Editing Mummy (section)

== Treatment of ancient mummies in modern times ==
[[File:Félix Bonfils - Mumienhändler.png|thumb|Egyptian mummy seller in 1875]]
[[File:Albarello MUMIA 18Jh.jpg|thumb|An 18th century [[albarello]] used for storing ''[[mummia]]'']]

In the [[Middle Ages]], based on a mistranslation from the [[Arabic language|Arabic]] term for bitumen, it was thought that mummies possessed healing properties. As a result, it became common practice to grind Egyptian mummies into a powder to be sold and used as medicine. When actual mummies became unavailable, the [[Desiccation|sun-desiccated]] corpses of criminals, slaves and [[Suicide|suicidal]] people were substituted by mendacious merchants.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/B/bodies/cases/case18.html | title = What was mummy medicine? | access-date =8 February 2008 | publisher = [[Channel 4]] }}</ref> [[Francis Bacon]] and [[Robert Boyle]] recommended them for healing [[bruises]] and preventing [[bleeding]]. The trade in mummies seems to have been frowned upon by [[Ottoman Egypt|Turkish authorities]] who ruled Egypt – several Egyptians were imprisoned for boiling mummies to make oil in 1424. However, mummies were in high demand in Europe and it was possible to buy them for the right amount of money. John Snaderson, an English tradesman who visited Egypt in the 16th century shipped six hundred pounds of mummy back to England.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Elliott |first1=Chris |title=Bandages, Bitumen, Bodies and Business – Egyptian mummies as raw materials |journal=Aegyptiaca |date=2017 |issue=1 |page=27 |url=https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/aegyp/article/view/40163/33822 |access-date=17 June 2019}}</ref>

The practice developed into a wide-scale business that flourished until the late 16th century. Two centuries ago, mummies were still believed to have medicinal properties to stop bleeding, and were sold as [[pharmaceutical drug|pharmaceuticals]] in powdered form as in [[mellified man]].<ref name="Daly unwrapping">{{cite journal |last=Daly |first=N. |year=1994 |title=That Obscure Object of Desire: Victorian Commodity Culture and Fictions of the Mummy |journal=Novel: A Forum on Fiction |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=24–51 |doi=10.2307/1345912 |jstor=1345912}}</ref> Artists also made use of Egyptian mummies; a brownish pigment known as [[mummy brown]], based on ''[[mummia]]'' (sometimes called alternatively ''[[caput mortuum (pigment)|caput mortuum]]'', Latin for ''death's head''), which was originally obtained by grinding human and animal Egyptian mummies. It was most popular in the 17th century, but was discontinued in the early 19th century when its composition became generally known to artists who replaced the said pigment by a totally different blend -but keeping the original name, mummia or mummy brown-yielding a similar tint and based on ground minerals (oxides and fired earths) and or blends of powdered gums and oleoresins (such as myrrh and frankincense) as well as ground bitumen. These blends appeared on the market as forgeries of powdered mummy pigment but were ultimately considered as acceptable replacements, once antique mummies were no longer permitted to be destroyed.<ref>[http://kremer-pigmente.de/mumie.htm Mumie – nicht lieferbar!] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120215033915/http://www.kremer-pigmente.de/mumie.htm |date=15 February 2012 }} article by Kremer Pigmente GmbH & Co NYC, (in German).</ref> Many thousands of mummified cats were also sent from Egypt to England to be processed for use in [[fertilizer]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Wake |first=Jehanne |author-link=Jehanne Wake |title=Kleinwort, Benson: the history of two families in banking |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford [Oxfordshire] |year=1997 |isbn=0-19-828299-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qm1fHrcgZuoC&q=mummified+cats+fertilizer&pg=RA1-PA118 }}</ref>

During the 19th century, following the discovery of the first tombs and artifacts in Egypt, egyptology was a huge fad in Europe, especially in [[Victorian era|Victorian England]]. European aristocrats would occasionally entertain themselves by purchasing mummies, having them unwrapped, and holding observation sessions.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Moshenka |first1=Gabriel |title=Unrolling Egyptian Mummies in Nineteenth-Century Britain |journal=The British Journal for the History of Science |date=2013 |url=https://www.academia.edu/5038351 |access-date=17 August 2019}}</ref><ref name="Daly unwrapping" /> The pioneer of this kind of entertainment in Britain was [[Thomas Pettigrew]] known as "Mummy" Pettigrew due to his work.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Moshenska |first1=Gabriel |title=Unrolling Egyptian Mummies in Nineteenth-Century Britain |journal=The British Journal for the History of Science |date=2013 |url=https://www.academia.edu/5038351 |access-date=4 September 2019}}</ref> Such unrolling sessions destroyed hundreds of mummies, because the exposure to the air caused them to disintegrate.

The use of mummies as [[fuel]] for [[steam locomotive|locomotives]] was documented by [[Mark Twain]] (likely as a joke or humor),<ref name="Straight">{{cite web | url = http://www.straightdope.com/columns/020222.html | publisher = [[The Straight Dope]] | title = Do Egyptians burn mummies as fuel? | date = 22 February 2002 | access-date =16 March 2008 }}</ref> but the truth of the story remains debatable. During the [[American Civil War]], mummy-wrapping linens were said to have been used to manufacture paper.<ref name="Straight" /><ref name="Capital Weekly">{{cite news |last=Pronovost |first=Michelle |url=http://www.mainecoastnow.com/articles/2005/03/17/capitalweekly/local_news/n6mummy.txt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101106183429/http://www.mainecoastnow.com/articles/2005/03/17/capitalweekly/local_news/n6mummy.txt |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 November 2010 |access-date=16 March 2008 |date=17 March 2005 |publisher=[[Capital Weekly]] |title=Necessity of paper was the 'mummy' of invention}}</ref> Evidence for the reality of these claims is still equivocal.<ref name="Baker">{{cite book |last=Baker |first=Nicholson |author-link=Nicholson Baker |title=''Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper'' |year=2001 |publisher=Random House |location=New York |isbn=0-375-50444-3|title-link=Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper }}</ref><ref name="Dane">{{cite journal |last=Dane |first=Joseph A. |year=1995 |title=The Curse of the Mummy Paper |journal=Printing History |volume=17 |pages=18–25 }}</ref> Researcher [[Ben Radford]] reports that, in her book ''The Mummy Congress'', Heather Pringle writes: "No mummy expert has ever been able to authenticate the story ... Twain seems to be the only published source – and a rather suspect one at that". Pringle also writes that there is no evidence for the "[[mummy paper]]" either. Radford also says that many journalists have not done a good job with their research, and while it is true that mummies were often not shown respect in the 1800s, there is no evidence for this rumor.<ref name="Radford">{{cite journal |last1=Radford |first1=Ben |author-link=Ben Radford|title=Bailing in the Mummies |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |date=2019 |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=43–45}}</ref>

While mummies were used in [[medicine]], some researchers have brought into question these other uses such as making paper and paint, fueling locomotives and fertilizing land.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Elliott |first1=Chris |title=Bandages, Bitumen, Bodies and Business – Egyptian mummies as raw materials |journal=Aegyptiaca |date=2017 |issue=1 |pages= 40–46|url=https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/aegyp/article/view/40163/33822 |access-date=17 June 2019}}</ref>