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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    the other, as is seen pictured on the edge of the coffin in Plate II. Both of these cases had been opened by cut- ting through the cloth opposite the junctures of the cases. This was probably done by the Arabs who discovered them in the catacombs, in order to ascertain if any gold or other valuable reliques were enclosed with the body. This miummy is about five feet long, heavy, and solid to the touch. A single cloth of a yellowish colour enveloped the whole body from head to foot, being confined closely and neatly to the body by a number of transverse bands of a white colour, under which lay the reliques of correspond- ing dark coloured bands, so much decayed as to crumble to atoms on being touched. The dark bands were broader than the white, so as to exhibit their edges and produce an ornamental effect; but the colouring substances had caused them to decay, while the others remained entire. At the feet lay a large heap of beads, composed of green and yel- low porcelain, pai’tly connected by threads, whose decay had caused the network to fall in pieces. A green net- work like this is seen covering the bodies of Osiris, in Plate I., and the winged Isis on the inner case : and there is no doubt it was intended to invest the whole of the body for some religious purpose. As the beads could not be shown in their disconnected state, they have been put toge- ther and placed on the mummy, though not in the original form, but as well as circumstances permitted. Some of the beads are still very firm, others crumble on a slight pressure. In order to examine the state of the body, I cut through the external cloth, where it covered the head, and found a great many turns of bandages about three inches wide, rolled around, to the number of twenty-five thicknesses. The outer cloth and the outer turns of bandage were in fine preservation and of considerable strength. They exhi- bited marks of having been imbued with some glutinous substances, intended to preserve them; and to which is to be attributed the yellow colour. The inner turns were more decayed as they were nearer to the body; those next it were quite rotten, and so closely cemented to the surface as to be separated only by a laborious process. The ce- menting substance is asphaltos, the same in which the body is embalmed. This substance was quite dry, hard, and brittle. Imbedded in it, on the nose, was found a beetle, and near this another small insect, whose character could not be