The discovery of the Salafia handwritten manuscript and formula Chronological and biological

Alfredo Salafia (1869-1933) was a famous embalmer from Palermo, Sicily. He created an embalming fluid, the «Perfection fluid», which was supposed to leave the corpse perfectly preserved in a «fresh state». Within the remit of the Human Embalming Project© (H.E.P.), we performed referenced historical research on Salafia’s American period. We further identified what appears to be an anomaly in the chronology of the discovery of the Sicilian embalmer’s handwritten memoirs. Until now it has been assumed that the formula was first revealed in 2009. However, Salafia’s unpublished manuscript had previously been described and reported by Professor Umberto Di Cristina (1927-2017) and his colleagues in their book La Dimora delle Anime, published in February 2007. Therefore, they should have the honour of being described as the first to reveal it. We further found that the direct association between the embalming of Rosalia Lombardo (1918-1920) and Alfredo Salafia made by several authors is without documentary and scientific evidence. Fourteen years after its discovery, Alfredo Salafia´s handwritten memoirs are still published only in excerpts but await complete publication. When published, it may allow the scientific community to understand the chemical reactions involved in the preservation of the bodies in a «fresh state» and to replicate Salafia’s experiments in safe laboratory conditions. Recent photographs show that, despite being kept in a highly technological passive display case, the oxidation proceeds at a quick pace and that Rosalia’s face is progressively darkening. Therefore, a reassessment of Rosalia´s body preservation and restoration is strongly desired in order to keep this beautiful mummy in her original state

Benchè siano trascorsi quattordici anni dalla scoperta del manoscritto inedito del Salafia, ad oggi, sono stati pubblicati solo alcuni estratti.La pubblicazione integrale del manoscritto permetterà alla comunità scientifica di valutare, nel dettaglio, le reazioni chimiche alla base del processo che ha garantito la conservazione dei corpi «allo stato permanentemente fresco».Consentirà, inoltre, di riprodurre, in adeguate condizioni di laboratorio, l'imbalsamazione secondo il «metodo Salafia».Nonostante il corpo di Rosalia Lombardo sia conservato in una teca altamente tecnologica, le recenti fotografie del volto della bambina mostrano come il processo di ossidazione proceda rapidamente e il suo viso si stia progressivamente scurendo.Di conseguenza, sarebbe auspicabile che il corpo di Rosalia venisse riesaminato in tempi brevi per valutarne lo stato di conservazione; sarebbe altresì auspicabile programmarne un restauro in modo da mantenere inalterata l'originaria bellezza di questo reperto.Key words: embalming, history, Alfredo Salafia, 19 th -20 th centuries, US Trademark, modern mummies, Rosalia Lombardo.Summary -Alfredo Salafia (1869-1933) was a famous embalmer from Palermo, Sicily.He created an embalming fluid, the «Perfection fluid», which was supposed to leave the corpse perfectly preserved in a «fresh state».Within the remit of the Human Embalming Project© (H.E.P.), we performed referenced historical research on Salafia's American period.We further identified what appears to be an anomaly in the chronology of the discovery of the Sicilian embalmer's handwritten memoirs.Until now it has been assumed that the formula was first revealed in 2009.However, Salafia's unpublished manuscript had previously been described and reported by Professor Umberto Di Cristina  and his colleagues in their book La Dimora delle Anime, published in February 2007.Therefore, they should have the honour of being described as the first to reveal it.We further found that the direct association between the embalming of Rosalia Lombardo (1918Lombardo ( -1920) ) and Alfredo Salafia made by several authors is without documentary and scientific evidence.Fourteen years after its discovery, Alfredo Salafia´s handwritten memoirs are still published only in excerpts but await complete publication.When published, it may allow the scientific community to understand the chemical reactions involved in the preservation of the bodies in a «fresh state» and to replicate Salafia's experiments in safe laboratory conditions.Recent photographs show that, despite being kept in a highly technological passive display case, the oxidation proceeds at a quick pace and that Rosalia's face is progressively darkening.Therefore, a reassessment of Rosalia´s body preservation and restoration is strongly desired in order to keep this beautiful mummy in her original state.
The Sicilian embalmer Alfredo Salafia  Human embalming, as a scientific discipline, requires knowledge of anatomy, anatomical pathology, palaeopathology and forensic science.During early history of humankind, the development of various embalming techniques has been associated with ancient cultures.However, from the 17 th century onwards, the history of embalming was dominated by the work of exceptional scientists.The Dutch anatomist Frederyk Ruysch (1638-1731) along with the biologist Jan Swammerdam (1637-1680) were the first to inject embalming fluids into the vasculature for corpse fixation (Brenner, 2014, 316-344).
At the turn of the 19 th and 20 th centuries, the Sicilian embalmer Alfredo Salafia (1869-1933) was a renowned figure in Palermo.In his younger years he had developed a new embalming method allowing the corpse to be maintained in a «fresh state» over a long period of time (Johnson et al., 1993, 64).
When  -B).His registered host was his nephew Achille Salomone, a licensed funeral director (Johnson et al., 1993, 64).Alfredo Salafia's stay in America was quite short.Piombino-Mascali and Johnson-Williams (Piombino-Mascali, 2009;third edition 2012, 47;Piombino-Mascali and Johnson-Williams, 2009, 54) reported that Salafia returned to Palermo in July 1910, but did not produce any documentary evidence.While we know that Alfredo Salafia never went back to the U.S.A. through Ellis Island Port (email dated the 18 th of May 2021 by Mr. Barry Moreno, The Bob Hope Memorial Library Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration, Statue of Liberty National Monument, New York, USA), we still have not found documentary evidence of the exact date of his return to Palermo in 1910.
Publicly available photographs confirm that, between 1911 and 1914, Salafia embalmed several important personages and notables in Palermo (Johnson et al., 1993, 67;Piombino-Mascali and Johnson-Williams, 2009, 54).No information about Salafia is available during WWI (1914WWI ( -1918)).It is known that, in late 1927, he performed his last embalming activity (Piombino-Mascali and Johnson-Williams, 2009, 55).From 1927 till his death, Salafia apparently disappeared from public life.Archival sources indicate that, after the death of his first wife, he remarried, his second wife being Irene Sofia Elena Virga, aged 34, on the 27 th October 1932 (Registro degli atti di matrimonio, 1932).He died 3 months later on the 31 th of January 1933 (Registro degli atti di morte, 1933).The formula of his embalming liquid, the «Perfection fluid», was never revealed.

