es next the skin or suspended from the neck, by a wire of gold or
other metal, or a string going through them, or worn like a ring stone
on the forefinger of the left hand; and sometimes, grasped inside of
the closed left hand. The inscriptions on them usually run from right
to left. One method of wearing them by the living, a very ancient
one, was by stringing them on a cord or a wire, so that they could be
worn as a bracelet on the wrist, a necklace around the throat, or as a
pendant to a necklace. The engraved base serving not only as an amulet
but also as the private signet of the owner. Soldiers wore them
suspended around the neck, as a talisman when going into battle and
also to instil courage in them during the fray. But the most usual
mode of mounting them by the living, was as a stone for a finger ring
on a swivel, or a wire, passing through the longitudinal perforation
and then curved into a ring shape; this was usually worn on the
forefinger of the left hand, as that finger was thought by the
Egyptians, to contain a nerve leading directly to the heart; the
engraved part was turned next to the flesh. M. Mariette says, that the
mummies of the XIth Dynasty nearly always have a scarab on the little
finger of the left hand.[55]

Sometimes they were made of baked clay or cut in steatite, with the
head of a hawk, cow, ram, dog, cat, lion, or even of a man, and such
have been found buried with the mummies. Those found on the breasts of
mummies embalmed most carefully and expensively, and in immediate
contact with the flesh, have sometimes bodies of stone with extended
wings, as if flying; these wings sometimes having been made of metal,
frequently of gold, and at other times of cut stone.[56] Those found
made of stone with extended wings, also had the latter often made of
lead or silver; when of blue pottery, the wings were generally made of
the same material.

On the lids of the outer cases of many coffins, especially of the
finest; the position over the breast of the mummy was occupied by a
large winged scarabaeus, moulded apparently, of pasteboard or of
successive layers of gummed linen, and then beautifully painted in
colors. This was to act as the protector Khepra, of the _ka_ or
immaterial vitality of the _sahu_ or mummy. The Egyptians had a
complicated psychology which we will refer to more fully hereafter.

Those within the coverings were most probably put inside of the mummy
wrappings to act as talisman,