Nicholson, Charles: Aegyptiaca (London, 1891)

ON SOME FUNEREiL HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS
FOUND AT MEMPHIS.

BY SIR CHARLES NICHOLSON, BART., D.C.L., LL.D.

(Read January 4th, 1865.)

During a short visit which I made to Cairo, in the
year 1862, I had an opportunity of purchasing from
Mr. Massara, the Dragoman of the British Consulate,
several stela?, fragments of sculpture, and other in-
cised stones. Amongst the latter were six blocks
of limestone, each about ten inches square, and of
unequal length, varying from sixteen to eighteen
inches. The material out of which they are formed
is a calcareous stone of unequal density, so that
whilst some portions are of almost flinty hardness,
and present on being fractured a jagged uneven sur-
face, other portions of the structure are so soft and
friable as to be easily scratched by the finger-nail.
With such an intractable material for working upon,
the original artist has been obliged to supply many
accidental inequalities of the surface by cement, so
as to render the surface generally smooth and fit
for the operations of the chisel. From this in-
equality in the density and structure of the material,
the fragments about to be described are in a some-
what mutilated state, and the greater part of their
surface is, moreover, unfortunately covered with a
thick crystalline effervescence, the apparent result
of slow disintegration aided by the influence of
damp.