Egyptian belief and modern thought / by James Bonwick.

  • James Bonwick
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Egyptian belief and modern thought / by James Bonwick. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    39/474 (page 25)
    % of gold leaf, having eyes encrusted with enamel, and evi- dently intended for a portrait. Preparatory to the rolling up in cloth, compresses were placed between the legs, under the arm-pits, etc. The hair was often most care- fully attended to. We see plaited tresses and flowing locks of the natural order, as well as wigs, which prevailed in the most ancient of times. Though Mr. Pettigrew, who wrote so fully upon mum- mies, speaks of cotton forming the material for wrapping, Dr. Birch and others conclude linen, with few exceptions, to have been the material. Wool has been discovered on the bodies of some workmen in eastern Egypt. The quan- tity of linen used is occasionally very great. In one case, 700 yards were unrolled ; and in another, a thousand ells, weighing 29^ lbs. As many as forty-six folds have been seen. Dr. Granville writes, “ There is not a single form of bandage known to modern surgery, of which far better and cleverer examples are not seen in the swathings of the Egyptian mummies. The strips of linen are found with- out a single joint, extending to a thousand yards in length.” The coarsest stuff was put next the body. A border of blue colour may line the linen. Hieroglyphics are sometimes found near the selvage. Some pieces are 44 inches from selvage to selvage. Others, again, are as narrow as 6 inches, though 21 feet in length. While the rich would have new material, and of the finest quality, the poor were content with rougher and cheaper, or even coloured, and, it may be, the former clothing of the indi- vidual ; in one instance, the wrapper was found well patched up. / Over the linen wrapper is, especially in the Fayoum, the cartonage, on which delicate designs are traced. This is of layers, a score or more thicknesses of cloth, pressed and glued together, so taking the name and appearance of