YOL. LXXXIV.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 401 



short and very thin bodily structure*, and very long shanks. As an ideal of 

 this form, I shall only adduce the painted female figure on the back of the sar- 

 cophagus of Capt. Lethieullier's mummy in the British Museum, which has 

 been engraved by Vertue, and which most strikingly agrees with the unequivocal 

 national form of the Hindoos, which, especially in England, is so often to be 

 seen on Indian paintings. 



The 3d sort of Egyptian configuration is not similar to either of the preceding 

 ones, but seems to partake something of both, which must have been owing to 

 the modifications produced by local circumstances in a foreign climate. This is 

 characterized by a peculiar turgid habit, flabby cheeks, a short chin, large 

 prominent eyes, and rather a plump make in the person -f-. This, as may na- 

 turally be expected, is the structure most frequently to be met with. 



I thought this little digression the less intrusive, as it appears that it may on 

 the one hand prove useful, not only towards illustrating the history of the origin 

 and descent of the nations that were transplanted into Egypt, and have acquired 

 the general denomination of Egyptians, but also for the determination of the 

 different periods of the style of the arts of the ancient Egyptians, concerning 

 which we have as yet very imperfect ideas ; while, on the other hand, it might 

 lead to much accurate information as to matter of fact, many very eminent 

 authors having given the most incongruous representations of the Egyptian 

 national character, such as Winkelmann for instance, who produced a wretched 

 figure of a painted mask, without any character whatever, engraved in Beger's 

 Thesaur. Brandenb. t. 3, p. 402, as one of the most characteristic representa- 

 tions of the form of the ancient Egyptians; and who, as well as several others, 

 will have this form to be similar to that of the Chinese; an assertion which, 

 after having had opportunities to compare 21 living Chinese at Amsterdam, and 

 having since seen in London abundance of ancient Egyptian monuments, espe- 

 cially in the British Museum, and the collections of Mr. Townley, Mr. Knight, 

 and the Marquis of Lansdown, has ever appeared to be incomprehensible. 

 Adopting, as I think it conformable to nature, 5 races of the human species, 

 viz. 1. the Caucasian; 2. the Mongolian ; 3. the Malay; 4. the Ethiopian; 5. 

 the American; I think the Egyptians will find their place between the Caucasian 

 and the Ethiopian, but that they differ from none more than from the Mongo- 

 lian, to which the Chinese belong. 



Thus far concerning the bodies of the Egyptians prepared into mummies. I 

 shall conclude with some observations on the probable meaning and destination 

 of the diminutive mummies, which have given rise to the present inquiry. 

 They certainly are not what they have long, I believe, universally been taken 



* Compare with this Arrian's representation of the Indians, Rer. Indicar. p. 542. — t Compare 

 Achilles Tatius Erotic. 1. 3, p. 177. 



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