A large and distinguished company
of Englishmen assembled in the botani-
cal theater of University College, Lon
don, recently, to witness the unrolling
of a mummy from Upper Egypt. This
mummy, the London Times says, 'has
for about half century occupied a
place in the college museum, but it is
not known how it came into the possess
sion of the authorities 1t was ut length
decided to unroll it, and Mr.. +. A.
Wallis Bulge, M. A.. of the British
Museum, was requested to undertake
the task.
THE mummy was placed on table
on the floor of the thcater 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 by mummitication as three
in number. The first process required
that the intestines should be extracted
and embalmed in four pots dedicated
to four gods. The body was then
soaked in natron for seventy days. At
the end of that time il was washed and
then carefully bandaged in hundreds OF
yards of linen. BY the second process
the intestines were simply dissolved
out by means of natron and then num-
milied. BY the third process the body
was merely sailed and put into a pit.
Sometimes bitumen was used with
nj hSta tn hn
the body after the intestines had been
removed.
''At the conclusion of his observa-
tons, Mr.. Bulge proceeded to unroll
the mummy, which was closely swathed
in scores of yards of thick. yellowisk
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 lengthwisc along the body,
others were wrapped roSnd aud round
it. At the beginning of the process of
unrolllng there was very perceptible
sickly smell OF aromatics, which, as the
work went on, gave place to more
pronounced and decidedly disagreeabe
odor. When great part of the linen
had been removed, black stains, caused
by the bitumen, became apparent, and
nearer to the body the wrappings had
suffered considerably from contact with
th'' substance. Two small pieces of
linen with fringes were discovered 10
the course of tho unrolling, and these
bore inscriptions more or less impaired
by the bitumen.
when at last the coverings had
been removed the body was found to
be of avery dark brown color-so dark,
indeed, as to be almost black. The
skin, where it remained, was hard and
shiny. the arms and hands lay length
wise upon the abdomen. while 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 800 years before
Christ. 1t was filled with bitumen,
and nearly all the flesh was destroyed
in consequence. Parts of the skin re-
manned 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.
The persons could not have been of
very great Importance because there
was neither scarabRus nor ring upon
the finger. The incision on the left
side was still found and was one of the
most interesting features in the num-
my. Tbs person appeared TO have been
called Bek-Rah or Bek-Ranef. The
only inscription decipherable was the
name of Osiris, folded over the part OF
the stomach dedicated to that god, and
prayer for the heart of the deceased.
There was another piece of linen bear
ing the date, but the year has been
obliterated by the bitumen. From the
quality of the linen, its fineness of text
ure, and the fringes to the inscriptions
the mummy must belong to the best
period of Theban mummifying, proba-
bly, the nineteenth dynasty. The in
scriptions were written in the hierog-
lyphics. The mummy was about IT,:
feet three inches in height, and was that
of an Egyptian, probably one of the
class corresponding to the lower middle
class of modern times. The body will
undergo further examination by scien-
title EXPERTS