To these three benefits which the book confers on the deceased we should add a fourth: viz., complete preservation from dismemberment and decay. There is evidently in some of the prayers a remembrance of a time when the deceased were dismembered at their burial; and this way of treating the corpse is for the deceased an object of horror. The frequent mention of reconstituting the body, the promises that no part of it shall be taken away, all this shows of what supreme importance it was for him that his body should remain intact. Without a well preserved body there could be no life in the other world; its destruction implies the destruction of the whole individual. This belief is the origin of mummification, for decay is the strongest agent of dismemberment and the certain ruin of the body. These are the outlines of the principal tenets of the Book of the Dead. If we inquire where they originated, there is no doubt that the bulk of the book came from Heliopolis. It is the doctrine of that ancient city and of its priests. Some of the chapters may be attributed to the priests at Abydos, as M. Maspero suggests; but it seems certain that, except for a small part, the birthplace of the Book of the Dead is the city of Ra Tmu, the place connected with the oldest religious traditions of the country, and which may rightly be called the religious capital of Egypt. _January, 1904._ EDOUARD NAVILLE. ----- Footnote 1: See _Introductory Note to Chapter CXL_. Footnote 2: The Hibbert Lectures, 1879, p. 172. Footnote 3: See also _Life Work_, t. III, p. 51, “The title of the Book of the Dead,” and p. 59, “The Egyptian Book of the Dead.” Footnote 4: _Das Aegyptische Todtenbuch der XVIII bis XX Dynastie_, zusammengestellt und herausgegeben von Edouard Naville, Berlin, 1886. BOOK OF THE DEAD. CHAPTER I. (1.)_The Beginning of the Chapters of Coming forth by Day, of the_ (2.)_Words which bring about Resurrection and Glory, and of Coming out of and entering into Amenta. Said upon the Day of Burial of_ N, _the Victorious,_(3.) _who entereth after coming forth_.(4.) _Here is_ N _the Victorious. He saith_— O (5.)Bull of Amenta, It is Thoth, the everlasting King, who is here. I am the great god in the Bark, who have fought for thee. I am one of those gods, the (6.)Powers who effect the triumph of Osiris over his adversaries on the day of the Weighing of the Words: I am thy kinsman, Osiris. I am one of those gods to whom Nut hath given birth, who slay the adversaries of Osiris and imprison the (7.)Sebau, on his behalf: I am thy kinsman, Horus. I have fought for thee, and have prevailed for thy name. I am Thoth who effect the triumph of Osiris over his adversaries on that day of Weighing of the Words in the (8.)House of the Prince, which is in Heliopolis. I am (9.)Tatti, the son of Tatti, conceived in Tattu and born in Tattu; and Tattu is my name.