PROCEEDINGS. 
373 
534th Meeting*. April 13, 1901. 
Vice-President Rathbun in the chair. 
Eighteen persons present. 
Mr. Edwin Smith read a paper on the International Geodetic 
Association latitude service. It consisted of a short general 
statement of the history of the development of our knowledge of 
the variation of latitude up to 1898, of the plan of observations 
devised by the International Geodetic Association in 1898, and 
of the very satisfactory progress made in carrying out this 
program at six stations nearly upon the thirty-ninth parallel. 
Lantern slides were exhibited showing the distribution of the sta¬ 
tions in longitude, various curves illustrating the latitude varia¬ 
tion, a graphical representation of the program of observation, 
and the instruments and observatory at Gaithersburg, Md. [Not 
published.] 
Mr. Artemas Martin read a paper on the Properties of ra¬ 
tional plane triangles. [Not published.] 
535th Meeting. April 27, 1901. 
President Walcott in the chair. 
Thirty-one persons present. 
Mr. I. M. Cassanowicz presented a paper on The funerary 
customs of the ancient Egyptians. It pointed out that most of 
the monuments and remains of ancient Egypt are of a sepulchral 
character. The Egyptians believed in a personal existence under 
conditions and in localities much like those familiar to them. 
As they could not conceive of existence apart from a tangible 
substance, a link was needed to connect the Ka, the representative 
of personality, with the world of substantial things; this link 
was the body, and so its preservation was essential. Various 
forms of embalming are described by ancient writers, all involv¬ 
ing a steeping of the body in natron for 70 days. The bodies of 
the poor were soaked in salt and hot bitumen. Then followed a 
minute description of the funeral of Ani, largely based on a fine 
illuminated papyrus of the Book of the Dead, a fac-simile of 
which is. in the National Museum. [Not published.] 
Remarks on the paper were made by the President. 
