Drugs made from human flesh still considered useful

Cannibalism returns. Zombie marches that may seem to be completely harmless are in vogue. Movies with scenes of cannibalism are released on a regular basis, finding real man-eaters on the Internet is not a problem. In the UK, a meat shop has recently opened, where customers can buy a piece of pork styled as any part of the human body.

Not that long ago, (in historical terms) eating human corpses, as well as making various kinds of "medicines" from human remains was common practice. People would be consumed as food, their body parts and organs would be used for all sorts of assorted drugs.

"Take a clean intact corpse of a red-haired man aged 24, who was executed not earlier than one day ago, preferably by hanging, breaking on the wheel, or impaling ... keep the body for one day and one night under the sun and the moon, then cut it into large pieces and sprinkle it with powdered myrrh and aloe, so it is not too bitter ... ". This is an excerpt from a real book of medical prescriptions, published in 1609 in Germany.

The above recipe described the process for produce Mumiyo, also known as Jew's Tar. The chemical composition of the mineralogical medication not been established so far. Rather, they prefer not to raise the subject, although some sources directly point to the cadaveric origin of it.

"Medications" made from human remains are still considered useful health-wise, probably due to the balanced content of necessary substances and microelements in the body. The tombs of Egyptian pharaohs were plundered not just because of the desire to get hold of the ancient riches. They wanted to use Egyptian mummies for the production of highly expensive medications. "Healers" harvested "Illyrian tar" from the corpses. The Egyptians used the substance both for medicinal purposes and while embalming the dead.

The enormous popularity of this drug has led to the production of Mumiyo from human corpses. The drug was produced in enormous quantities. 

Famous scientist Nicholas Lefebvre in his "Complete Book of Chemistry", published in London in 1664, recommended to soak muscles of a body of a healthy and young man in wine alcohol, and then dry them out in a cool, dry place. The muscle tissue had to be dried "to the state of corned beef, which sailors take on a long voyage."

Here is a similar recipe from the 18th century by German pharmacologist Johann Schröder. To treat arthritis and rheumatism, he recommended to cut human flesh into small pieces, add some myrrh and aloe, soak it all in wine alcohol and jerk in a dry place.

The production of Mumiyo was developing rapidly. Fresh corpses would be exhumed directly at European cemeteries ... Many digger were seriously punished for their "medical efforts." Therefore, in 1827, that is during quite civilized times, Britons William Burke and William Hare got into the habit of killing people to sell their bodies to healers. The enterprising men were caught in a couple of years. Burke was hanged and then used accordingly: his body was used for the production of drugs, wallets and tobacco pouches.

In sunny and beautiful Sicily, Italy, it was considered normal to eat your own children. Christianity did not limit the process: killing and eating a baby was possible, albeit before baptism ...

Cannibalism was recorded in Russian and Ukrainian villages even in the 20th century during Holodomor, or Great Famine. There are official documents including official statements and reports about the phenomenon. Eating human flesh was practiced in the besieged Leningrad. The found cannibals would then be executed as they were no longer considered human beings.

During the  1950s, in the Azerbaijan Institute of Medicine, a doctoral work was written on the topic of a drug obtained from human corpses - cadaverol. The drug was used for treating burns. As for Oriental cultures, religious and medical cannibalism was prospering too. Outbreaks of cannibalism that occur in times of famine, clearly show how unstable ethical standards are and how easily they can be transformed in the minds of the masses.

And when these norms get deliberately loosened under conditions of safe and fed existence, one should think of that, what it is done for.

Recently, Smithfield, the London meat market, opened a shop, where a customer could buy a human body part. On sale, there are hands, feet, ears, fingers, genitals and even whole human bodies - styled pork and beef. When buying and eating such meat, consumers destroy an internal block. There is no doubt that such people can eat human flesh in reality.

In the United States, zombie parades have become popular recently. During the recent events in Libya, anti-Gaddafi fighters ate human flesh chopped from male torsos. Many probably still remember the blood-chilling video of a Syrian "opposition" fighter eating the heart of a dead soldier. 

Anatoly Miranovsky

Pravda.Ru

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