Note D — Chapter I

In the autumn of 1839, in my journey down the Rhine, I visited Popplesdorf, near Bonn, where there is an ancient church, formerly a monastery, called “the Kreuzberg.” It is situate on a high and dry hill. I descended its vault in order to examine some two dozen of mummified monks, some of them four centuries old. They were all habited in the costume of the period, and appeared to have died at an advanced age. These are natural mummies, or the result of simple desiccation, the skin resembling leather. It is probable that we may refer to similar causes, those interesting subjects discovered three or four years ago, in a cave of the church of St. Thomas, at Strasburg, viz., the mummified bodies of the Count de Naussau (Sarsbruck) and his daughter. These relics, six hundred years old, are both habited in the costume of that epoch; the coat, small-clothes, &c., of the father, have been replaced by exact imitations, but the habits of the daughter are actually those in which she was buried, consisting of a blue silk gown, richly ornamented with lace, with diamond rings on her fingers, and jewels on her breast. The body is well preserved, with the exception of the face: bunches of silvered flowers still adorn the top of the head, arms and shoulders. The features of the Count are almost perfect. I could not observe any external signs of artificial embalming having been resorted to. The skin was of a yellowish colour. The famous mummy of St. Carlo Boromeo, in the vault of the splendid Duomo di Milano, is another remarkable instance—the body is as black and solid as an Egyptian mummy; it was removed from a cemetery in the vicinity, after having remained there many years; no artificial means had been resorted to for its preservation.

The climate and soil of Egypt have been equally efficient in preserving vegetable life. The French naturalists who accompanied the army to Egypt, sent home fruits, living seeds, and other portions of twenty different plants, including the common wheat and onion of the present day—as was proved by the germination of the seeds and roots in Europe.—Tr.