Description of an Egyptian mummy, presented to the Massachusetts General Hospital : with an account of the operation of embalming, in ancient and modern times / by John C. Warren.

  • Warren, John Collins, 1778-1856.
Date:
[1821]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Description of an Egyptian mummy, presented to the Massachusetts General Hospital : with an account of the operation of embalming, in ancient and modern times / by John C. Warren. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    mies, and in the coffins, the deceased individual is constantly represented in a new and more elevated character, on entering a new state of existence; and is therefore invested with the ornaments and attributes of Osiris if the subject were a male, and of Isis if a female. In this instance she appears with the throne, a form known to be symbolic of the goddess Isis. At the upper part of the coffin, on the inside, above the female figure, are seen a number of hieroglyphics, larger than the rest, and drawn with peculiar distinctness. At the top is the winged globe; below this, a knife or hook, the instru- ment by which the os ethmoides was perforated to extract the brain; next follows a hand, that of the operator or em- balmer; and then a circular figure containing a cross, saicj to be the symbol of Egypt. The circular mark surround- ing the figure of Osiris is that of a serpent beginning and ending in a globe, intended perhaps as symbolic of eter- nity. The outer coffin described above, contains an inner cof- fin of the same form and of smaller size, bearing the princi- pal figures seen on the outer. Instead of the winged globe and hawk, the top and bottom arc ornamented with a figure of Isis with wings widely expanded, as a protecting deity. Some of the hieroglyphics of the outer case are replaced by figures, intended to represent priests, in various attitudes of adoration or supplication. The external surface of the inner coffin is covered on the sides and back with hiero- glyphics of a large size executed with less care than those on the anterior surface. Both of these coffins are composed of sycamore wood, in a state of fine preservation. It is decayed only .where the plaster has been broken; and in such places the decay is limited, the decayed part being reduced to powder, while that which surrounds it is not aftected. Both coffins are covered Avith cloth cemented to them by gum ; the outside of this cloth is coated Avith a fine Avhite plaster, on Avhich all the figures are painted. The colours of the latter are yelloAv, red, blue and green on a white ground; they are Avell preserved and bright, especially those of the inner cof- fin. The bottom of the outer has no coating of cloth, but the Avood bears marks of having been set in a bed of plas- ter, Avhich, of course, sufficiently guarded it. Each of the coffins is dug out of tAVo pieces of solid wood, one for the top, the other for the bottom ; secured together by project- ing pieces of the one received into corresponding cavities of