Mellification
Mellified man ( lat . Mel " honey ") refers to a process in which a human body in honey macerated is.
Mellification in burial culture
Honey was used in the burial culture of various cultures: For example, Burmese priests preserve famous abbots in coffins filled with honey. Even Alexander the Great said to have been preserved after his death in honey.
The preserving effect of honey is explained by its low water content, which has a drying effect through osmosis , its relatively low pH value and the various antibiotic substances it contains.
Mellification in Chinese Medicine
The body preserved by honey is found as a medicine in the materia medica of traditional Chinese medicine . However, an actual application has not been proven.
Origins of the process
The mellified corpse is mentioned as a remedy in the Ben cao gang mu (本草綱目, book of healing herbs ) by the Chinese pharmacist Li Shi Zhen (李时珍) from the 16th century. In it, Li describes how older men in Arabia undergo mellification towards the end of their lives in order to serve as a cure for others. The process is described in the last chapter (52, “Man as Medicine”). However, Li also writes that he is not sure whether mellification is actually practiced.
Process of mellification
In his work, Li describes that the mellification process should ideally begin during his lifetime: A mellification candidate should regularly bathe in honey and only feed on honey until his excretions ( urine , stool and sweat) consisted only of honey. After he died from this diet, his body was placed in a stone sarcophagus that was filled with honey. After about a century, the body is said to have turned into a substance that is said to have been suitable for treating broken bones . A mellified mummy is said to have achieved a very high price due to its elaborate production and its rarity.
Mummies as medicines
The existence of mellification for medicinal purposes has not been proven. However, mummies were used in medicine under the designation mumia (or Mumia vera ægyptica ) as a remedy for a large number of diseases until the early 20th century. Some authors suggest a connection between the European, Arab and Chinese use of mummified corpses for medical purposes.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Phongyi Pyan, the Cremation of a Monk - Myanmar Culture. In: myanmars.net. Accessed December 31, 2014 .
- ↑ Wahdan H: Causes of the antimicrobial activity of honey . In: Infection . 26, No. 1, 1998, pp. 26-31. doi : 10.1007 / BF02768748 . PMID 9505176 .
- ↑ Honey as an Antimicrobial Agent . Waikato Honey Research Unit. November 16, 2006. Retrieved June 2, 2007.
- ^ A b Bernard Emms Read: Chinese materia medica: Animal drugs . Peking natural history bulletin, 1932 (Retrieved October 9, 2010).
- ^ A b Mary Roach: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers . WW Norton & Co, 2003, ISBN 978-0-393-05093-6 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
- ^ Nicolas Le Fèvre: A Compleat Body of Chymistry, tr. Traicté de la chymie . Readex Microprint, 1664.
- ^ Pierre Pomet: A Compleat History of Druggs . London, 1737.
- ^ AC Wootton: Chronicles of Pharmacy . Macmillan, 1910.
- ^ CJS Thompson: The Mystery and Art of the apothecary . JB Lippincott Company , 1929.