March-April, 19U5 



CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN 



Page 7 



A LEAFLET ON MUMMIES 

 PUBLISHED BY MUSEUM 



Of all the exhibits at the Chicago Natural 

 History Museum, through all the years 

 since it was founded in 1893 (as Field 

 Museum), the most fascinating to the 

 public — adults and children alike — have 

 been the ancient Egyptian mummies. 



This statement is agreed to not only by 

 members of the Department of Anthro- 

 pology in whose charge the mummies fall, 

 but by the other Departments, Zoology, 

 Botany and Geology, each of which has 

 striven to present the most interesting sub- 

 jects possible in its own fields. 



Further, it is agreed to not only by the 

 curators and others on the scientific staff. 



ma 



MUMMY'S SOUL RETURNS 



Illustration in Mr. Martin's book, after a carving of the 



4th Century B.C. The soul is a human.headed bird. 



Under the leonine couch are the foiur traditional Canopic 



jats, for the viscera. 



but by guards and door attendants who 

 endlessly are called upon to answer the 

 questions of a million and a quarter visitors 

 a year, and who report that the most fre- 

 quently asked question is: "Where are the 

 mummies?" and the next most frequently 

 asked are queries about how old the mum- 

 mies are, where they came from, how the 

 Museum acquired them, how they were 

 preserved, and so on. 



At long last, the Museum Press has 

 published an illustrated leaflet which antici- 

 pates the usual questions about mummies, 

 and answers them with all the essential 

 information, in layman's language and with 

 drawings, photographs, and color plate. 



The text, and the drawings, are both the 

 work of Mr. Richard A. Martin, the 

 Museum's Curator of Near Eastern Archae- 

 ology. The leaflet, in striking pastel- 

 colored covers of Egyptian design, is offered 

 at approximately cost of production*. 



It contains 18 pages of text, a color plate 

 of one of the Museum's most spectacular 

 mummies (a woman named Tinto who 

 lived in the 9th Century), 11 of Mr. Martin's 

 drawings illustrating phases of Egyptian 

 life as well as mummification, based on 

 originals in ancient painting and sculpture; 

 and half-tone plates of the interior of the 

 famous tomb of Tutankhamun, various 



other tombs, sarcophagi, mummies, animal 

 mummies, and X-rays of mummies; and a 

 cross section diagram of the interior of the 

 Great Pyramid. 



In his description of the various steps 

 involved in mummification, Mr. Martin 

 makes the interesting comment that "the 

 preservation of the body itself was accom- 

 plished in a manner somewhat similar to that 

 of drying fish," whereupon he supplies the 

 details. He also gives an outline of the 

 Egyptian belief in an invisible corporeal 

 "twin" known as "ka," supposed to have 

 been born with each person. 



*25 cents. 



SPRING MOVIES FOR CHILDREN 

 —RAYMOND FOUNDATION 



Nine free programs of motion pictures for 

 children will be presented in the annual 

 spring series of the James Nelson and Anna 

 Louise Raymond Foundation for Public 

 School and Children's Lectures on Saturday 

 mornings during March and April. These 

 programs, to which children from all parts 

 of Chicago and suburbs are invited, will be 

 presented twice each Saturday, at 10 a.m. 

 and at 11, in the James Simpson Theatre of 

 the Museum. 



On two of the programs — April 7 and 

 April 21 — there will be "in person" appear- 

 ances of men connected with the films. 

 Mr. Leon Smith, trainer of chimpanzees at 

 the St. Louis Zoo, together with Suki, a 

 Great Dane dog which was raised with the 

 chimps, will appear, with "Chimpanzee 

 Circus" on the first of these dates. "Jaunt 

 for Juniors" on April 21 will be accompanied 

 by a lecture presented by Mr. Bert Harwell, 

 of the National Audubon Society, who will 

 interpret the natural color motion pictures 

 of birds, animals and flowers, and will give 

 some of the bird calls. 



Following is the schedule: 



March 3 — The Amazon Awakens. 

 A Wall Disney picture inUrpreting the 



Amazon region in South America. 

 And a cartoon. 



March 10— ITCHY SCRATCHY. 

 story of a pet bear in the north woods. 

 Also a film on animal babies and a cartoon. 



March 17— South of the Border with 

 Walt Disney. 

 A color pictorial record of Walt Disney in 



South America as the picture "Saludos 



Amigos" was being made. 

 And a cartoon. 



March 24— Here is China. 

 A recent picture of life in China. Picture 

 shows life just before the Japanese 

 invasion and the migration of the Chinese 

 people westward after the invasion. It 

 shows how the Chinese people have 

 adapted themselves to a new way of life. 



"THE DESCRIPTION OF EGYPT" 

 ADDED TO LIBRARY 



The accession of the great French work 

 Description de I'Egypte, comprising ten 

 folio volumes of text and an atlas of thirteen 

 large folio volumes, forms one of the most 

 notable recent additions to the Museum 

 Library. 



When the young First Republic sent an 

 expeditionary force to Egypt under Napo- 

 leon, a by-product of scientific exploration 

 was envisaged, and a corps of scientists was 

 included. Their aims seem to have been 

 on the level of pure science rather than on 

 the "geopolitical" exploitation of the coun- 

 try. As a result, their work affords source 

 material to the historian, archaeologist, 

 geologist, botanist, and zoologist. 



The publication of this great work in a 

 uniform style, with the reports of various 

 specialists in so many fields of knowledge, 

 to a large extent set the style of the reports 

 of the great exploratory expeditions of the 

 19th century. The planned survey of a 

 region also set a most significant example. 

 One may think of the remarkable and per- 

 haps conscious parallel of the Mission 

 Scientifique au Mexique, which accompanied 

 the seizure of Mexico under the instigation 

 of another Napoleon. — K. P. S. 



New Technical Publications 

 from the Museum Press 



The following technical publications have 

 been issued by the Chicago Natural History 

 Museum Press since the appearance of the 

 last Bulletin: 



Zoological Series, Vol. 29, No. 15. New 

 Norlh American Fleas. By Robert Traub. 

 December 20, 1944. 10 pages. $ .10. 



Anthropological Series, Vol. 33, No. 3. 

 The Florida Seminole Camp. By Alexander 

 Spoehr. December 25, 1944. 5 plates and 

 8 text figures. $ .50. 



March 31 — Adventures of Chico. 



The story of a little Mexican boy. (Re- 

 peated by request). 



April 7— Chimpanzee Circus. 



A color motion picture accompanied in 

 person by Mr. Leon Smith, trainer of 

 the chimps in the St. Louis Zoo and Suki, 

 the Great Dane dog raised with the chimps. 

 Suki unll perform for the children. 



April 14 — Wedding of Palo. 

 Picture of Eskimo life in Greenland played 

 by an all-native cast. 



April 21— Jaunt for Juniors. 



Mr. Bert Harwell of the Atidubon Society, 

 unll interpret the color motion pictures 

 of birds, animals and flowers, arid give 

 some of the bird calls. 



April 28 — An All-Cartoon Program. 



