[Mr. J. W. Parkin,1 of Rundle-street,2 has a sample of mummy wheat, which was forwarded to him by Baron von Mueller, of Melbourne. It will be remembered that the grains of wheat from which the mummy variety sprang were found in the hands of a mummy in one of the Pyramids, and although more than 2,000 years had elapsed since the grain was placed in the keeping of the Egyptian, when the grains were planted they germinated, and in the course of time will no doubt supply modern humanity with a portion of their staff of life.3]
John William Parkin (1842-1882). manager of the drapery business of his uncle William Parkin (1801-1889).
Adelaide.
'The myth that wheat, peas, bulbs and other plants could germinate after millennia spent sealed in ancient Egyptian tombs was a popular and pervasive one in the nineteenth and early twentieth century in countries including Britain, France, the United States, Canada and Australia where the revitalised grain was claimed to provide extraordinarily rich yields' (Moshenska (2017)). It is not known from whom M obtained the descendants of the wheat supposedly found in Egyptian tombs.
Letter not found. The text given here is from Express and telegraph (Adelaide), 7 June 1880, p.2, col. c; the same text appeared in South Australian chronicle and weekly mail, 12 June 1880, p. 22. M's letter is dated to early June as the latest date that it could have been sent to be displayed and reported on 7 June.
Please cite as “FVM-80-06-00c,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora†, J.H. Voigt† and Monika Wells accessed on