Writings of the late Professor Blumenbach. 231 



and history not only as the foundation of true knowledge, but 

 also as the sources of the purest pleasure. Several years after 

 he wrote on the teeth of the ancient Egyptians and of mum- 

 mies,* an opportunity was afforded him during his stay in 

 London, on the 18th February 1791, of opening six mum- 

 mies^ and a communication addressed to Banks on the re- 

 sults obtained added to his celebrity. Blumenbach took 

 part in the opinion^ given by this Society of Sciences on 

 Sickler's new method of decyphcring the Herculanean manu- 

 scripts. 



He expressed his belief that the syenite of Pliny§ is our 

 granite. He possessed a collection of antique stones for 

 the elucidation of the history of ancient art, and on this 

 account he was often consulted on the decision of different 

 questions, as, for example, the alleged steatite antiques. || He 

 had collected beautiful engravings and paintings illustrative 

 of natural history and the varieties of the human race, and he 

 placed particular value on the representations of animals in the 

 older works and woodcuts ; because the exact point which the 

 art of observation had attained could, by means of these, be well 

 investigated. He also was anxious to become acquainted with 

 the first anatomical woodcuts, and published the results of his 

 inquiries,** as previously they had remained almost entirely 

 neglected. After a careful comparison of the older works of 

 this kind which had become known to him, his decision!! 



* Gutting. Magaz. 1780. Year 1, p. 103-139. 



t Philosophical Transactions, 1794. In the third edition of his Diss, de 

 Generish. Variet. Nat. 1795, he gives his Epistola ad vir perill. Jos. Banks. 

 This subject is fully considered in his Contributions to Natural History, 

 part ii. p. 45-144. 



% Gott. gel. Anz. 1814. No. 200, p. 1993. 



§ Ibid. 1819, p. 1208. Blumenbach treated of the more accurate deter- 

 mination of the stones employed by the ancients, in the second part of the 

 edition of his Natural History published in 1780. 



|| Gott. gel. Anz. 1811. P. 2050. 



% Gott. Magaz. 1781. No. 4, p. 136-156. 



** Baldinger's N. Magazin fiir Aerzte, 1780. Vol. ii. p. 33. 



tt Devcterum artificum anatomical peritiaj laudo limitanda, eclebranda 

 vero eorum in characters gentilitio expriinondo accuratione. The treatise it- 

 self was not printed ; but for an account of its contents sec Gott. gel. Anz. 

 1823. No. 125, p. 1241. 



