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Excerpt from The Mummy: Chapters on Egyptian Funereal Archaeology The chapters contained in this book were originally written to form the Introduction to the Catalogue of the Egyptian Collection in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, which I wrote for the Syndics of that institution; they are intended to supply the information necessary for understanding the object and use of the antiquities described therein. In the hope, however, that they may be of service to all such as are interested in the antiquities of Egypt, it has been decided to publish them in a separate form. The monuments and remains of ancient Egypt preserved in the great museums of Europe and Egypt are chiefly of a sepulchral character, and we owe them entirely to the belief of the Egyptians that the soul would at some period revivify the body, and to the care, consequent on this belief, with which they embalmed the bodies of their dead, so that they might resist the action of decay, and be ready for the return of the soul. The preservation of the embalmed body, or mummy, was the chief end and aim of every Egyptian who wished for everlasting life. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.