514 CLASS AYES. 



These two works have powerfully contributed to clear up 

 points of natural history, left in such a state of obscurity for 

 so many ages ; but there are some things on which these 

 philosophers are not agreed, and more particularly on the 

 question relative to the causes of the veneration of the Egyp- 

 tians. M. Cuvier having found in the mummy of an ibis 

 the undigested remains of the skin and scales of serpents, con- 

 cluded that these birds in reality fed upon those reptiles. 

 M. Savigny, having never found any in the stomach of such 

 individuals of the present time as he dissected, came to a 

 contrary conclusion, which seemed to him to be substantiated 

 by the natural habits and organization of the ibis, confirmed 

 by analogy, and further corroborated by the testimony of the 

 modern Egyptians. He does not, indeed, attempt to deny 

 the fact stated by the Baron; but he observes, that it is 

 an isolated one, and that the learned professor does not specify 

 the exact position of the debris of serpents, of which lie 

 speaks. M. Savigny adds, first, that, according to Herodo- 

 tus, before the Egyptians proceeded to embalm an ibis, they 

 removed the intestines, which were reputed to be excessively 

 long; secondly, that he has himself found in the interior of one 

 of these mummies, no remains of viscera and soft parts, but 

 a multitude of the larvae or nymphae of insects of different 

 species ; thirdly, that moreover certain species of serpents were 

 reckoned among the sacred animals, and that mummies of 

 such serpents have been discovered in the grottoes of Thebes ; 

 fourthly, that many of the mummies of the ibis, which were 

 taken from the repositories in the plains of Saccara, contained, 

 under a general envelope, aggregations of different animals, 

 whose debris alone were collected. We may remark also, that 

 the remains of serpents mentioned by M. Cuvier, were not 

 yet digested, which would naturally be the case under the 

 supposition that they had not even been introduced into the 

 alimentary canal. 



When we consider the assertions of Herodotus, respecting 



