Mummy
in archæology, the name given to animal remains chemically preserved from decay by various processes of embalming. By far the larger number of mummies that have been brought to light are human, for, according to the religious law of ancient Egypt, some process of mummification was universally obligatory; but it was also the custom to embalm cats, crocodiles, ichneumons, and other sacred animals. Recent researches have established the fact that the practice was due to the belief in the necessity of preserving the body inviolate in readines in readiness for the resurrection. The Egyptian practice of mummification had a wide range in time. It is fixed at from 3800 to 4000 в. c.
The Metropolitan Museum in New York has a rich collection of mummies.
The ancient Peruvians practiced a kind of mummification; and the Guanches, the aborigines of the Canaries, employed a method of embalming similar to that of