Egyptian mummies. sog 
to the action of the alkali, as it was intended that these 
should remain in all cases. In the mummy I have described, 
this point has been so much attended to by the embalmers, 
that the nail of the principal toe of the right foot having 
been detached, it was replaced and retained in its position by 
three or four turns of thread passed around it ; and in this 
state it must have continued for the last thirty centuries. 
D. The operation of removing the cuticle being accom- 
plished, the body was immersed into a capacious vessel, con- 
taining a liquefied mixture of wax and resin, the former 
predominating ; and some sort of bituminous substance being 
added, not however essential to the process. In this situation 
the body was suffered to remain a certain number of days 
over a gentle fire, with the avowed intention of allowing the 
liquefied mixture to penetrate the innermost and minutest 
structure ; nor can there exist any doubt, but that on this 
part of the embalming process depended not only its great 
preservative power, but also its various degrees of perfection. 
Thus, when the process was properly managed and watched, 
mummies, such as the one under consideration, would be 
produced; whereas when neglected or slovenly conducted, 
the mummy resulting from it, would present those appear- 
ances of dryness, blackness, and brittleness, together with the 
carbonification of the muscles and intimate adherence of the 
integuments to the bones, which have been noticed by Dr. 
Hadley, Professor Gmelin, Blumenbach, Hunter, Dr. 
Baillie, Mr. Brodie, Jomard and others, when they examined 
imperfect or inferior mummies. The fraudulent subtraction 
of the allotted quantity of wax required for the principal and 
important part of the embalming process we are now con- 
