— 9 — 
o£ the Middle Empire {vide supra). This discovery seemed to 
be o£ such importance that I opened the craniiim to examine the 
interior. A thin layer o£ brownish material Hned the eranial 
walls bnt on examination it was proved to be non -résinons — in 
ail probability it was the dried remains o£ the brain. There was 
no évidence to suggest that the flakes o£ résinons matter were put 
into the cranimn during the process o£ embalming. The probable 
explanation is that résinons matter placed in or around the nasal 
fossa had fallen into the craninm when the sphenoid was accid- 
entally broken. For it seems highly improbable that the résinons 
matter conld have got into the eranial cavity unless it were placed 
on the mmnmy itsel£. 
So £ar as it goes this évidence seems to point to the conclusion 
that the surface o£ the body and perhaps the nose and mouth 
were covered with a résinons paste bnt no attempt was made to 
open the craniura. In twelve crania o£ upper class people o£ the 
llth or 12th dynasty obtained by Mr. John Garstang near Beni 
Hasan the ethmoid was invariably intact. 
In his description o£ the remains of the Princess Ita M. de 
Morgan states that "les chairs sont comme une sorte de résine 
brunâtre."^ He states further that the "momie de la princesse 
Khnoumit" was "recouverte d'un enduit de bitume" (]). 55) — - 
probably not bitumen but resin. 
The évidence as a whole seems to point distinctly to the 
practice o£ embalming as early as the 12th dynasty : but there is 
no valid reason £or believing that any attempt was made to remove 
the brain in the Middle Empire. 
In the work already quoted Dr. Reisner says that "the 
earliest indication o£ the use o£ jars £or preserving the entrails o£ 
the mummy is the chest £or Canopic Jars £ound by Maspero in 
the pyramid o£ Mr-n-r'' -Pepy at Saqqarah in 1881" ( op. cit.^^.l)- 
1 J. DE MOEGAN, Fouilles à Daltchour en 1894-1895, Vienna 1903, p. 50. 
2 
