A CONTRIBUTIOIN 
TO THE 
STUDY OF MUMMIFICATION IN EGYPT 
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE MEASURES 
ADOPTED DURING THE TIME OF THE 21st DYNASTY FOR MOULDING THE FORM 
OF THE BODY 
BY 
G. ELLIOT SMITH 
When we consider how much of our mformation concerning 
the ancient Egyptians has been derived from the study of tombs, 
and recall the vast numbers of graves that have been opened 
within recent years it is very suprising to find that so little 
accurate knowledge has been gained concerning the treatment of 
the body itself, which is presumably the chief object in the tomb 
and the raison d'etre of all the furniture and pictorial art. 
Nevertheless it is a fact that since Pettigrew, ^ seventy two 
years ago, published his remarkable monograph, which is a very 
complete record of all the facts relating to Egyptian mummies 
ascertained or perhaps, considering the state of knowledge, ascer- 
tainable, at that time, not only has very little been added to 
our store of information on this subject, but most writers have 
forgotten or neglected the solid foundation of established facts 
which he so laboriously gathered together. In making this 
statement I am not unmindful of the vast amount that has been 
written during the last seventy years upon the subject of mum- 
mies and the ancient practice of embalming : but it is no exag- 
geration to state that in almost every case modern writers who 
have given us a small scrap of new information have at the same 
1 Thomas Joseph Pettigrew, F.R.S., A History of Egyptia^i Mummies, and an 
Account of the Worship and Embalming of the Sacred Animals Ig the Egyptians; icith 
Be marks on the funeral Ceremonies of Different Xations, etc. London, 1834. 
