Description of an Egyptian mummy, presented to the Massachusetts General Hospital : with an account of the operation of embalming, in ancient and modern times / by John C. Warren.

  • Warren, John Collins, 1778-1856.
Date:
[1824?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Description of an Egyptian mummy, presented to the Massachusetts General Hospital : with an account of the operation of embalming, in ancient and modern times / by John C. Warren. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    and killed him, and carried his son Jehoahaz prisoner into Egypt. The historian Herodotus states the same facts in a manner singularly accordant with the holy scriptures, and moreover, says, that king Psammis himself made a warlike ex- pedition into Ethiopia : and thus we have explained to us the representation of the prisoners of the three nations, the Jews, Babylonians, and Ethiopians., The Egyptians were not the only nation who preserved the bodies of the dead. The Guanches of the Canary Islands followed this practice to a considerable extent. They were conquered in the fifteenth century ; yet there remain great numbers of bodies, prepared by them ; a single cavern in Teneriffe, having been found, when first opened, to contain about a thousand bodies. Acosta and Garcillasso de la Vega inform us, that the Peruvians possessed this art, that the bodies of some of the Incas were found in a state of good preserva- tion, and quite hard though light. The New Zealanders of the present day are wonderfully skilful in their preservations of the human body, though in other respects among the most ignorant and miserable of savages. The head of a chief or great warrior is thought to transfer to his enemies, if it hap- pen to fall into their power, the courage and strength of the individual. They are therefore anxious to obtain and pre- serve such heads ; and they are able to succeed so well in removing the causes of putrefaction, that the flesh is as solid and undecomposable as wood; possesses an aromatic odour like that of newly dried grass; and perfectly exhibits the features of the individual. I have one of these heads which belonged to a New Zealand chief; it might at first view be taken for carved work. The hair is wholly preserved ; it was originally black, and somewhat finer than that of the American Indian, but is now red inclining to gray, from age. The forehead is narrow from side to side, and very oblique, though extensive. The jaws prominent; the teeth small. The skin is of a dark red or chocolate colour, tattooed oyer the whole face ; and the cartilages of the nose cut to a point, so as to give a frightful and ferocious aspect to the face, more like that of a wolf than of a man. The art of these people probably consists in first cleaning the part to be preserved, and expressing the blood; then exposing it for some time to the steam of certain herbs, and afterwards dry- ing it in smoke. It is said that they can prepare entire bo- dies in the same manner; but of this I am not well satisfied.