Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-02-10
ROYAL MUM MES.
What Has Been Learned by Study OF
a Series of SO.

At the request Of Sir CASTOR MasDe-
re. director of the department OF an
Equities at Cairo. Pref Elliot Smith
has examined series of some 80 NUNS
mics which comprise all that is left OF
the great Pharaohs of ancient Egypt.
their queens and some members of
their households. The nummies are
in the Cairo museum, and Prof Keith
of the ROYAL college If surgeons mu
seum EXPIRE sses the opinion chat never
before was an anatomist called on To
examine and describe such series of
specimens and that it is most mprob-
able that any anatomist will again
have occasion to attempt q similar
task. The ,nummies examined by
Prof. Elliot Smith include that of
King Saqnounri, the last king of the
18th dynasty. about 1000 Z. G., whole
battered skull and wounded body,
showing signs of having been hastily
embalmed bear witness to sudden death
by murder"
Then there are Menephtah. the Pha-
raoh of the Exodus, his father, Rame-
SEES II, his grandfather. the great Set
l., his son, Siphtah. and his grandson,
Seti III. The tomb of Thoutmosis III.
Prof. Elliot Smith awaited himself of
unique opportunity OF studying the
anthrepologieal history of the royal dy-
nasties, and after lapse of more than
% centuries material has been OBJ
tanned with which to form fairly accu-
rate pictures of the appearance of the
Pharaohs. Thus Meneplrtah the Pha-
raoh of the Exodus, was a somewhat
cerpulent man: the hands were placed
4 ~, af
Menephtah was almost completely
bald only narrow fringe of white
hair remaining on the temple. The pro-
cess of embalming had been eminently
successful, the body being well pre-
served, without much distortion. The
general aspect of the face says Prof.
Elliot Smith, recalls that Of Rameses
IT. his father, but the form of the era
mum and the measurements of the
face more nearly agrees with those of
his grandfather, Seti the Great Seti |
and Rameses II exhibit in their cranial
and facial features many alien traits
curiously blended with Egyptian char
acters; but in Menephtah the foreign
element in his composition is more
chtrusively shown than it is in either
his father or his grandfather. He has
tho prominent high bridged nose of his
father but a short and much broader
Uranium than either of his predecessors.
In hight Menephtah is intermediate be-
tween his father and grandfather.
namely five feet seven inches.
In his preface to a eatalog of the Sc
ries which he has prepared. Prof. FL
hot Smith states that he anticipates
the criticism which will naturally arise
in the minds of some-that it is scarce
lv respectful to the memories of the
potent rulers of ancient Egypt to cat
alog all that nov remains of them as
museum exhibits. He asks, however,
those who are inclined to raise this
criticism to remember that Sir Castor
Maspero has rescued the mummies
from a worse fate. Grave robbers, in
search of plumber. brought them to
light nothing would have been left of
them if the scientist had not stepped
in. Each Pharaoh can still tell some
thing of his history; each royal num-
my is, if rightly regarded, historical
document" 1t was during the exami-
ration of the royal series, extending
from the nth to the 21st dynasty, that
Prof. Elliot Smith first recognized the
evolutionary changes which affect the
methods of embalming practiced in an
cient Egypt. He perceived then that
it is possible to recognize the dynasty
TO which a mummy belongs by the
tee;inic employed by the embalmer. In
many cases he was able to set the his
torlan right. The sex and age in some
cases proved Incompatible with the
Identification originally made.-London
Morning Post.