Mumia Vera Aegyptiaca: Remedies in Occidental Apothecaries - Exhibits in a Materia Medica Collection

Mumia Vera Aegyptiaca: Remedies in Occidental Apothecaries - Exhibits in a Materia Medica Collection Sabine Bernschneider-Reif Whenever a collection on the history of pharmacology has a Materia Medica section, special interest is usually attracted by vessels with the inscription “MUMIA”. Our initial association with this term – a dead body preserved from decay by a complicated process of c onservation – forms part of strange and remote advanced civilizations. Throughout the ages any study of the practice has been marked by amazement and aversion, a yearning for more profound wisdom, fascination and indeed an urge to make sense of such an exotic world. We now find i t difficult to grasp that anyone should have wanted to use this “substance” f or cur ative purposes. Getting close to it involved coming to terms with death, and death produced a substance that was believed to contain the power to combat it. Researching this phenomenon may well have correlated with a quest for the spectacular – something which apparently had to be countered with an urgent pursuit of scientific rigor. A large number of studies are available, providing interpretative paradigms for the use of this remedy. Virtually no publication f ails to point out that the drug continued to be traded in 1924, quoting a price list from E. Merck Darmstadt. Considering that Merck had such a major position on the research scene, why did it have this substance in its product range? This study is based on material from the Merck archives. They include a glass case entitled “Mumia Vera Aegyptiaca” with heads, feet and other body parts. By determining the age of the finds, the mummified parts were dated 263 BC. Computer-tomographic studies proved that they are Egyptian skulls. Do the parts contain remainders of a basic pharmaceutical substance? Were they taken for study purposes? This article reports on the comparative research that has so far been conducted.