88 



KNOWLEDGE. 



March. 1913. 







examined was found in a tomb at Deir-el-Bahari of 

 an estimated date 1500 B.C., and, assuming that the 

 harvest season of that date was a fair one, the berries 

 probably contained some 12 per cent, of moisture 

 when placed beside the dead. At the time of analysis 

 about three thousand four hundred years later, it 

 contained 10-69 per cent, of 

 moisture and, in itspassageacross 

 the sea from the very warm 

 climate of Egypt to the compara- 

 tively moist atmosphere of *s 

 England, it certainly picked up 

 at least the odd 0-69 per cent. 

 The loss of the 2 per cent, 

 of moisture and its vitality- are 

 the only outstanding features 

 which distinguish this most 

 ancient wheat from that of the 

 last season's harvest. The in- 

 crease in acidity and loss of 

 gluten strength, though pro- 

 nounced, are comparatively in- 

 significant and are due to the 

 two main causes. 



In a previous paper* the 

 writer has observed that under 

 good conditions of germination 

 about 35 per cent, of its weight of water is absorbed 

 by the wheat berry, and it is conceivable that with 

 a constant temperature such as is found in the 

 subterranean tombs of the ancient Egyptians life 

 might have been perpetuated within the berries 

 by the continual existence of, 

 say, another ten parts of water 

 in every one hundred parts of 

 the wheat, over that which was 

 actually present, an additional 

 quantity which would not have 

 encouraged germination. 



Under the existing heat and 

 humidity conditions of the tomb 

 the tendency of the wheat 

 was to impart its moisture to 

 the surrounding air, and thus 

 the moisture content of the 

 wheat was reduced below the 

 minimum which was capable 

 of supporting life for even 

 beyond ten years, and the 

 grains may be assumed to 

 have lain for some three 

 thousand four hundred years 

 without the power of repro- 

 ducing their kind. 



It is reasonable, therefore, that the wheats of such 

 recent dates as 1852, 1853 and 1854 should show 

 but little variation in chemical composition over their 

 kind of last year's harvest. Indeed there are not 



Figure 88. 

 Flour obtained from the Mummv Wheat. 



Figure 89. 

 Flour obtained from Rivet Wheat. 



sufficient chemical differences between all the 

 samples of wheat analysed to show that the loss of 

 that potent factor, Life, has taken place, nor even do 

 the analyses show more divergent results than would 

 be obtained from modern wheats of different 

 varieties. 



The experiments of Car- 

 ruthers, already referred to, 

 » have for ever buried the alluring 



possibility of genuine Mummy 

 Wheat reproducing its kind or 

 even of a ten-year-old wheat 

 from presuming to emulate the 

 efforts of a new born ; but it is 

 probable that under the correct 

 conditions which it is hoped 

 will be found when the result of 

 the experiments on hand are 

 completed, and which, after all, 

 are nothing more than rational, 

 the vitality of wheat will be 

 extended and the natural pro- 

 cess of decay arrested till it is 

 conceivable that dormant life 

 may be prolonged beyond even 

 the three thousand years which 

 have passed over the head of 

 the Mummy Wheat now under examination and 

 of its accompanying and honoured dead, who by 

 this time is, according to Egyptian belief, again 

 the proud possessor of a soul, though probably 

 exhibited under a glass case to the vulgar gaze 

 of an inquisitive and un- 

 believing public. 



Previous Attempts to 



Germinate Seeds of 



Ancient Origin. 



It has already been pointed 

 out that in different seeds the 

 duration of vitality is very 

 variable. Thus it is quite 

 well authenticated that the 

 seeds of the Nelumbo (water 

 lily) have sprouted after having 

 been kept dry in a herbarium 

 or museum for one hundred 

 and fifty years, whilst on 

 the other hand the seeds of 

 wheat have been shown by 

 Carruthers in a paper already 

 mentioned to have lost their 

 vitality at the end of ten years when kept dry under 

 normal conditions. Even among one class, such as 

 the cereals, the duration of vitality in the seeds is 

 very variable, as will be seen by Table 16 taken 

 from Carruthers' paper : — 



■'VII. Intcrnat, Cong. App. Client., 1909, and Milling, March 18th, 1911. 



