iig4 I'HILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1794. 



found in the British Museum no less than 3 such diminutive mummies, which 

 were now to me become enigmatical, (viz. 2 in the Hamiltonian collection of an- 

 tiquities, both contained in the same kind of square wooden coffins, clinched 

 with iron nails, and the 3d in the Sloanian collection), T felt an irresistible impulse 

 to apply to the President of the r. s., as 1 of the curators of the Museum, for 

 his interference towards obtaining permission to open one of these 3, in order to 

 have an opportunity for some further comparison. The result of this application 

 was, that at the very next meeting of the curators leave was granted me, in the 

 most liberal manner, not only to open 1 of these little mummies, but also to 

 choose among the 4 large ones that are in that noble repository, the 1 that 

 should appear to me the most likely to afford some material information on the 

 subject. I chose among the small ones the Sloanian, as it seemed to differ more 

 than the 1 in the Hamiltonian collection, from either that of Dr. Garthshore or 

 Dr. Lettsom. The 4 large mummies resembled in the main the 1 deposited in 

 the academical museum of Gottingen, which I examined in the summer of the 

 year 1781. I selected however the 1 that appeared to differ most from the others, 

 and from ours, by the very close adhesion of the bandages, from which I had 

 reason to expect some difference in the interior preparation of it. 



Feb. 18 was appointed for the opening of these 2 mummies at the Museum, 

 in the presence of a numerous and respectable meeting. The small mummy 

 was externally very similar to those I had opened before, except that it was only 

 11-^V inches in length, and 8-V inches round the breast, somewhat more com- 

 pact in the handling, and, proportionably to its size, rather heavier. On sawing 

 it open, a resinous smell was immediately emitted, and glutinous particles of rosin 

 adhered to the heated saw. This was owing to the cotton bandages having been 

 from without impregnated with rosin, which was not the case with the two former 

 ones. On opening it completely, we found in the inside a human os humeri, 

 being part of the mummy of a young person, perhaps eight years old, who had 

 been embalmed with rosin ; and with it were also found some shreds of the ori- 

 ginal integuments likewise impregnated with rosin. The upper end (caput) of 

 the bone was inserted in the head, and the lower extremity was at the feet of the 

 little figure. Though when viewed externally nothing appeared suspicious in 

 this little mummy, I found however, on examining carefully the successive inte- 

 guments, that the outward ones had some traces of our common lint paper, with 

 which it seemed to have been restored, and afterwards painted over. 



The large mummy I was permitted to examine, appeared by its stature to be 

 that of a young person, not above 14 years old, but who had not, it seemed, as 

 yet shed all his teeth. Its outward painted integuments were very similar to 

 those of the Gottingen mummy, as it is figured in the 4th vol. of the Comment. 

 Soc. Scient. The bandages about the head were in a manner caked together by 



