تويت
Street vendor selling mummies in Egypt, 1865 .
During the Victorian era of the 1800's, mummies were not respected. Mummies could be purchased from street vendors. The elites of the era would often hold "mummy unwrapping" parties. Also, during that period mummys were routinely ground into a powder and consumed as a medicinal remedy.
As the Industrial Revolution progressed, huge numbers of Egyptian mummies were ground up and shipped to Britain and Germany for use as fertilizer. Mummies were also exported to the US for use in the paper-making industry. The author Mark Twain even reported that mummies were burnt in Egypt as locomotive fuel. In the nineteenth century, so wealthy European and American private collectors began purchasing mummies as tourist souvenirs. For those who could not afford a whole mummy, vendors would sell hands or a foot. Mummy Mia!!