314 
Dr. Granville's essay on 
I purposely omit speaking of the various modes of em- 
balming adopted by different nations, or of those w^hich may 
have prevailed at different epochs in Egypt ; although in the 
course of my investigation I collected ample materials for 
entering into such a subject. The art of embalming, with a 
view to the preservation of the human body, for an indefinite 
series of years, as strictly illustrated by the mummies of 
ancient Egypt, does not appear to have been practised with 
success by any other nation. We find no remains of such 
high antiquity in any other part of the world ; and the mum- 
mies of Mexico, those of the Atlantic islanders, the dried 
bodies found in the catacombs of some of the states bor- 
dering on the Mediterranean, are but of yesterday, compared 
to the age of the mummy which I have had the honour of 
bringing under the notice of the Society. Indeed the art 
soon began to decline among the Egyptians themselves, and 
the mummies found in the hypogei which bear evidence of 
having been more recently erected, as well as those of the 
plain of Saqquarah, are, in every respect, inferior to the primi-- 
live mummies. Whether this arose from the growing igno- 
rance of the real process, the directions respecting which 
could only have been handed down traditionally ; or from 
carelessness in the operation ; or from indifference on the 
part of the people toward such an object ; or from all these 
causes united, it is not easy now to determine. Certain it is, 
that the genuine process of embalming, among the Egyptians 
under the dynasty of the Pharaohs described in this paper, 
appears to have been progressively disregarded, and forgot- 
ten among them, until at last it was lost altogether. Nor 
does it appear ever to have been known by other nations. 
