538 Transactions of the Society. 



other examinations all trace of minute structure was lost, the tissues 

 being so impregnated with the asphalt, pitch, or resinous gums and other 

 materials used in the process of embalming, as to be useless under any of 

 the methods of investigation that were adopted with success in this case. 



About nineteen years ago there was handed to me a portion of a 

 human mummy, the arm (I beheve of a female), obtained before 1853 

 from one of the many Egyptian tombs, by a friend since deceased. A 

 small piece was cut from one of the muscles — if I remember correctly, 

 the triceps — which had been exposed by the removal of the various 

 investing bands of linen, and carefully wrapped in note-paper, and put 

 aside for a more convenient time, and thus came to be forgotten until a 

 few weeks since. The Httle piece that was removed was about 1^ in. 

 long, pliable, and looking closely like a small tuft from an old cocoa-nut 

 fibre mat or a dirty bit of spent tan. 



A very cursory examination proved so attractive, that it was deter- 

 mined to no longer delay a more strict investigation. The question was 

 how best to proceed, and in order to vary the methods the following 

 reagents were used. The parts taken from the bit of muscle were cut 

 from each end, also from the middle, and placed to soak in them for a 

 fortnight : — 



1. Griycerin 4 dr., glacial acetic acid 4 m. 



2. Glycerin 4 dr., liquor potassas (B. Ph.) 1 dr. 



3. Glycerin 4 dr., sweet spirit of nitre 2 dr. 



4. Glycerin 4 dr., saturated solution of boracic acid 1 dr. 



5. Glycerin 4 dr., glac. acet. acid 4 m., and chloride zinc 6 gr. 



6. Distilled water 4 dr., glac. acet. acid 2 m. 



7. Saturated solution of salicylic acid. 



8. Distilled water 3 parts, hydrochloric acid 1 part. 



9. Distilled water 6 parts, nitric acid 1 part. 



10. Distilled water 2 parts, rectified spirit 1 part. 



11. Distilled water 16 parts, chloral hydrate 1 part. 



12. Equal parts of this solution and rectified spirit. 



13. Turpentine. 



14. Chloroform. 



15. A portion of the muscle was boiled for ten seconds in a little 

 distilled water. 



16. A similar piece was boiled for the same time in equal parts of 

 distilled water and rectified spirit. These portions were allowed after- 

 wards to soak in these fluids for three or four days. It may here be 

 remarked that the boiling shrank the tissue very much, and rendered it 

 tough and elastic, possibly from the gums used in the embalming process. 



As several of these reagents ofiiered no peculiar advantage, only 

 those which proved most useful will be now mentioned. 



No. 1 enabled me to separate the fibres into smaller bundles by 

 means of needles and the dissecting Microscope, but did not allow of any 

 perfect separation into fibrillse. 



No. 5 permitted the dissection to be carried further and to bring into 

 view numerous fibrillse, also a blood-vessel filled with rather coarse 

 granular contents. 



Nos. 8 and 9 allowed tho compression of the fibres until they pre- 



