64 TKICIiOLOOIA MAMMALIUM; 



In this respect we are still heathens. What painter, even of the present day, would 

 venture to depict the father of the gods with straight, lank hair? What poet would sing 

 of Phoebus without his long, gold-reflecting locks? We could not understand Venus 

 without her flowing tresses, the only veil to cover her charms. Shall we deprive Isis of 

 her portion of these fully developed integuments, or rob the muses of the name given by 

 Simonides of " Kallikomai ?"* 



Achilles, who is represented as of Divine origin, and who by his beauty and audacity 

 was almost a heathen god, is depicted as having an abundant head of hair ; and when he 

 flies, the wind agitates his brilliant golden locks, the rich curls of which seem to transform 

 the head of the hero into a circle of glory. All these descriptions, although designed for 

 a different purpose, are so many proofs of the antiquity of flawing, curling and conse- 

 quently of oval hair. 



OF EGYPTIAN AND THEBES MUMMY HAIR. To which we will add that our cabinet of 

 pile is enriched with two specimens (a male and female) of Ancient Egyptian Mummy 

 hair, presented by Professor John K. Mitchell, M. D., of this city, and one specimen of 

 Ancient Egyptian Mummy hair, of probably the Roman period, presented by George R. 

 Gliddon, Esq., and another from the temple of Aman, at Thebes, from the same gentle- 

 man, all of which are oval. This last is worthy of being particularly described. 



Examination and Description of the Hair of the head of the Mummy Got-mut-as-anch ; 

 the daughter of Got-har-as-anch, Priest and Scribe of the Sacred Signet in the Temple of 

 Aman, at Thebes, who lived between the 21 st and 26th dynasties, i. e. between the 650 and 

 1,000 before Christ; or about the time of the Babylonian captivity and the time of Solomon, 

 say about 2,700 years ago. This interesting lock of ancient pile contains nineteen hairs, 

 their lengths varying from 2^ to 2 T ^ of an inch. But this length must be considered as 

 artificial, for the anterior extremities of the filaments are all abrupt; showing that her 

 hair had been cut, probably in her lifetime ; for if the length had been the natural one, 

 that termination of some of the filaments would have been pointed. The shape of this 

 hair is oval ; the diameter, | T by ^g of an inch; showing that the lady belonged to the 

 oval-haired species ; color, light brown ; lustre, metallic ; but both the color and the lustre 

 may have been changed by time and the substances used in embalming. This hair has 

 no ductility nor elasticity, and its tenacity is very low, for it breaks with 320 grains !f 

 The fracture is abrupt, the fibres slightly obtruding beyond the cortex. There is not on 

 any hair the slightest appearance of a button, sheath or follicle ; all of which, being less 

 durable than the shaft, having been destroyed by time and the materials used in embalm- 

 ing. The cortex is plainly distinguishable from the fibres, and is in diameter the -JOTT f 

 an inch. The terminations of the fibres are dark colored and appear to occupy the whole 

 interior of the shaft, except a central white spot. Many of the shafts are bent, some of 

 them fractured, but none are furcated. 



* Beautiful locks. 



t A sound hair of that diameter would have stretched i of its length, and sustained some 800 grains. 



