MUMMIFICATION. It is thought by Professor Elliot Smith that the art of mummification, as practised in ancient Egypt, was mainly responsible for prompting the earliest great maritime expeditions of which the history has been preserved, and even supplied the foundation on which the knowledge of anatomy and the science of medicine has been built up. The practice of course had great religious significance, the object being to preserve the body of the deceased for a continued existence, not merely the corpse, but the body with its tissues. The Egyptian embalmer at the outset was eager (1) to pre serve the actual tissues of the body with as little dis turbance of its superficial appearance as possible, and (2) to preserve a likeness of the deceased as he existed in life. The first attempts to reproduce the features of the deceased were made upon the wrapped mummy itself. " In the earliest known (Second Dynasty) examples of Egyptian attempts at mummification the corpse was swathed in a large series of bandages, which were moulded into shape to represent the form of the body. In a later (probably Fifth Dynasty) mummy, found in 1892 by Professor Flinders Petrie at Medflm, the superficial bandages had been impregnated with a resinous paste, which while still plastic was moulded into the form of the body, special care being bestowed upon the modelling of the face and the organs of reproduction, so as to leave no room for doubt as to the identity and the sex " (G. Elliot Smith, Dr.. p. 16). In two cases the head, and not the whole body was covered with a layer of stucco. In the Pyramid Age a new procedure seems to have been devised—the making of a death-mask. The custom also arose of making a life-size portrait statue of the dead man's head (" reserve heads ") and placing it in the burial chamber with the actual body. Then, in the Old Kingdom, a life-like stone statue of the deceased was made to represent him. The original idea of restoring the form of the mummy itself, however, was never abandoned, for even in the New Empire and in Roman times the wrapped mummy was sometimes model-led into the form of a statue. To convey to the statue the breath of life, as well as the vitalising fluids, the odour, and the sweat of the living body, certain cere monies were performed. The physiological functions of the heart (the seat of knowledge and feeling) were stimu lated by offerings of blood. Water being regarded as a fertilizing and vitalizing power, libations of water were made to restore to the body its vital fluids. Thus it happened that when in course of time gods came to be represented by statues, libations were regarded as an act of worship, and water became an essential part of any act of ritual rebirth. To give to the body the warmth,
the sweat, and the odour of life, incense was burned before the corpse or statue. Later this custom of burn ing incense, like the custom of pouring out libations. came to be regarded purely and simply as a religious act of homage to a god. But the most important incident in the ritual of reanimating the mummy or the statue was the ceremony of imparting to it the breath of life by the "opening of the mouth." If the heart was the seat of knowledge and feeling, the breath of life was still re garded as necessary to set the heart working. Thus, " the ceremony of opening the mouth,' which aimed at achieving the restoration of the breath of life, was the principal part of the ritual procedure before the statue or mummy " (Elliot Smith. op. cit.. p. 43). Great im portance was attached also to the painting of eyes on the wrapped mummy or on the statue. The eyes were regarded as one of the chief sources of vitality (cp. the article EYES). At first the Egyptians buried their bodies in the sand. Later on, they constructed coffins of wood and stone, and placed them in subterranean chambers. These chambers in which the body was housed developed into dwellings with many rooms. " But when the statue took over the function of representing the deceased, a dwelling was provided for it above ground. This developed into the temple where the relatives and friends of the dead came and made the offerings of food which were regarded as essential for the maintenance of existence " (op. cit., p. 22). Recent archeological re search has shown that " the early Egyptian Christians were mummified clear up to the Arab conquest, and used the old Egyptian forms connected with the burial rites to enforce their new doctrine" (Camden M. Cobern). It should be noted, in conclusion, that the practice of mummification has not been confined to Egypt. As Hart land says (Hastings' Encyci., iv., p. 41S), it is widely practised. It has been found more or less throughout the west of Africa and elsewhere. For instance, the Macleay Museum in the University of Sydney contains a mummy from Torres Straits, and the Anatomical Museum in the University of Manchester four Peruvian mummies. The Incas practised embalming not only for their kings, chiefs and priests, but also for the popula tion in general. See G. Elliot Smith. op. cit.: also A.E., 19L1: Migrations, 1915; A. M. Blackman, "The Signifi cance of Incense and Libations in Funerary and Temple Ritual," in the Zeitschrift fiiv Agyptische Sprache and Altertumskunde, Bd. 50, 1912.