108 OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOGRAPHY, 
TWO HEADS OF LUNATICS, FROM THEBES, 
Wood-cut 1. (Cat. 841.) An elongated head, with a very receding forehead, long, 
aquiline nose, and large, ponderous jaws, which project so as to reduce the facial angle to 
about 65°. ‘This person has been embalmed with 
evident care, but with the mouth open, the tongue 
protruded, and the eyelids raised, giving a fright- 
fully vacant expression to the whole countenance, 
and leaving no reasonable doubt that this is the 
head of an idiot. A little hair remains, which 
is remarkably fine, and encroaches on the eye- 
brows. 
Wood-cut 2. (Cat. 863.) Another idiotic head, 
embalmed also with the mouth open and the 
tongue partially protruded. ‘The cranium is 
long, the forehead low and receding, the face 
remarkably prominent, and the whole expres- 
sion, as in the former instance, to the last de- 
gree vacant and repulsive. I presume that no 
one accustomed to comparisons of this nature can 
examine these heads, without agreeing with me 
} in opinion as to their position in the intellectual 
scale. It may appear, and, indeed, is surprising, 
that two idiotic heads should be found among one 
hundred taken at random from the catacombs; 
and I can only explain the fact by supposing that 
a particular tomb was reserved for this unfortu- 
nate class of persons; and that the Arab servant 
employed by Mr. Gliddon, in his explorations at Thebes, invaded by chance this very 
sanctum. “It is well known that idiotic persons have, in all ages, been regarded with a 
certain degree of veneration in the East; and hence their remains 
would be likely, in Egypt, to be carefully preserved after death. In 
examining Professor Rosellini’s plates, I find a solitary example of an 
idiot, whose head is represented in the annexed diagram; and it is 
curious to remark, that the sagacity of the Egyptian artist has admi- 
rably adapted this man’s vocation to his intellectual developments, for 
he is employed in stirring the fire of a blacksmith’s shop. This sin- 
gular effigy is seen at Thebes. 
“Mr 
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NEGROID HEADS. 
In addition to the two heads of this class from Maabdeh and one from Memphis, I sub- 
join descriptions and outline drawings of five others from Thebes, which are here grouped 
for the advantage of more ready comparison. 
