210 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



dead bodies by the methods given by Herodotus or Diodorus Siculus, 

 and although we need not doubt that the ceremonial which they de- 

 scribe was adhered to by the embalmers, to invest their performances 

 with the air of sacred mystery, we must undoubtedly look for some- 

 thing additional as the essential part of the preserving process. It ap- 

 pears that all the substances found within mummies are of a resinous 

 nature, but that their" mere introduction into the great cavities of the 

 body, along with external lotions of wine, would answer the purpose of 

 embalming, is contrary to fact. Nearly, if not all, the mummies have 

 their muscular tissue impregnated with resinous matter. Most are also 

 blackened and burned, and in some the tissues have been reduced to 

 ashes. The inner bandages are generally in a state resembling tinder. 

 It seems absurd to suppose that the application of heat was made from 

 wanton mischief, or as a superfluous part of the process. Dr. Cor- 

 mack therefore concludes, that, as this application of heat was never 

 omitted, it must have been intentional, and that by means of it the body 

 became impregnated with creosote, derived from the decomposition of 

 the bitumen and bandages with which it was previously covered. The 

 property of this substance, discovered by Reichenbach in 1830, to pre- 

 serve flesh, he supposes to have been known to the Egyptian embalm- 

 ers, and in fact to have been the secret of their art. The giving of 

 sufficient heat to effect the decomposition of the tarry matter, and no 

 more, must have been exceedingly difficult, and therefore it is that near- 

 ly all the bodies appear to have suffered by the excess of heat applied. 



COCHINEAL. 



WITHIN a comparatively few years, the culture and growth of the 

 cochineal insect has been introduced, and so successfully carried out in 

 various parts of the Old World, that the quantity yearly produced now 

 rivals the whole amount obtained from Central America, the source 

 from which all foreign supplies were first obtained. In 1831 the cul- 

 ture of the cochineal was commenced in the Canary Islands, and the 

 first crop consisted of only 8 pounds ; in 1832, it was 120 pounds ; in 

 1833, it had risen to 1,319 ; and in 1849, we learn by a late official doc- 

 ument, the enormous quantity of 800,000 pounds was exported from 

 these Islands, the greater part of which was sent to England and France. 

 In 1845, the quantity of cochineal produced in Java, under the patron- 

 age of the Dutch government, amounted to 45, 000 pounds. Under the 

 auspices of the French government, plantations have been commenced 

 in Algeria, which promise to succeed admirably. Some specimens al- 

 ready exported have been pronounced to be superior to the finest qual- 

 ities from Mexico. Soils unfit for the cultivation of the vine, or potato, 

 readily support the cactus, on which the cochineal insect feeds, while 

 the insect can be more readily raised than the silkworm, and with less 

 chance of loss. Journal de Chimie. 



ADULTERATION OF VERMILION. 



THE following analyses of samples of vermilion procured in the Bos- 



