brain and its membranes could be extracted and any fluid injected into the skull that might be necessary to cleanse that cavity" (p.53). He then proceeds to give an accurate account of the materials found in the cranium, which may be quite empty in some cases, in other cases filled with cloth, resin, pitch, spices in a state of coarse powder or even the remains of the brain itself.

In one of the Rhind papyri which has been translated into German by Heinrich Brugsch we find an account of this packing of the cranium written by an Egyptian in Ptolemaic times:— "Anubis als Kolchyt füllt deinen Kopf mit syrischem Salze, Spezereien, Ur, Cedern, Pech und Fett von einer [ ] Gans. "1

The examination of the large series of mummies in the School of Medicine clearly demonstrates the manner in which the head was treated. If a vertical mesial sagittal section be made through the head of a mummy of the 21st dynasty a resin-smeared track will be found (Pl. I, figures 1 and 3) leading up through the nostril to the roof of the nasal cavity, which is formed by the ethmoid bone. This will be found broken through so that there is a free opening into the brain cavity (through which a probe has been passed in figures 1 and 3, Pl. I). In figure 2 (Pl. I.) the front part of the floor of the cranium has been exposed by removing the roof of the skull: the ovoid opening of the nasal fossa is seen and a resin-smeared surface leading from it toward the back of the head.

In most cases no trace of the brain or its membranes is found (Pl. I, figure 1): in other instances the whole of the dura mater and part of the brain itself may still be present (Pl. I, figure 3). In most of the crania examined there was a small quantity of resin and strips of linen (figure 1) but in other cases the whole cranial cavity was completely filled with the resin and linen. In some cases

A. Henry Rhind's "Zwei Bilingue Papyri, hieratisch und demotisch" uebersetzt und herausgegeben DR. HEINRICH BRUGSCH, Leipsig 1865, Pl. V, p. 4.

again there was no linen. I have found a like variabitity in the packing material of the crania of the royal mummies of the New Empire.

In mummies of the Graeco Roman period the cranium is often filled with pitch.

The Treatment of the Body Cavity.

Herodotus has told us that after the brain had been removed, an incision was made in the flank with a sharp Egyptian stone and through the opening the body cavity was emptied of its contents, then cleansed and rinsed with palm-wine, scoured out again with pounded aromatics, and the belly having been filled with pure myrrh, cinnamon and all other perfumes except frankincense, the opening was sewn up again. According to Herodotus it was customary "to steep the body in natrum, keeping it covered seventy days" after it was packed with the aromatic substances; but Pettigrew has clearly demonstrated the improbability of this order of procedure and shown that the body was soaked in the natrum" first and packed afterward. Diodorus Siculus mentions that the embalming incision was made in the left flank and the examination of mummies in modern times has demonstrated the accuracy of his account in respect of this matter.

The embalming incision usually consists of a large vertical fusiform gaping wound in the left lumbar region extending from the iliac crest, about 2 or 3 cm. behind the anterior superior spine, to the costal margin. It may be further forward or extend further down in front of the iliac spine. In one case (Pl. XV, figure 1) I have seen it in the front of the body (in the umbilical region) and in two children it was placed obliquely above and parallel to Poupart's ligament.

As a rule no attempt has been made to close the wound, which

is then covered over by a plate, usually of wax but sometimes of bronze, bearing the conventional design of the eye or Uta (Pl. XIX, figure 3). In Plate X figure 1 the lower half of a wax plate is shown in situ. Great variety is shown in the quality of the wax and the care with which the pattern is wrought upon it. In some cases the gaping wound is not protected by a plate of any sort; and in two cases the edges were brought together and kept in position by a running ligature (Pl. XV, figure 1).

