NOTICES OF BOOKS AND MEMOIES. 91 



ON THE VEGETABLE EEMAINS IN THE EGYPTIAN 



MUSEUM AT BEELIN. 



By Alexandek Braun. 



Edited from the Author's MSS. by P. Ascherson and P. Magnus. 



(/ Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic,' ix., 1877). 



(Concluded from p. 62.) 



[In order to finish all together the plants jpreserved in the 

 Egyptian Museum, we may mention No. 1596 of the Passalacqua 

 collection,* which is not spoken of by Kunth, and does not occur 

 in the notes left by A. Braun. This object consists for the most 

 part of remains of grass-like leaves repeatedly bound together and 

 mostly broken, in examining which three small bulbs, about 

 0-008 m. long and 0-004 m. broad were found, which, confirmed 

 by the microscopic examination of the leaves, were the means of 

 the determination of the plant as a species of Allium. Towards 

 recognising the species, the small specimens in question gave no 

 sure data. Nor was Prof. Irmisch of Sondershausen, the highest 

 authority on bulb and tuber-bearing plants, able to give a decided 

 judgment in regard to the species. 



The predilection of the ancient Egyptians for species of Allixun 

 is repeatedly certified. Apart from the numerous figures of bulbs 

 on the monuments,! and the statements of Eoman writers about 

 the rehgious worship of this x^lant (according to information 

 received from Lepsius, not yet confirmed by old Egyptian text) 

 which was invoked in swearing,]; it will suf&ce to recall the 

 passage already cited, Numbers, chap, xi., vers. 5, in which three 

 species oi Alliwn are mentioned, of which two are called in modern 

 Arabic by. the names occurring in the Hebrew text. Only the 

 leek, Allium Porrum, Li. (Greek Tr^da-ov, Hebrew chdtzir), is called 

 differently korrat in Ai'abic ; while the onion, Allium Cepa, L. 

 (Greek k^oi^ixvov, Hebrew hetzel, Arabic hacal), and the garlic. Allium 

 sativum, L. (Greek a-yJ^o^ov, Hebrew schinn, Arabic turn), have not 

 altered then- nomenclature in the South Semitic languages. 

 Another well-known literary testimony to the extensive use of 

 species of Allium in ancient Egypt is the account of Herodotus, § 

 that in the building of the pyramid of Cheops radishes, onions 

 and garlic to the value of 1600 silver talents were consumed by 

 the workers. The modern Egyptians do not depart in this 

 respect from the predilection of their forefathers, although Unger|| 

 has made the declaration (difficult to prove) that garlic and onions 

 are now cultivated far less than in times of antiquity. Onions are 

 cultivated in the greatest abundance in modern Egypt [an exact 

 description of their cultivation is given by Figarili] ; they are to 



♦ ' Comp. Sitzungsber. der Ges.naturf. Freunde Berlin,' 15 Mai, 1877, p. 157. 



+ Unger, l. c, xxxviii. 23, Figs. 22-24. 



+ • Hehn, Cultur pflanzen und Hausthiere,' ii Aufl., p. 109. 



§ Lib. ii., cap. 125. 



II L. c, xxiriii. 28, p. 108. 



^ ' Stud, scient. sull' Egitto,' torn, ii., pp. 140, 141. 



