THE 



CANADIAN 



MTUMLIST AND GEOLOGIST. 



Vol. IV. DECEMBER, 1859, No. 6. 



ARTICLE XXX. — Notes on Egyptian Antiquities presented to 

 the Natural History Society by Hon. Mr. Ferrier. By a 

 Committee of the Society. 



{Read at Meeting of Oct. 31st.) 



1„ Mummy of a Lady, from Thebes. 



This is the body of an aged female, in excellent preservation and 

 in a highly ornamented case. Her name (fac-similed on a reduced 

 scale in Fig. I.) is written opposite the portrait on the bottom of 

 the coffin, and may have been " AbothloC'." 



The body has been prepared by some process (probably im- 

 mersion in natron) which has had the effect of destroying the 

 muscles, leaving only the fibrous tissues in a dry and spongy con- 

 dition. The body has been disembowelled previous to embalming. 

 The surface, especially of the lower extremities, has been smeared 

 with some oily or resinous varnish, and above this has been 

 spread a thick layer of ground spices, apparently applied as a paste, 

 and most copiously on the face and chest, where this material 

 has been moulded in such a manner as to restore, in some decree, 

 the original form of the muscles. The spices are coarsely but 

 uniformly ground, and, under the microscope, present slender 

 stalks and fragments of the shell of globular seeds or berries, 

 smooth or minutely pitted on the surface. The appearance is 



Canadian Nat. 1 Vol. IV. No. C. 