When the incision was made the body cavity was opened and the intestines, liver, spleen, kidneys, stomach and pelvic viscera completely removed along with most of the vessels: the diaphragm was then opened and the lungs removed, the bronchi or in other cases the lower end of the trachea being cut through to free the lungs. In all cases the heart is left in the thorax attached to the great blood vessels (vide Pl. IV and Pl. XIV, figure 3). This striking confirmation of the statement of Diodorus, has not, so far as I am aware, been recognised hitherto : on the other hand I have never seen the kidneys left in position as the same writer has affirmed. In some cases the bladder has been left in the pelvis. In most cases only the arch and a small part of the rest of the aorta are left; but in one case I have seen the whole aorta and iliac arteries persisting. The heart is never left exactly in its normal position. In most cases it has been pushed upward into the upper part of the right side of the thorax: in other cases it is left in the middle line in front of the vertebral column: and in other cases again it is found in the left side of the chest. When it is remembered that all the manipulations of the contents of the body were done through the wound in the left flank it is understand these displacements.

easy to

When the viscera had been removed both the body itself and the organs taken from it must have been put into a saline bath, such as Herodotus has described. The various tissues of the body

contain saline material and the skin shows unmistakable signs of having been macerated until the cuticle (together with all the hair, except that of the head) had peeled off. Much speculation has been made as to the nature of the bath, which many writers assume to have been "natron" or soda. Professor W. A. Schmidt has examined the tissues taken from various mummies, not only of the 21st dynastic period but of various other epochs, and has found that both the skin and the other parts of the body give an acid reaction, which he has shown to be due to the presence of fatty acids derived from the disorganisation of the body-tissues. If any natron (carbonate of soda) whatever had been added to the animal tissues it would have more than neutralised this small quantity of organic acid. But if the preservative action had been exercised by means of common salt (chloride of sodium), which Dr. Schmidt finds in all the tissues, such neutralisation would not have occurred. In mummies of the early Christian Period from Akhmîm that are now in the Anatomical Museum of the School of Medicine, Dr. Schmidt has found large quantities of chloride of sodium and in the case of other specimens of the 5th century A.D. obtained at Naga ed dêr by the Hearst Egyptological Expedition Mr. Lucas has found that the preservative material is chloride of sodium. On the other hand Mr. Lucas has found that the separated epidermis obtained from some of the royal mummies of the 19th dynasty was packed with crude natron. There can, however, be no doubt that the body and the viscera were primarily treated (in all periods when mummification was practised) by being immersed for some weeks-whether 40 or 70 days it is not possible to say-in a bath of chloride of sodium. The Rhind Papyrus mentions 36 days for the "soda" bath and 70 days for the whole process of embalming (vide infra).

Before the body was put into this solution each nail of both the hands and feet was carefully secured by a piece of string

wound in a circular manner round the finger or toe, so that when the epidermis peels off it may not carry the nails with it. The impressions left by these pieces of string are visible in almost all cases, and it often happens that the string is left in position on one or two fingers or toes. In most cases, however, the string is removed after the body has been taken out of the salt-tank. In Pl. XI there is shown a photograph of the fingers of one of these mummies exhibiting the impressions left by the string (figure 4) and the string is shown in situ on two toes of the foot in figure 5. In the latter the sharply cut edge of the cuticle is visible on the great toe, the epidermis forming a thimble, which has been cut with a knife and left in position to avoid the risk of pulling off the nail when the rest of the epidermis peels off.

The packing of the limbs.

While the body is in the saline solution the skin and the lining of the body cavity become toughened by the action of the salt; but the soft tissues under the skin in the limbs, back and neck are not exposed to the action of the preservative agent and soon become reduced to a soft pulpy mass, which is of a fluid or semifluid consistency. It was the practice of the embalmers in the time of the 21st dynasty to stuff into this pulpy mass large quantities of foreign materials so as to restore to the collapsed and shrunken members some semblance of the form and consistency they possessed during life.

The hand (armed perhaps with some instrument such as that used for removing the brain) was passed through the opening (X) in the left flank into the body cavity (along the lines YY in figure 3) and a channel was forced downward into each thigh (U). This channel was an extensive cavity passing in front of the hip bone (os innominatum) and thigh bone (femur) and bounded in