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Mummification In Egypt Source: The British Medical Journal, Vol. 1, No. 2409 (Mar. 2, 1907), p. 521 Published by: BMJ Publishing Group Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20293404 . Accessed: 29/07/2011 06:50
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March
recoverable remained on alive the

2,
fifteenth

1907J_MUMMIFICATION
day Dr. draws a ; the anthrax bacillus appears to the paste, jars,"

IN EGYPT.

[m^"wSSZLx

5*i

that at that time the surface of the body, and perhaps

nose but and and mouth, "were covered that with the a resinous linen-wrapped is no there the by were to preserve spongy, with brain the not had removal parcels evidence yet Canopic of practice commenced. The mummies of and the viscera the salt arofoutodin

be profoundly
experimental dangers either arising private

indefinitely.

Remlinger solemn of

impressed with
results from houses and

the significance
picture or dogs

of these
of the cats in

the presence or hospitals.

removing produced dynasties sufficed

bath employed MUMMIFICATION

The process ideas but on of the of mummification

from the seventeenth

satisfactory; the the skin, finally for, tissues

to the twentieth
though beneath to In such the the an bath extent became

IN EGYPT.
has always been its per it and com modifi to in different a

subject of great interest not only to those peoples whose

religious formance, mented cations ?lab?rate were also associated intimately to others who observed and awe. Various curiosity varying have from been mere adopted with

soft bones

and

and

shrank skin.

that little was

covered the the back, sand, The and four or dynasty

leftjnside
wrinkled appearance and linen, parcels the

the swathing
of limbs the were by face also incisions were no was

wrappings
nineteenth improved with

but
by

it with

process,

desiccation

stuffing
walls, pebbly the skin.

the cheeks with

either

linen.

Subsequently
stuffed

the body
mud, into

preservation,

parts both of the old world and the new, but probably the mummification in Egypt has received practised
more attention than that resorted to in other countries.

them from the body cavity or by incisions made

of viscera was had

prolonged longer an four

through
placed

This is partly due to the fact that Egypt is so closely associated with Biblical history and partly to the lavish
distribution gathered withstanding accurate to all civilized countries in Egypt from pyramids and the numerous specimens knowledge was gained of and the the the mummies Yet, not tombs.

in Canopic
abdomen, one of the jars of

jars, but were

in each parcel sons of Horus, dynasties human-headed

deposited

in the thorax and

effigy Canopic Most of

wrapped to whom the been Amset

commonly

previous the

dedicated. was associated

compara

tive freedom with which adopted history

AnatomyJn

they have been handled,

regarding

little

with
the

the liver, the baboon-headed

jackal-headed with the Tuam?utef with

Hapi
the

with
stomach, does and

the lungs,
and the

processes

and how they differed at different periods of Dr. Elliot until of the Professor Smith,
Cairo, commenced an elaborate investiga

hawk-headed
later periods, in detail, the to reproduce rapidly bitumen pitch

Kebhsenuf
which form embalmers

with
ceased by

the intestines.

At
not attempted

still
deal and use of

the monograph to stuff complicated the of that in Roman bandaging, salt was in the the

he has published in a tion, the results of which to the Study of entitled A Contribution monograph in Egypt.1 It is true, as Professor Mummification Elliot Smith points oat, that the late Professor Pettigrew
published, Mummies, account of which of over which the has years sixty contained extraction of since a History ago, of Egyptian as much information as

with the advent of this change the method

deteriorated. replaced was the In art and

wrappings, the still

of preserving
and, later, as a

period

could be gathered cavity

period facts

at that time, and which

the brain from

included
the

an

preservative. was customary

abandoned, It appears to place

cranial

through

the roof of the nose

elapsed have Elliot been

; but during the

ever, us a fairly

importance thanks to Dr. clear

in Egypt at various periods, and it is a history of that during the period It appears great interest. of from the seventeenth to the end extending the twentieth (about 1800 to 1133 b.c.) dynasty
the body. made main The in the object viscera left was were flank?either and to preserve removed of the tissues an opening through because par they were the up disintegration, reason. or The

history

no new then practically how recorded. To-day, we have Smith's before work, as practised of mummification

senting the deceased so that his Ka, or double, should be provided with a dwelling place when the body had of the living person, and Dr. Elliot lost all similitude Smith suggests that the practice of stuffing the body the body itself the originated with the idea of making
Ka.

used again earlier it dynasties a statue tomb repre

permanent

POST-MORTEM CAESAREAN SECTION. The saving of a life should always be attempted, but in the case of a woman dying in labour the friends of the
deceased the fetal are in a position though sounds. to the forbid child, heart even any obstetrician attempt can to hear save the

Caesarean in private operations was mother the twin the uterus

section practice. where already contained

ticularly some for

foody was consisted

common

to undergo prone as other yet

set

then soaked in a bath which probably or of of a solution chiefly entirely

and the viscera, wrapped in having been and simi

unexplained

Hence successful post-mortem is more in hospital than frequent Everke1 three Caesarean reports in two cases the child was saved ; the dead two not been was in all three. In one instance at fetuses, suffering anasarca, although from and apparently The mother myocarditis, albuminuria.

salt,

larly
various

treated,
aromatic

were
woods,

sprinkled

with

the
linen,

sawdust
enclosed

of

pregnancy beginning of

had

diagnosed.

labour

in four distinct parcels in four jars, which were placed in the tomb with the mummy. The jars in which the
were are as Canopic viscera known and, placed jars, never for any used other purpose apparently, they were but the reception of the viscera of the dead. Therefore, on as an indi their in tombs be looked presence may or mummifica that the cation 'of embalming practice

were the os was fully dilated the membranes When The cord prolapsed and ruptured to hasten delivery. the foot being brought down. turning was practised, afterwards. died The suddenly shortly patient
Caesarean cision extracted made careful to section involved from breathe attention birth. was, as In the was the at placenta. once in the performed; were Two children a female, was first, two not hours' saved, case anasarca marked. examine section the

dyspnoea,

advanced

general

tion was in vogue at the period to which they belong. They have been found in tombs which are believed to date as far back as the fifth dynasty (3566-3333 b.c.). But, since it must be admitted [that no viscera have been
found in the Canopic jars of that remote period?and no other definite of mummi of the'practice indications are fication is clear the evidence evident?it that in

the uterus; after nearly normally was a male, ; the second,

although
after mother and She her;

the heart sounds were

Everke's second suffering in the first, the renal as Dr.

audible
from

for two hours

successful general were well about Caesarean to

faVour of the practice in the earlier dynasties is slight. When the twelfth dynasty (2466-2266 b.c.) is reached the
?evidence becomes stronger, for there are indications de 1 M?moires pr?sent?sl? l'Institut Egyptien et publi?s #. A. Abbas II, Kh?dive d'Egypte. Tome V, Fascicule sous les auspices I.

dyspnoea; died just he

symptoms was Everke performed

immediately

and
| was

saved
not

the
saved,

child.
and

In

the
the

last
cause

case
of an der

the

infant

maternal Sterbenden,

an der 1Ueber Kaiserschmitt Geb. u. Gyn,t August, Monatsschr.f.

Toten, resp. 1906, p. 259.