362 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



On the supposed Mummy Wheat. 



Before concluding this article, I think it pertinent to 

 say that no grain taken from an ancient Egyptian 

 sarcophagus and sown by horticulturists has ever been 

 known to germinate. It is not that the thing is impos- 

 sible, for grains are all the better preserved that they are 

 protected from the air and from variations of temperature 

 or humidity, and certainly these conditions are fulfilled 

 by Egyptian monuments ; but, as a matter of fact, the 

 attempts at raising wheat from these ancient seeds have 

 not been successful. The experiment which has been 

 most talked of is that of the Count of Sternberg, at 

 Prague. 1 He had received the grains from a trustworthy 

 traveller, who assured him they were taken from a 

 sarcophagus. Two of these seeds germinated, it is said , 

 but I have ascertained that in Germany well-informed 

 persons believe there is some imposture, either on the 

 part of the Arabs, who sometimes slip modern seeds into 

 the tombs (even maize, an American plant), or on that of 

 the employes of the Count of Sternberg. The grain 

 known in commerce as mummy wheat has never had 

 any proof of antiquity of origin. 



Spelt and Allied Varieties or Species. 2 



Louis Vilmorin, 3 in imitation of Seringe's excellent 

 work on cereals, 4 has grouped together those wheats 

 whose seeds when ripe are closely contained in their 

 envelope or husk, necessitating a special operation to 

 free them from it, a character rather agricultural than 

 botanical. He then enumerates the forms of these wheats 

 under three names, which correspond to as many species 

 of most botanists. 



1. Spelt Triticum spelta, Linnseus. 



Spelt is now hardly cultivated out of south Germany 

 and German-Switzerland. This was not the case formerly. 

 The descriptions of cereals by Greek authors are so brief 



1 Journal, Flora, 1835, p. 4. 



2 See the plates of Metzger and Host, in the works previously quoted. 



3 Essai d'un Catal. Method, des Froments, Paris, 1850. 



4 Seringe, Monogr. des C6r6. de la Suisse, in 8vo, Berne, 1818. 



