-e 



^^ 



'\ 



k 



of 



a 



if 



f. 



ft 



Ch. XXXV.] 



EGYPTIAN MUMMIES. 



265 



ce between tliem than be 

 embalmed bodies of men 



Yet 



some 



of these animals have since that period been trans- 



man 



to almost every variety of climate, and forced 

 to accommodate their habits to new circumstances as far^as 

 their nature would permit. The cat, for example, has been 

 carried over the whole earth, and, within the last three 

 centuries, has been naturalised in every part of the New 

 World — from the cold regions of Canada to the tropical 

 plains of Guiana; yet it has scarcely undergone any percep- 

 tible mutation, and is still the same animal which was held 

 sacred by the Egyptians. Of the ox, undoubtedly, there are 

 many very distinct races : but the bull Apis, which was led 

 in solemn processions by the Egyptian priests, did not differ 

 from some of those now livinp['. 



Nor 



ments confined to the animal kingdom; the fruits, seeds, 

 and other portions of twenty different plants, were faithfully 



com- 



preserved m tne same manner ; and among these the 

 mon wheat was procured by Delille, from closed vessels in 

 the sepulchres of the kings, the grains of w^hich retained not 

 only their form, but even their colour; so effectual had 

 proved the process of embalming with bitumen in a dry and 

 equable climate. 'No difference could be detected between 

 this wheat and that which now grows in the East and else- 



similar identifications were made in regard to 



many 



In answer to the 



ument draAvn from 



i» 



.marck observed, that ' the animal 



had not experienced any modification in their specific cha- 

 racters, because the climate, soil, and other conditions of 

 life had not varied in the interval. But if,' he went on to 



raphy, temperature, and other natural 

 conditions of Egypt had altered as much as we know they 

 have done in many countries in the course of geological pe- 

 riods, the same animals and plants would have deviated from 



their pristine types so widely as to rank as new and distinct 

 species.'"'^ 



* Phil. Zool. pp. 70-71. 



