- 20 — 
Mummies 
of the 
XVIIIfh-XXth 
dynasties. 
Nerves of bodies 
{Roman and 
Greek) 
buried in sand. 
Under a low power, the interior of the nerve fibre has a peculiar ghstening 
appearance, which it was ahnost beyond the artist's power to reproduce. Under a high 
power, however, the tube is seen to contain a greenish yellow substance, wliicli stains 
best with haematoxylin i^Plate IV. Fig. 1 and 2), and acid fuchsin, and evidently represents 
the medullary sheath. In many of the nerve tubes, a dot staining deeply with both dyes 
probably represents the axis cylinder (Plate IV. Fig. 2 and Plate VI. Fig. 1). The 
number of these dots varies greatly, some sections showing them in almost every fibre, 
wliereas in other preparations, they are very rare. 
Nerve trunks were obtained by dissection from mummies of the XVIIIth-XXth 
dynasties. The whole limb Avas immersed in solution containing formol "/o> carbonate 
of soda 1 ^'/„ and water to 100. The skin after a day or two became soft and flexible and 
was tlien stripped off and the limb replaced in the solution. After a few days, nerves, 
muscles, ligaments etc. were dissected out. 
The nerves especially are in a very fine state of preservation, and can be followed 
almost as easily as in a fresh specimen. For histological examination, small fragments 
of nerves are placed in 30^' V, alcohol for 24 hours and afterwards hardened and cut in 
the usual manner. The nerves present the same appearance as those described above, 
except that the axis cylinders are not visible as a rule ; the medullary sheath on the 
other hand is very conspicuous. 
These nerves are in no better state of preservation than those of mummies of 
the XVIIIth-XXth dynasties. 
BLOODVESSELS. 
Mummies The state of the bloodvessels varies exceedingly, probably owing to their having 
^ dynasti/^^ been subjected after death to widely different influences according to their position in 
the body. 
Clearly, the chemical processes (^putrefaction, autolysis) modifying the anatomical 
structure of bloodvessels after death were not as active in the peripheral parts of the 
body, as for instance fingers and toes, as in a large internal organ, e. g. liver. As several 
hours undoubtedly passed between death and the removal of the organs from the body 
and the immersion in the pickling solution, some putrefactive changes may have taken 
place in all internal organs, especially during hot weather ; and this must have been the 
case also to some extent with the skin, especially the skin and subcutaneous tissue of 
the trunk. 
On the other hand, the putrefactive bacteria and their products probably never 
reached the tissues of the extremities, which therefore were almost sterile when the 
body was placed in the pickling solution. 
