Some account of two mummies of the Egyptian ibis : one of which was in a remarkably perfect state / by John Pearson.

  • Pearson, John, 1758-1826.
Date:
1805
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Some account of two mummies of the Egyptian ibis : one of which was in a remarkably perfect state / by John Pearson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    SOME ACCOUNT, ire. Read before the ROYAL SOCIETY, June 13, 1805. The ancient Egyptians were not more remarkable for their attainments in science, than for the extraordinary attention they paid to the bodies of their deceased relatives, preserving their remains by arts which are now either unknown, or imperfectly recorded, and depositing them in subterranean structures, which to this day excite the curiosity and wonder of the philosophic traveller. The practice of embalming was not confined, as is well known, to the conservation of human bodies exclusively; it was likewise employed to protect the remains of several of their sacred animals from that decay and dissolution which usually ensues, on the exposure of animal substances to the action of the earth, or of the atmosphere. We learn from Herodotus,* that among the different animals which the Egyptians honoured with this peculiar mode of sepulture, were the cat, the ichneumon, the mus araneus ter- restris, the ibis, and the hawk ; but, whether this be a complete enumeration or not, it is almost impossible, at this period of time, to determine. Mummies of the hawk and of the ibis have been often drawn out of the catacombs; and Olivier asserts, that he has not only met with the bones of the mus • Euterpe. B