1885J Powers of Mummy Wheat. 6o5 
elapsed since they were placed there, yet the seed ?rew 
became a healthy plant, producing stalks, each of which 
wb'M™"!/™ *° *“* ■ 1 ca "™‘ ‘race any evidence 
hethm the case bore any external signs of ha^in- been 
int^A Th W ;‘!’ but assum,n S that the case appeared to be 
ntadt, the statement that the stems produced branching ears 
15 °, a ° me importance, as there is absolutely no exfstfn ' 
proo f that tins variety of wheat (Tnticum turgidum ) has any 
antiquity of origin. All the evidence on this point as given 
m my treatise on “ Ancient Wheat,” * goes to prove°tha^ 
wheat with branching ears was unknown before the time of 
Pliny. Certainly no drawings of it have been found on the 
va| Cle i nt k t ° r l , | bS ’ and althou S h Unger t believes it was culti- 
„ 1 by Ure ancient Egyptians, he furnishes no proof 
founded on either drawings or specimens. There is no 
evidence of the period to which the mummy belonged as 
years o d^Ts 1 to “ ^ “ P robably ‘wo or three thousknd 
y . (1 , o d , ls to ° vague to base an opinion upon. Wheat 
with branching ears has been grown in Egypt for very manv 
centuries, and if the date of the mummy under notTce was 
subsequent to the time of Pliny it is probable (if the power 
to S err * lnat ewhen thousandsof years old be admitted) 
at the case alluded to was a genuine one of mummy wheat 
geimination. It must not, however, be forgotten that this 
variety of wheat is extensively cultivated in Egypt at the 
present time; and in the absence of reliable information as 
to how the mummy case was procured, and having regard 
to the thieving propensities of the Arabs and their untruth- 
iulness, as well as to the opinions of eminent scientists con- 
cerning the vitality of wheat given further on, the case in 
question would need further corroboration before it can he 
accepted as authentic. 
To the kindness of Mr. William Carruthers, F.K.S. of the 
Entish Museum, I am indebted for the knowledge of the 
next case to which I will refer; and through the courtesy of 
Mr. John Macgregor, M.A. (Rob Roy), I am favoured with 
particulars concerning it.J Mr. Macgregor’s well-known 
accuiacy of detail, and the high character of the gentlemen 
named, entitles the following to special prominence. On 
June 9, 1871, a wooden sarcophagus, brought from the 
Khedive of Egypt by the Duke of Sutherland, was opened at 
Stafford House by Dr. Birch of the British Museum, and 
* Ancient Wheat: Being a History of Wheat and its Produds from Pre 
histone to Modern Times. Second (Illustrated) Ed. By Henry King-Parks' 
t Unger. Die Pflanzen des Alten Agyptens, p. 31. 
f Letter to the writer. 
