404 Notes on Egyptian Antiquities. 



General Remarks. 



No. 1 is preserved in a manner very different from the others, 

 and in what appears to be the oldest style of embalming. N< 

 bitumen has been used, and the preparatory process has evidently 

 effected the removal rather than the preservation of the more 

 perishable tissues, a result which corresponds very well with the 

 probable results of an alkaline steep like natron, but does not 

 accord with the usual statements of the effect of the process.* 

 The others are prepared in the more usual manner, — with the 

 aid of bitumen, and without the external layer of spices. 



The heads of No. 1 and 2 are finely formed, and of the Euro- 

 pean type. No. 3 is a characteristic elongated African head, and 

 No. 4 is short, and with prominent cheek-bones, tending to a 

 Scythian or American conformation. These differences however 

 are within the limits of those that occur in our own and other 

 modern civilized races. j. w, D. 



Note on the Pharonic Lichen, by Prof. Tuckerman, in a letter 



to one of the Editors : — 

 " Evernia fcrfuracea (L.) Mann. — Borrera, Ach. Lichenogr.; Parmelia, 

 Ach. Meth. ; Lichen furfuraceus, L. and Authors. 

 " Inhabits Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. The nearly-allied E. 

 prunastri (L.) Ach. is said to have " a peculiar power of imbibing and 

 retaining odours," and to be "in some request as an ingredient in sweet 

 pots, and ladies' sachets." (Lindley, Fl. Med., p. 628.) It is likely the 

 Egyptians found, or fancied that the present species would do as well ; 

 or perhaps they did not distinguish the two. Many now living lichens 

 are probably of great age ; but this is the oldest (so far as my know- 

 ledge goes) that we have any data about. The specimens would have 

 lasted, so far as appears, almost indefinitely, if undisturbed and left in 

 Egypt. It should be added that medical writers attribute the same 

 value to E.furfuracea that they do to E. jyrunastri, and the plants are 

 very likely identical in this respect." 



Under the synonym Physica furfuracea, Dr. W. L. Lindsay 

 thus speaks of our lichen : \ 



11 It is found abundantly on the Himalayas and in many other parts of 

 the world. From containing a considerable quantity of bitter principle, 

 it has been used as a febrifuge instead of cinchona-bark or quinine. 

 "We have found it yield on ammoniacal maceration a red dye. The 



* Herodotus however appears to have been aware of this effect. — B. II., ch. 87. 



t Popular History of British Lichens, by W. Lauder Lindsay, .M.D London, 1856, 

 Lovcll Reeve, 1 vol. 16mo., pp. 352, with 22 col. plates, price 7s. Cd. An excellent 

 Jittle treatise, one of the best of a valuable series, which we take this opportunity 

 of commending to our readers. 



