1S21 .] Nature of the Pigment from the Tomb ofPmmmis. 389 



AilTICLE VII. 



On the Nature of the Pigment in the Hieroglyphics on the Sarco- 

 phagus, from 'the Tomb of Psamirus. By J. G. Children, Esq. 

 FR§. &c. &c. 



(To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) 



DEAR SIR, 

 The celebrated sarcophagus, discovered by M. Belzoni, in 

 the, so called, Tomb of'Psammis, is covered within and without 

 with hieroglyphics, cut into the stone about l-16th of an inch 

 deep. The material of which this interesting monument of 

 ancient sepulchral splendour is formed, is an immense block of 

 white, translucent, carbonate of lime, of the variety, according to 

 Dr. Clarke, called arragonite. The hieroglyphic figures are filled 

 up with a pigment,* which, at present, is superficially almost 

 black, but, when reduced to powder, has a dirty olive-green 

 colour. Several of the figures are wholly without the pigment, 

 and from many of the resUt has been partly detached, in some of 

 which, the remaining portion exhibits a light-blue colour, mixed 

 with the olive. In the following experiments, I was confined to 

 the use of so very small a quantity, that I cannot undertake to 

 give the relative proportions of the several ingredients of the pig- 

 ment ; but I hope they will, nevertheless, be sufficient to prove 

 its composition and original aspect. 



The pigment fused before the blowpipe, without addition, into 

 an almost black slag. 



It was easily pulverised, and when heated in a glass tube, a 

 dark-coloured oily Euid distilled over, and a large quantity of 

 dense, brown vapours, at intervals inflammable, was evolved . By 

 this process, it lost about 10 per cent, of its weight, and left a 

 black residuum in the tube. 



The residuum was but little acted on by digestion in moderately 

 diluted muriatic or nitric acid (or in a mixture of the two), 

 which occasioned only a slight effervescence, and took up about 

 17 per cent, giving a bluish-green solution,, which, on examina- 

 tion, contained copper and lime. (A part, at least, of the 

 latter, may have been derived from the sarcophagus.) 



The portion insoluble in the acids, and which constituted 

 nearly three-fourths of the whole quantity, exhibited, when dry, a 

 beautiful blue colour, not much inferior to the finest ultramarine, 

 but somewhat deepen, and indestructible by a red heat. By fusion 



• Dr. Clarke hi* mentioned this pigment, and stated its nature, in a note to his inte- 

 resting memoir on arragonite, at p. 57 of the present volume of flie Annals of PKihso- 

 //////, which I was not aware of till after this paper was sent to the Editor. I a<n happy 

 » find oor results agree. 



