MUMMY, a body embalmed, or dried, in the manlier used by the ancient Egyp tians : or the composition with which it is embalmed. There are two kinds of bodies denominated mummies : the first are only carcases dried by the heat of the sun, and by that means kept from putre faction : these are frequently found in the sands of Lybia. Some imagine, that these are the bodies of deceased people., buried there on purpose to keep them en tire without embalming ; others think they are the carcases of travellers, who have been overwhelmed by the clouds of sand raised by the hurricanes frequent in those deserts. The second kind of mum mies are bodies taken out of the-,cata combs, near Cairo, in which the Egyp tians deposited their dead, after embalm ing. For a further account of mummies, and the manner of embalmingdead bodies, see EMBALMING We have two different substances pre served for medicinal use under the name of mummy, though both in some de gree of the same origin : the one is the dried and preserved flesh of human bodies, embalmed with myrrh and spices; the other is the liquor running from such mummies, when newly prepared, or when affected by great heat or damps. This latter is sometimes in a liquid, sometimes of a solid form, as it is preserved in vials well stopped, or suffered to dry and harden in the air. The first kind of mummy is brought to us in large pieces, of a lax and friable texture, light and spongy, of a blackish brown colour, and often damp and clammy on the surface : it is of a strong but disagreeable smell. The second kind of mummy, in its liquid state, is a thick opaque and viscous fluid, of a blackish colour, but not disagreea ble smell. In its indurated state, it is a dry solid substance, of a fine shining black colour, and close texture, easily broken, and of a good smell ; very inflam mableeand yielding a scent of myrrh and aromatic ingredients while burning. This, if we cannot be content without medi cines from our own bodies, ought to be the mummy used in the shops ; but it is very scarce and dear, while the other is so cheap, that it will always be most in use.
All these kinds of mummy are brought from Egypt, but we are not to imagine that any body breaks up the real Egyp tian mummies, to sell them in pieces to the druggists, as they may make a much better market of them in Europe whole, when they can contrive to get them. What our druggists are supplied with is the flesh of executed criminals, or of any other bodies the Jews can get, who fill them with the common bitumen, so plen. tiful in that part of the world ; and adding a little aloes, and two or three other cheap ingredients, send them to be baked in an oven, till the juices are exhaled, and the embalming matter has penetrated so thoroughly that the flesh will keep, and bear transporting into Europe. Mummy has been esteemed resolvent and balsa mic; but whatever virtues have been at tributed to it seem to be such, as depend more upon the ingredients used in prepar ing the flesh, than in the flesh itself; and it would be surely better to give those ingredients without so shocking an addi tion.
Besides the mummy, the human body has been made to furnish many other sub stances for medicinal purposes. Thus, the skull has been celebrated for its imaginary virtues against the diseases of the head ; the very moss growing on the skulls of human skeletons has been sup posed to possess anti-epileptic virtues ; the fat of the human body has been re commended as good in rheumatisms ; and the blood, and, in short, every other part or humour of the body, have, at one time or other, been in repute for the cure of some disease ; but at present we are grown wise enough to know, that the virtues ascribed to the parts of the human body are either imaginary, or such as may -be found in other animal substances. The mummy and skull alone, of all these horrid medicines, retain their places in the shops ; and it were to be wished that they too were rejected.