The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1908-10-23
The BONES OF
MUMMIES ARE
Used For Paint---TOO EXpen-
Sive for Barns.
An Invention Used by Artists
More Than 1000
Years Ago.

I
ricn brown hue, made by grinding
the bones of mummies together with
bitumen, with which the mummies
We're embalmed. This may trutnfully
world. In the first place, IL is prac-
tically permanent as wei as being
very ricn in co-or. IL is principally
used by portrait painters, says the
Brooklyn Eagle, in depicting brown
hair. Many portraits tnat now adOrn
the mansions of the rich nave receiv-
ed touches of this valuable, pigment,
procured from mummies that were
reverently placed in their tombs three
or fouf Thousand years ago by the
Egyptians.
the paint has received no small
amount of attention of latel by reason
of the fact that it is lielky 10 become
very scarce. AT present IL may be
obtained from the Leading shops in
small tubes at varying prices, when
are constantly increasing, inasmuch as
the supply of munlmes is all the time
decreasing. True, there are num-
Der of mummies still 10 be found in
the land of the Pharaoh, but the
beautiful brown paint that artists love
so well can only be made from those
bodies preserved 1000 10 5000 years
ago, when the art of embalming WAS
carried to is highest.
When a body was embalmed it was,
after other processes, coated with btu
men and subjected TO a moderate neat.
This neat combined with the great
age of the bitumen, $500 TO 5000
years, has produced substance which
is undoubtedly far superior to the mod
ern article Of commerce, q fact
clearly recognized by the leading
painters OF the day.
The Egyptians preserved the body
by inclosing 1t is an inner and outer
cedar shell, and the inner one nigaly
ornamented. The higher the rank OF
the person the greater the ornamen-
tation. Indeed, it Is quite Possible 10
read from the figures and signs on
these coverings who and what the in
closed was, and the positions re held.
The body proper wes wrapped With
hundreds of yards of bandages about
three yards long and five inches vide.
Before tue corpse was bound mp
various processes were gone through.
The body was then. soaedk in bilu-
men, bound up in its multiWdious
wrsppngs and placed in The smell.
This method of embalming human
bodies WAS in vogue in Egypt 1000
years B. C. In literature is tnat OF the
patriarcR Jacob, while We read OF the
body Of Joseph being thus prepared
and transported out of Egypt Some
idea of the extent to which the art
was practiced by the ancient Egypti-
ans may be gagged fnom the fact tnat
l.. the case of wealthy and notable
rersonage two or three mouths was
occupied in the wor k.
So effectual were these processes
that after 1000 and 5000 years the
sLles of the feet are still elastic and
soft to the touch. 1t mas been COM
puted tnst since the practice was in
stituted in 1000 b. c., down to to- A.
ID. When it practically ceased probabl
as many as 730 100000 bodies were elm
balmed in Egypt of which many mil
lions are yet concealed. The art deri-
we'd its origin from the idea tnatI
the preservation of the body was ne
cessary for the return Of the soul In
the human form after IL mad COM
pleted its cyc,e of existence of 1900
to 10000 years.
A mummy varies very much in price
You might pick up one for $25 or
you might nave TO pay as high az $50
for one. They are getting dearer al
the time, inasmuch as their exporta-
ton is prohibited by the Egyptian
government; and to obtain them IL S
necessary ao' procure them from a
dealer.
Capt William Iethicullier is said to
have brought the first Egyptian mum
my to England in the year 1922.
A wlel-known authority declares tha
one mummy yields material that vii
form the basis Of pigment In quanti-
ty sufficient to last four or five years.
As the supply of high-class mummies
is now very limited. there is likely
to be a shortage In the near future,
and accordingly it would appear rnat
before long pictures and portraits
adorned with the genuine mummy
pigment will be an expensive luxury.
The Horse that Pulls on His Bit.
1t is claimed by one who has tried