THEORY EXPLODED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26199, 9 July 1946, Page 6

THEORY EXPLODED

MUMMY WHEAT MYTH VIABILITY LIMIT PASSED COLD LIGHT OF SCIENCE In a recent talk in the British Broadcasting Corporation’s oversea* service, Mr H. J. Bunker, M.A., F.R.1.C., exploded what he termed the “ Mummy Wheat Myth,” explaining that authenticated experiments had proved the complete .absence of any germinating powers in wheat taken from ancient tombs.

“ From time to time,” said Mr Bunker, “ we read of claims that wheat grains and other seeds recovered from ancient tombs have been planted, and, in spite of great antiquity, have grown to produce fine, healthy plants. An “Assisted” Experiment “ These stories are usually put out in perfectly good faith. A few years ago an Englishman of unimpeachable honesty brought home from Egypt some seeds which were undoubtedly genuine; it was quite certain that they were several thousands of years old. The man had these seeds planted in his garden, and to the amazement of those in the know, they produced a very fine crop of plants, indistinguishable from modern varieties. On further investigation, however, it was found that the man’s gardener, thinking it most unlikely that the poorlooking seeds his employer had brought home from Egypt would produce much of a show, nad planted modern seeds alongside the old, in order;,, as he said, not to disappoint his employer! The deception was certainly wellmeant. ‘Mummy grains and seeds taken from ancient Egyptian tombs and of undoubted authenticity have,” the speaker said, "from time to time, been planted under strict scientific supervision, and it can definitely be said that whenever this has been done, in no single instance has any of this seed or grain ever germinated. Such are the facts, disappointing though they may be.” What, then, Mr Bunker asked, were the actual facts as regards the longevity of seeds? Naturally, it varied immensely with different types of seeds, and, without going into great detail, he gave interesting cases cited by Dr Ramsbottom. keeper of the Botany Department at the British Museum of Natural History at South Kensington. As the result of air-raid damage to the herbarium of the museum in 1940, the seeds of some plants got damp, including a type of mimosa which had been brought home from China in 1793. In spite of their long sleep of 147 years in the herbarium, the seeds germinated. But this was not the record. A seed of the sacred lotus plant of the Nile (Nelumbium speciosum) was treated with concentrated sulphuric acid and then with water, and in a matter of a few hours it germinated, and was actually still growing at Kew Gardens. This specimen was known to have been collected 237 years ago. This was the longest period of seed viability of which they were absolutely certain. It was true that certain seeds of the same plant taken from peat deposits in Manchuria were germinated, and these deposits were thought to be 300 to 400 years old, but they could not be certain. "We do not know,” the speaker went on, “what determines the ultimate length of life of seeds, or why there is any limit to their viability. So far. we only known that the toughest, do not normally germinate after 200 or 300 years Tutankhamen’s Tomb “Perhaps one of the most interesting tests which has been done on the length of life of seeds or spores was a little experiment I was able to carry out some years back when Tutankhamen’s tomb was discovered. It occurred to some of us that here we had a case of a tomb which had definitely not been opened for over 3000 years, so that we would have an opportunity of seeing whether bacterial spores (which are highly resistant) or indeed any- other form of life had managed to survive 30 centuries of dormancy. So when the inner chamber of the tomb, embodying the golden shrines round the royal sarcophagus, was opened, sterile swabs which we had sent out from England were wiped on the walls and on various objects in the chamber. They were then sent home to us for bacteriological examination. In every case the contents proved to be sterile. Indeed, the same applied to the various mould fungi and insects which were also found in the tomb—all were dead. The last spark of life had gone out some time during those 3000 years. “So the cold facts of science have shattered these two stories about mummy wheat and disease-producing microbes living on in the tombs of the Pharaohs,” Mr Bunker concluded. “It might have been more exciting had the wheat grain germinated to a living plant or the bacteriological spore to an active culture, but science only recognises one kind of romance—that of truth. It was Thomas Huxley who said, “A tragedy is a beautiful theory killed by a fact,” and unfortunately such tragedies have to happen every day in the world of science.”