cure

While ancient history boasts a host of grisly medical recipes, one of the most intriguing and elaborate was the mellified man, a human being mummified into honey candy, which was then used to mend broken and wounded limbs. The practice is mentioned in Chinese medical sources, in particular in the definitive 16th-century medical encyclopedia, Bencau Gangmu by Li-Shih-chen. The remedy was not a Chinese one, however. According to Li-Shih-chen it was an ancient Arabic practice. Making a mellified man involved an elderly male volunteer, 70 to 80 years old, who agreed to sacrifice himself for the greater good. He gave up eating anything other than honey and bathed in it every day. After about a month, his insides and excretions