Mummification

MUMMIFICATION (from French momification—transformation into a mummy), the drying of a corpse or individual dead parts in a living organism. Mummy is an Arabic word meaning 'asphalt'. The phenomenon of corpse mummification has been known since ancient times. The ancient Egyptians embalmed and mummified, i.e., dried corpses, doing so for religious beliefs and partly for sanitary purposes. The Egyptians could have come to the idea that corpses could be preserved for a long time in a dried state thanks to accidental finds of natural mummies of people and animals in the dry soil of sandy deserts near Egypt. Descriptions of the preparation of mummies by the ancient Egyptians are found in Herodotus and in Diodorus Siculus (see Embalming of corpses). In the artificial preparation of mummies, which aimed to dry the corpse of an adult while preserving the tissues and organs as much as possible, it was necessary to stop or weaken the process of decomposition, for which the Egyptians used aromatic substances and salts. Historians do not mention asphalt, with which they impregnated the corpses and filled its cavities; the latter, however, was clarified during the examination of Egyptian mummies. Ancient mummies have been preserved not only thanks to the special skill of ancient embalmers but also thanks to the dry and warm climate of Egypt; many of the mummies brought to Europe later began to deteriorate and disintegrate when kept in damp museum rooms. Under natural conditions, the process of corpse decomposition can deviate from its normal course and be delayed, with the tissues of the corpse undergoing drying; this leads to the mummification of the corpse. Upon examination of such natural mummies, it is noted that all or almost all internal organs are absent, while the skeleton, skin, muscles (mainly intermuscular connective tissue), tendons, ligaments, and in places the connective tissue basis of internal organs have been preserved. In the mummification of a corpse, the lack of water in it plays the main role; therefore, dry heated air and air draft, which enhances the evaporation of moisture from the corpse, should contribute to its drying. The transformation of a corpse into a mummy (natural) is based mainly on the rapid excretion and drying of fluids, which creates conditions unfavorable for the vital activity of putrefactive bacteria (for more on natural mummification—see Mummy). Similar to air-heat mummification, some organic and inorganic compounds can act, such as quicklime (Bokarius), tar. Raestrup describes a case of mummification concerning a young man who threw himself into a pit with hot tar; after 21 years, the entire body was thoroughly impregnated with tar and thus mummified. In the process of natural mummification, it is preceded by decomposition, during which, in addition to the colliquation of internal organs, there is to a greater or lesser degree the disintegration of the external coverings, and the corpse is disfigured. The use of preservative fluids to stop or weaken the decomposition of the corpse helps preserve the integrity of the tissues and organs of the corpse. Mummified corpses retain all the forms of the body; their color is brownish, dark brown; the surface is dry and hard. The tissues of mummified corpses are so dry that not a single drop of moisture can be squeezed out of them even with the most powerful hydraulic press. Complete general drying of a corpse in a temperate climate is observed quite rarely, but it is a frequent phenomenon in hot countries, in loose soil (sand). Fourcroy and Thouret found mummified corpses in Parisian common graves and in the cemeteries of Piedmont. - The mummification of corpses located in crypts or in dry, well-ventilated rooms (attics, flues, ventilation shafts) is observed more often than in earth graves. In addition to external factors, individual peculiarities also contribute to the drying of corpses. Children's corpses mummify more easily than adult corpses; there are known cases of complete mummification of infants' corpses within a few months. For the same transformation of an adult corpse, a longer time is required; it can be noted that the corpses of lean, anemic, exhausted people dry out faster than the corpses of fat people. The assertion that corpses of people poisoned with arsenic easily undergo mummification is disputed by Kratter. In a forensic medical sense, mummification sometimes makes it possible to establish certain circumstances (of interest to the investigation) on exhumed corpses after a long time. Under unchanging conditions, formed mummies can be preserved for centuries and even millennia (Egyptian mummies). Therefore, the question of the time of death on mummified corpses cannot be resolved. - Among the changes that a fetus can undergo after its death in the mother's womb, mummification is observed; during this process, the fetus dries out and shrivels, the skin takes on a brown color, tightly adheres to the muscles, and the body cavities are dry. Mummification of the fetus occurs mostly in cases where the dead fetus is retained in the uterus deprived of amniotic fluid, as well as in some cases of fetal death in ectopic pregnancy. For its development, fetal mummification requires a long time. If under the influence of pressure the fetus simultaneously with mummification is flattened, it becomes thin as paper (foetus papyraceus); this phenomenon is relatively common if in a twin pregnancy one of the twins dies in the first months, and the other—a living, healthy fetus—continues to develop normally, exerting mechanical pressure on the deceased fetus. On the mummification of dead parts in a living organism—see Gangrene.