a body embalmed or dried, in the manner used by the ancient Egyptians; 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 putrefaction: these are frequently found in the sands of Libya. Some imagine, that these are the bodies of deceased people buried there on purpose to keep them entire 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 mummies are bodies taken out of the catacombs near Cairo, in which the Egyptians deposited their dead after embalming. See EMBALMING. We have two different substances preserved for medicinal use under the name of mummy, though both in some degree 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. The 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 spungy, 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 disagreeable 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 inflammable, and yielding a scent of myrrh and aromatic ingredients while burning. This, if we cannot be content without medicines 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 mummies are brought from Egypt. But we are not to imagine, that any body breaks up the real Egyptian mummies, to sell them in pieces to the druggists, as they 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 plentiful 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 exhale, and the embalming matter has penetrated so thoroughly that the flesh will keep and bear transporting into Europe. Mummy has been esteemed resolvent and balsamic; but whatever virtues have been attributed to it, seem to be such as depend more upon the ingredients used in preparing the flesh than in the flesh itself; and it would surely be better to give those ingredients without so shocking an addition.

There are found in Poland a kind of natural mummies, or human bodies preserved without the assistance of art. These lie in considerable numbers in some of the vast caverns in that country. They are dried with the flesh and skin shrunk up almost close to the bones, and are of a blackish colour. In the wars which several ages ago laid waste that country, it was common for parties of the weaker side to retire into these caves, where their enemies, if they found them out, suffocated them by burning straw, &c., at the mouth of the cavern, and then left the bodies; which, being out of the way of injuries from common accidents, have lain there ever since.

Mineral Mummy. See Pissaphaltum.

Mummy, among gardeners, a kind of wax used in grafting and planting the roots of trees, made in the following manner: Take one pound of black pitch, and a quarter of a pound of turpentine; put them together into an earthen pot, and set them on fire in the open air, holding something in your hand to cover and quench the mixture in time, which is to be alternately lighted and quenched till all the nitrous and volatile parts be evaporated. To this a little common wax is to be added; and the composition is then to be set by for use.