Mummy

Just as many of the drugs used in ancient Egyptian medicine, even when wholesome and rational, were originally introduced into the pharmacopoeia for purely magical reasons, so the use of natron, salt and resin, all of which are excellent preservatives, was probably first employed in mummification because these sub stances were credited with life-giving or life-preserving properties. Natron was used in the daily ceremonies for the rebirth of the sun-god, the life-giving power of salt was a tradition which sur vived till Classical times (cf. Plutarch, Symposiacs, v. in), and resin was believed to be the blood or some other bodily emanation of Osiris. When therefore the necessity for artificial preservation of the dead first became apparent, it was natural that the attempt to confer or prolong life should have taken the form of applying to the corpse substances which were believed to possess divine or magical potency to that end. Bitumen was not used by the Egyptians for embalming. The staple material in all periods was resin, and the fact that resin often has a lustrous pitch-like ap pearance probably gave rise to the assertion expressed by Strabo (xvi., ii., 45) and repeated by modern writers that the Egyptians used bitumen for their mummies. Modern chemical analysis has failed to discover any trace of bitumen in hundreds of samples of various periods (A. Lucas, Preservative Materials used by the Ancient Egyptians, 1911). Neither Herodotus (ii., 85-88) nor Diodorus Siculus (i., 91), in their well known accounts of Egyptian embalming, makes any reference to bitumen. Their ac counts of mummification are on the whole correct although seriously wrong in certain details.

Mummified Animals.—In relatively late periods the Egyptians mummified various sacred animals. Large quantities of mummi fied cats and dogs have been found, but especially elaborate was the ritual employed in embalming the Apis bulls (Zeitschrift f. jig. Sprache, 1V1., 1920, pp. 1-33), and their tombs and gigantic sarcophagi are familiar to visitors to Egypt. Amongst the birds, the ibis, falcon, owl and others have been found, likewise the preserved remains of various reptiles (especially crocodiles) and of fishes. Joints of meat and trussed poultry were mummified and provided with wooden coffins shaped to fit them. The sys tematic study of the technique of animal mummification has yet to be made.

Geographical Distribution.

Mummification in various forms has had a wide geographical distribution. In some areas, the custom has long been extinct and only tradition remains to attest its former practice, but in others it survived until more recent times, or still persists in a debased form. In studying the technique of mummification in countries from which actual mummies have been obtained, it is interesting to find that many of the arbitrary details of Egyptian procedure are revealed. The examination of specimens from the Canary Islands, for instance, has revealed the fact that the Guanches employed certain methods which are distinctive of the Egyptian technique of the 21st dynasty (see P. 954). They made incisions for packing material under the skin, the sites of these incisions closely corresponding with those of the 21st dynasty Egyptian mummies, and there is a similar distribution of sandy mud in the tissues. In some cases at least, the viscera, which were always removed through a flank incision, were made into parcels and returned to the body. The epidermis was removed from the whole body, but carefully re tained on the fingers and toes, the nails being tied on in the char acteristic Egyptian fashion (Proc. Royal Society of Medicine, xx., PP. 832-842, 851-854, 1927). Again, in the Islands of Torres

Straits, mummification was practised until recent years. The viscera were removed through a flank-incision, or by the perineum, the brain was extracted, the body painted with red-ochre and provided with artificial eyes. The thimbles of skin on the fingers and toes were cut, but they were pulled off, and thus stultified the object for which the Egyptians devised them (Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology, xi., pp. 87-94, 1924). In Australia, mummification has survived in a debased form. The bodies are flexed and are often painted with red-ochre, and in some cases the epidermis is carefully removed from the body even when it is destined for cremation immediately afterwards. In North, Central and South America mummies have been found in various localities but the most numerous are those of the Inca civilization from Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru. It has generally been asserted that the preservation of these Inca mummies is due to natural properties of the soil and climate, and not to artificial measures. Whilst the natural conditions in many localities cer tainly favour preservation, the circumstances in which many of the mummies have been discovered, closely wrapped in dense coverings and tightly corded, show that they must have been arti ficially desiccated before burial. The wrappings prevent contact of the body with the desiccating influence of the soil, and the coverings moreover closely embrace the shrunken contours of the corpse. In many instances mummies have been found which prove to have been eviscerated per anum or by an incision in the trunk, and others again are thickly coated with preservative material. Further, Inca mummies are often painted red, and specimens have been examined in which the epidermis had been removed from the whole body except the fingers and toes. The occurrence of such arbitrary details of Egyptian technique, espe cially as they often serve no useful purpose, in mummies from widely separated countries, supports the hypothesis that mummi fication, of Egyptian origin, spread with various other cultural elements from Egypt. (.lown. Royal Anthropological Inst. lviii., Pt. 1, 1928.) Mummy as a Drug.—The belief that Egyptian mummies were prepared with bitumen or asphalt led to the virtues of that sub stance being transferred to bodies that had been mummified. Throughout the Middle Ages, and until the i8th century, mummies were exported to Europe for sale in the apothecaries' shops, and the material obtained by pounding them was reputed to have great medicinal virtue. In course of time it was forgotten that the supposed value of mummy was due to asphalt, and the virtue was transferred to bodies themselves. This led to the manufac ture of spurious "mummy" from the bodies of felons and suicides, and the term was finally applied to medicated flesh in general. In spite of the denunciation of such eminent physicians as Pare, the traffic in mummy was continued until the i8th century, and the substance is frequently mentioned in the "dispensatories" of the period. In the East, mummy is still sold in the drug-bazaars (Proc. Royal Society of Medicine, xxi., pp. dealing with special points have been cited in the text: for general works see T. J. Pettigrew, History of Egyptian Mummies (1834) G. Elliot Smith, Contribution to the Study of Mummification (1906) ; The Royal Mummies G. Elliot Smith and W. R. Dawson, Egyptian Mummies (1924) ; W. R. Dawson, "Contributions to the History of Mummification," Proceedings Royal Society of Medicine, vol. xx. (1927) "Making a Mummy," Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, vol. xiii. (1927). (W R. D.)