49 



ON THE VEGETABLE FRAGMENTS FOUND IN THE TOMBS 



AND OTHER MONUMENTAL BUILDINGS OF" THE 



ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 



By Richard Schombtjrgk, Ph. 



Director of Botanic Gardens, Adelaide ; Knight of the Imperial Order 

 of the Crown ; of the Order of Merit of Phillippe the Magnani- 

 mous, and the Order of the Crown of Italy ; Mem. Imperial 

 Carol. Leopold Acad., &c. 



(Read February 5, 1878). 



The large collection of plant-remains in the Egyptian Museum, 

 Berlin, obtaiued from the tombs and other monumental buildings of the 

 Ancient Egyptians has been re-examined b} r the late Professor Alexander 

 Braun. The notes of this investigation having been found amongst the 

 deceased's papers, Professors Ascherson and Magnus of Berlin thought 

 it was due to the memory of that great botanist to make them public. 

 My friend Prof. Ascberson has kindly favoured me with a copy of these 

 notes, and I consider them so highly interesting that I could not forbear 

 shaping them into a Paper. 



The most reliable sources from which we have gained our knowledge 

 of the plants cultivated by the Ancient Egyptians are : — Firstly. — From 

 the plant remains which have been found in their tombs and other 

 monumental buildings, which are now preserved in the museums of 

 Berlin, London, Vienna, Paris, Turin, Leyden, and Florence. Secondly. 

 — The numerous representations of. plants on the monumental structures 

 which the Ancient Egyptians used for sacred and profane purposes give 

 us also an idea of the vegetation, although they are inferior to those of 

 animals. Tbirdly. — The writers of classical antiquity supply us with a 

 very good description of the Flora of Ancient Egypt. 



A very interesting fact has been ascertained by comparing the plant- 

 remains of nearly 5,000 years old with living examples of the same 

 species, that is, that no essential variation between the two is noticeable, 



