It is one of the best preserved mummies in the world: Rozalia Lombardo, a two-year-old. The young Sicilian girl, died of pneumonia in the year of 1920 and is known as Sleeping Beauty.
"It seems like that there is an somnolent state under the glass on her coffin” which is located in the underground tombs of Cappuccino in Palermo, Italy.
National Geographic reports that an Italian biological anthropologist, Dario Piombino, has found the secret formula that has kept the body of the Sleeping Beauty so well.
Piombino had seeked the living relatives of the deceased in the year 1933 Salafiya Alfredo. He was known for his ability to embalm bodies and other such things. Exploring documentation of Salafiya, the Italian anthropologist discovered a short handwritten note in which he has described the chemicals which are injected into the body of the small Rozalia, chemicals such as: formalin, Zinc salts, alcohol, salicylic acid and glycerin.
Formalin now widely used in funerals is a mixture of formaldehyde and water, which kills bacteria. Salafiya was one of the first people who used it for mummification of bodies. Alcohol, along with dry conditions in ground water Tombs have resulted in drying the body of Rozalia and resulted in mummification. Glycerin, in turn, has prevented the body to be dried too much, and salicylic acid prevented the development of fungi.
According to Melissa Johnson Williams, executive director of the American Association of Еmbalmment, zinc salts are more responsible for extent of the body's preservation. Zinc is no longer used by the American Association of Еmbalmment.
"Zinc has given its stiffness, " said Williams, adding: "You can take her out of the coffin and she will stand alone."
