Egyptian sepulchral and other ornaments.

These are interesting as illustrative of the Egyptian art of remote period.  These fragments occupy no less than twenty-four cases (77-102).  In the first case (77) the visitor should notice the coffin of the mummy Cleopatra, ornamented on the outside with ordinary emblematical drawings and on the inside with a Greek zodiac.  The three next cases (78-80) are filled with sepulchral tablets representing various Egyptian divinities, among which the embalmer of the dead, Anubis, ever figures prominently.  The cases marked 81, 82, are filled with a collection of rings of ivory, jasper, and cornelian; gold, silver, and porcelain earrings and bracelets; signets with scarabaei, or sacred beetles, in gold, silver, bronze, and some of the Graeco-Egyptian period, in iron; necklaces, ornamented with various religious symbols, in gold, jasper, amethyst; and in the 83rd case are some specimens of old Egyptian glass.  The next six cases (84-89) are entirely devoted to sepulchral ornaments, including sepulchral tablets showing priests adoring the sun, scenes of the embalmment of the dead, and devotees adoring their favourite deities; pectoral plates; patches from the network outer coverings of mummies, including the popular scarabaei, wings, sceptres headed with, the lotus flower, and the crowns of upper and lower Egypt, all in porcelain—­all taken from the coffins of various mummies.  Case 90 contains the coffin of the archon of Thebes, Soter, with the hawk of the sun on the top, and the judgment scenes of the Amenti on the sides.  The next three cases (91-93) are filled with more specimens of Egyptian ornaments, including four sides of a sepulchral box in wood (92), and sepulchral tablets.  The three cases next in succession (94-96) are filled with amulets of all kinds, chiefly in the form of the scarabaeus, cut in stone.  The scarabaeus of the Egyptians was an emblem of the Divinity, which the devout wore about their necks, and hung round the necks of their dead relatives, as in the present day an effigy of the Virgin rests often upon the cold breast of a Catholic corpse.  As the visitor will perceive, the collection of amulets comprehends representations of various sacred animals, including the hedgehog.  They are, in some cases, nearly four thousand years old.  The collection of scarabaei includes one recording the marriage of Amenophis III. to Queen Taia, and several bearing the name of Rameses, or Sesostris, according to the Greeks.  These ornaments are in various substances; the more valuable being in cornelian, and basalt.  The following three cases (97-99) contain sepulchral tablets in wood, with various sacred drawings upon them; and in the 100th case are inclosed the sepulchral scarabaei, usually engraved with a prayer, and found inserted in the folds of mummy bandages.  Several are costly, as for instance that marked 7875 of green jaspyr, said to have been extracted from the coffin of King Enantef.  The next two cases (101, 102) contain various interesting fragments from mummies, including plain scarabaei and other symbolic amulets, and ornaments inscribed with the names of early Egyptian kings.  Having noticed these revelations of Egypt’s sepulchres, the visitor should turn at once to the eastern wall cases in which he will find a vast collection of