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After the removal of the organs, the large vessels of the neck near the heart were 
filled with mud and sand and are considerably damaged in consequence. It appears to 
me doubtful whether in some mummies the pickhng solution ever reached the heart, 
as the consistency of this organ often differs entirely from that of other muscles. The 
muscles of the heart may crumble to dust wlien pressed between tlie fingers, and wlien 
carefully broken they show a granular, dull-grey, fractured surface, even when the other 
muscles of the body are of stony hardness and show a glistening, brown, resinous frac- 
ture. The consistency of the vessels of the neck may resemble that of the heart, whereas 
the lower part of the thoracic aorta is entirely different, its fractured surface resembling 
that of muscle. 
Elliot Smith has pointed out correctly that the aorta was generally removed in 
mummies of the XXIst dynasty. I have found this vessel, however, in mummies of the 
XVIIIth to XXth dynasties and also in a Greek (? ) mummy. The aorta was absolutely 
collapsed and would certainly not have been found, surrounded as it was with packing 
(sawdust and mud) had the whole mummy not been placed in the softening solution. 
All the coats of the vessel could be easily demonstrated under the microscope 
(Plate VII. Fig. 3). 
The intima of the large veins and arteries near the heart is not to be seen as a 
rule (Plate VII. Fig. 2), having probably been torn off when these vessels were forcibly 
filled with sand or mud. The adventitia of these vessels is not well seen and the middle 
coat is often represented by very thin annular fibres only, which probably correspond 
to the muscular coat (Plate VII. Fig. 2). 
In the pickling solution, organs such as intestines were quickly saturated with 
natron and the putrefactive changes were arrested. On the other hand, the internal parts 
of larger and thicker organs, as for instance liver and kidneys, were not impregnated 
with salt for a considerable time, if indeed the salt ever penetrated them deeply. It cer- 
tainly seems to me doubtful also whether the salt ever reached the deeper part of the 
limbs, notably of the extremities. 
The question is only to settled by experiment ; but in any case, it is evident that 
the action of the salt on bloodvessels varied according to the anatomical position of the 
bloodvessels. Similarly, the autolytic processes must have produced more or less effect 
on the arteries and veins according to the size of the organs in which the vessels were 
imbedded. Lastly, the internal parts of the liver and kidneys dried much more slowly 
than the more superficial regions of the same organs, and these organs themselves, 
owing to their size and structure, were desiccated much more slowly than other tissues. 
Considering therefore that all the processes tending towards the production of 
alterations in the blood vessels were more marked in the larger organs, we should expect 
(leaving the heart and the arteries and veins of the neck out of consideration as having 
been subjected to a special form of treatment) that the state of preservation of blood- 
vessels would vary according to the size of the organ containing them. 
