272 Zoological Proceedings of Societies. 



Art. XXX. Proceedings of Learned Societies on 

 subjects connected with Zoology. 



ROYAL SOCIETY. 



April 28. — The reading of Dr. Granville's Monograph on 

 Egyptian Mummies^ with Observations on the Jrt of Embalm' 

 ing among the Ancient Egyptians^ was resumed and concluded. 



The principal object of this paper was to describe a Mummy 

 purchased at Gouruou, in Upper Egypt, and presented to the 

 author by Sir A. Edmonstone, Bart. It was in a single case, of the 

 usual form, and covered with cere-cloth and bandages very neatly 

 and dexterously applied, exhibiting almost every bandage and com- 

 press employed in modern surgery, and among which both cotton 

 and linen were recognized : — these, to the amount of 281bs avoir- 

 dupois in weight, having been removed, the body proved to be that 

 of a female. The abdominal integuments were remarkably 

 wrinkled, and the whole surface was of a dark brown colour and 

 dry, but in many places soft to the touch, and with the exception 

 of a few parts, entirely deprived of cuticle. The height of the 

 Mummy, from the vertex of the head to the inferior surface of the 

 calcaneum was five feet -J^ of an inch, and the principal dimen- 

 sions of several parts correspond with those which are usually 

 considered as giving rise to the utmost perfection of the female 

 form in the European race ; thus these dimensions are precisely 

 thdse assigned by Camper and Winkelmann to that celebrated 

 statue the Medicean Venus ; and no trait of Ethiopian character 

 was discernible in the form of the cranium: all which, Dr. Gran- 

 ville observed, supports Cuvier's opinion respecting the Caucasian 

 origin of the Egyptians. 



Dr. Granville then proceeded to a brief summary of the pre- 

 sent state of our information respecting Egyptian Mummies, at- 

 tributing its scantiness and imperfection to the rarity of perfect 

 specimens, nearly all the mummies hitherto described presenting 

 little else than imperfect skeletons, sometimes covered by the 

 dry skin, enveloped in bandages. 



