Mary Roache’s book Stiff is an interesting read on a very touchy topic (cadavers). Here’s an excerpt that describes a particularly strange cadaver-related item:
In the grand bazaars of twelfth-century Arabia, it was occasionally possible, if you knew where to look and you had a lot of cash and a tote bag you didn’t care about, to procure an item known as mellified man. The verb “to mellify” comes from the Latin for honey, mel. Mellified man was dead human remains steeped in honey. Its other name was “human mummy confection,” though this is misleading, for, unlike other honey-steeped Middle Eastern confections, this one did not get served for dessert. One administered it topically and, I am sorry to say, orally as medicine.
Sounds like something that might have shown up on the dessert menu in an Indiana Jones movie.
0 Responses
Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.