Plate [XI]., Fig. 2. (Cat. 842.) Head of a man of about fifty years of age, with a broad but very low and receding forehead. The nose is very large, and strongly aquiline, the teeth vertical and much worn, the cheek bones prominent, and the whole face remarkable for harshness of expression. A little brown hair remains on the occiput.—I. C. 85 cubic inches. Semitic form.
This head possesses great interest, on account of its decided Hebrew features, of which many examples are extant upon the monuments.
(Cat. 886.) Head of a man of fifty? small but well proportioned throughout. The teeth, which are vertical, are remarkably worn by attrition.—I. C. 76 cubic inches. Egyptian form.
Plate [XII]., Figs. 1, 2. (Cat. 845.) An oval head with a full forehead, and long aquiline nose. The orbits are far apart, and the balls replaced with bone, on which the iris is distinctly painted. The hair, which is cut short, is fine and straight.—I. C. 73 cubic inches. This head has something of the Semitic character, both as respects configuration and expression, and I class it, though with some hesitation, with that series.
TWO HEADS OF LUNATICS, FROM THEBES.
Wood-cut 1. (Cat. 841.) An elongated head, with a very receding forehead, long, aquiline nose, and large, ponderous jaws, which project so as to reduce the facial angle to about 65°. This person has been embalmed with evident care, but with the mouth open, the tongue protruded, and the eyelids raised, giving a frightfully vacant expression to the whole countenance, and leaving no reasonable doubt that this is the head of an idiot. A little hair remains, which is remarkably fine, and encroaches on the eyebrows.
Wood-cut 2. (Cat. 863.) Another idiotic head, embalmed also with the mouth open and the tongue partially protruded. The cranium is long, the forehead low and receding, the face remarkably prominent, and the whole expression, as in the former instance, to the last degree vacant and repulsive. I presume that no one accustomed to comparisons of this nature can examine these heads, without agreeing with me in opinion as to their position in the intellectual scale. It may appear, and, indeed, is surprising, that two idiotic heads should be found among one hundred taken at random from the catacombs; and I can only explain the fact by supposing that a particular tomb was reserved for this unfortunate class of persons; and that the Arab servant employed by Mr. Gliddon, in his explorations at Thebes, invaded by chance this very sanctum. It is well known that idiotic persons have, in all ages, been regarded with a certain degree of veneration in the East; and hence their remains would be likely, in Egypt, to be carefully preserved after death. In examining Professor Rosellini’s plates, I find a solitary example of an idiot, whose head is represented in the annexed diagram; and it is curious to remark, that the sagacity of the Egyptian artist has admirably adapted this man’s vocation to his intellectual developments, for he is employed in stirring the fire of a blacksmith’s shop. This singular effigy is seen at Thebes.