— 6 — 
itself has sometimes kept to some extent the well nourished appearance it had during 
life, the breasts alone of women are flattened and closely applied to the thorax. The 
neck, comparatively thin, looks even thinner on account of the face, which is arti- 
ficially distended. 
I have no doubt that the account given by Dr. Fouquet is correct as far as the 
mummies examined by him are concerned. In the fragments of the 5 mummies which 
Prof. Flinders Petrie gave me, dating from some period between the XVIIIth and XXth 
dynasties, and in numerous mummies of the XXIst dynasty, I was not able to find the 
slightest trace of bitumen on the surface of the bodies, but the abdominal walls were 
covered by a thick layer of what looked like resin. Similarly, Dr. Elliot Smith says 
nothing about bitumen'. The female bodies that lie examined were painted with 
a mixture identified by Dr. Schmidt as yellow ochre and gum. The bodies of the men 
were painted either red, rose coloured, or more usually a dull reddish or yellowish 
brown. This, judging from my own observations, is quite correct. 
I discovered no trace of paint in mummies of later periods, nor in a Greek (?) 
mummy, but the face, though not the body of a Roman child, was gilded all over (see 
also Pettigrew loco citato). 
Treatment of According to Dr. Fouquet, a ball made of rag, on which the iris was roughly 
the eyes. painted, Avas placed under the half closed eye-lids. I have confirmed this observation 
in one case. 
In another body of which I examined the eyes, there was not a trace of rag. 
The eyeballs had disappeared but the pedicles of the eyes (muscles) were still to be seen. 
In another, two artificial eyes had been inserted. 
Prof. Elliot Smitli states that during the preliminary stages of embalming, the 
eyes collapsed and fell back into the orbits. Artificial eyes were then introduced in front 
of the remains of the real eyes, and the eyelids pulled down into a semi-closed position. 
The artificial eye usually consisted of a piece of linen rolled up roughly; the pupil is 
represented by a spot of black paint ; in 2 cases the eye was represented by a piece of 
white stone with a black spot on it. In the mummy of Rameses IVth, small onions were 
put in front of tlie collapsed eyes. 
In two nmmmies of the .XXVIIth— XXIXth dynasties which I examined the eye- 
balls had shrunk greatly, but the eyes were uninjured, and the contents of the orbit 
had not been interfered Avith. The eye-lashes were perfect. In a Roman child and in a 
Greek (?) mummy, nothing appeared to have been done to the eyes. The orbits cer- 
tainly contained no foreign matter whatever. 
I also examined the eyes of several bodies of the Greek period, which had simply 
been buried in the sand. The eyeballs could not be recognised. On the other hand, all 
the muscles were unmistakable and the transverse striation easily demonstrated. The 
' It is a peculiar fact that I have never yet found bitumen in any mummy, and my experience now 
extends from Prehistoric lo Coptic times. (March 1911.) 
