NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. -- Dr. Jonathan Elias, director of exhibits and programs at the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts in Harrisburg, will talk about his recent studies on Westminster's 2,300-year-old mummy April 13, at 6:30 p.m. in Phillips Lecture Hall located in the Hoyt Science Resources Center.Elias' talk, ""Egypt's Eternal Patients: Recent CT-scan Exploration of Egyptian Mummies," focuses on several scientific studies on Westminster's mummy, Pesed, including radio-carbon dating, x-rays, and a CT scan. These non-invasive studies were undertaken to solve some of the mysteries of the mummy and to determine if she is related to mummies in a Buffalo, N.Y., museum and at the College of Wooster."CT-scans performed on two ancient Egyptian mummies provide a basis for understanding the health and wellness profiles of women in ancient Egypt, and reveal interesting connections between the practice of magic and medicine in Ptolemaic times," Elias says.The Westminster mummy is approximately 2,300 years, old and is believed to be the mummy of Lady Pesed Ma Rheres, single daughter of Heshor, priest of Khem, and his wife Lady Urt. According to radio carbon dating of Psed's linen wrappings, her mummification took place some time between 200 and 220 B.C. She was interred in a vast necropolis at the city of Akhmim, Egypt.Westminster obtained the mummy in 1885, when she was donated to the College by the Rev. John Griffen, a 1872 Westminster graduate who was working as a missionary in Egypt.Some quick facts about the Westminster mummy:It cost more to ship the mummy to the U.S. ($18) than to purchase it ($8).The mummy's first trip off campus was to Greenville, Pa., in February 1886. She spent two weeks as part of the Citizen's Hose Co. Exposition.The under side of the mummy case lid has graffiti in the form of student names scratched into the wood. The earliest dated 1899.The head has been severed from the body, and legend has it that it was not unusual for the head, or the entire body, to appear in some coed's bed during the early 1900s.As recently as 1980, some local high school students were involved in an abortive attempt to steal the mummy.The mummy has had four different residences on campus: Old Main Memorial, Mary Thompson Science Hall, McGill Library, and the Hoyt Science Resources Center (Mack Science Library).Originally thought to have been a teenager at the time of her death, Pesed is believed to have lived to an age of 55 to 65. Elias received his master's and Ph.D. from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. His doctoral studies focused on the use of magical texts on Egyptian coffins after the end of the New Kingdom. He became interested in the culture of the Akhmim region of Egypt after working on mummies from that area and became increasingly involved in museum exhibit development and in research on ancient regional Egyptian populations. Currently, he is working to organize the Akhmim Studies Consortium, to encourage the use of CT scan technology as a fundamental tool of scholarship on Ptolemaic era mummies.The event is sponsored by Beta Beta Beta, Westminster's student biology honor society. It is free and open to the public.Founded in 1852 and related to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Westminster College is ranked among national leaders in graduation rate performance, according to U.S. News Guide to America's Best Colleges, and is one of the most affordable national liberal arts colleges in Pennsylvania.Nearly 1,600 students benefit from individualized attention from dedicated faculty, while choosing from 40 majors and nearly 100 organizations on the campus.The mummy is on display in the Mack Library in Hoyt Science Resources Center.A virtual tour with animated CT scans and images of the mummy is available online:www.westminster.edu/about/mummy/mummy_overview.cfmVisit Westminster College: www.westminster.edu"