Researchers use CT scan to study mummy whose body turned to soap
In the 19th century an obese woman died of yellow fever and her body changed almost entirely to soap. The Soap Lady, who was discovered by workers removing bodies from an old burial yard, had died in the late 1700s.
The phenomenon is called adipocere. That is what scientist call the process that turns some corpses into a waxy, soap-like substance.
Gerald Conlogue, a Quinnipiac University professor of diagnostic imaging said the results of a CT scan on the body will give researchers greater understanding of saponification, the chemical conversion of fat into adipocere.
Saponification is an unusual occurrence, dependent on factors such as humidity, temperature, the presence of clothing and bacterial activity. The fatter the person, the greater the chance saponification will occur.
The body of a woman named Ellenbogen, now known as "Soap Lady" and has had her fat ass on display for more than a century at the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia.
The Mutter Museum once was a haven for medical students in now a tourist attraction featuring thousands of medical oddities. The Mutter was founded in 1849 by the Philadelphia College of Physicians, which still operates it. Its exhibits include malformed skeletons, a 27-foot-long human colon and a plaster cast of the famous Siamese twins, Chang and Eng Bunker. Damn, I guess everything I ever needed to know about soap I did learn from Fight Club.
In the 19th century an obese woman died of yellow fever and her body changed almost entirely to soap. The Soap Lady, who was discovered by workers removing bodies from an old burial yard, had died in the late 1700s.