Alfredo Salafia's handwritten memoirs
Although Alfredo Salafia fathered two children during his first marriage, all documents and his handwritten unpublished memoirs remained with his second wife.After her death, they were kept by her descendants (Di Cristina  16, 191116, . Public domain. et al., 2007, 90), 90).
In March 2009, Piombino-Mascali et al. (2009, 355-357) reported on the discovery of Salafia's handwritten manuscript -«New special method for the preservation of an entire human cadaver in a permanently fresh state» -which mentioned also the embalming formula.At the time of the above publication, the unpublished Salafia's memoirs were held at the Institute for the Mummies and the Iceman, EURAC, Bolzano (Italy) (Piombino-Mascali et al., 2009, 356) but no full publication of the manuscript was made available for scholarship.The same information was published by Piombino-Mascali and Johnson-Williams in a second paper in March 2009 (Piombino-Mascali and Johnson-Williams, 2009, 52-55).

Chronological anomaly
In their article dated March 2009, Piombino-Mascali et al. (2009, 355) stated that: «In 2007, after a detailed archival research and the subsequent interview of some living relatives, we were fortunate enough to be able to inspect some relevant material which belonged to this embalmer.Among his notes and papers was an unpublished, beautifully handwritten manuscript, entitled "New special method for the preservation of an entire human cadaver in a permanently fresh state"».
In addition, it is important to underline that, in Il Maestro del Sonno Eterno, the author mentions «the finding of the [Salafia] manuscript» [il ritrovamento del manoscritto, Piombino-Mascali, 2009;third edition 2012, 51)].It was PD Dr. Albert R. Zink, Director of the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman, EURAC (Bozen, Italy) who wrote in the book's preface the following statement: «…the author's main merit is to have discovered an original manuscript by Salafia» («[il] maggior merito dell'autore è quello di aver scoperto un manoscritto originale di Salafia») (Piombino-Mascali, 2009;third edition 2012, 15).A subsequent article (Panzer et al., 2013, 401) added more details on the date of the discovery: «[in] September 2007, a handwritten memoir by Salafia revealed the «secret» formula of his preservative».
This version of the discovery is additionally stated in the 2016 Italianlanguage monograph Ötzi, Tutankhamon, Evita Perón: Cosa ci Rivelano le Mummie (Zink, 2016, 92): «[un] nostro collaboratore è riuscito a trovare un manoscritto di Alfredo Salafia nel quale era contenuta una precisa descrizione della formula segreta» [a collaborator of ours managed to find a manuscript by Alfredo Salafia which contained a precise description of the secret formula].
However, the existence of an unpublished handwritten manuscript by Alfredo Salafia had already been noted by Di Cristina and colleagues in their book entitled La Dimora delle Anime, published in February 2007 (Di Cristina et al., 2007, 90).They mentioned that the manuscript was kept by the descendants of Salafia's second wife.More specifically, Di Cristina et al. (2007) wrote (see Appendix) that, in his handwritten memoirs, Salafia described his embalming method [nel trattato descrive il suo metodo], and that the memoirs consisted of about 30 handwritten sheets [circa 30 fogli manoscritti] (Di Cristina et al., 2007, 90).In 2010, Lanza made reference to the existence of Di Cristina et al.'s book (Lanza, 2010, 49).
Prof. Di Cristina  was the first person to have had access to Salafia's unpublished manuscript.However, according to the Sicilian lay press, the descendants of Salafia's second wife allowed him to see only the manuscript's frontispiece but not the part of it dealing with the embalming technique [di cui qualche anno fa i famigliari fecero vedere solo il frontespizio e non anche la parte relativa alla tecnica al Professor Di Cristina] (Sidoti, 2010).However, by seeing exclusively its frontispiece, Prof. Di Cristina would not have been able to be so precise in recording the number of pages of the manuscript nor on its contents (e.g.detail of the names of some famous people embalmed by Salafia, cf.see Appendix).It is important to underline that the discovery of Salafia's manuscript by Di Cristina et al. ' Therefore Salafia's handwritten manuscript was not discovered for the first time in September 2007.Hence, we suggest that the late Professor Umberto Di Cristina, along with his co-authors, should be rightfully honoured as the first scholars who revealed to the scientific community the existence and the content of Salafia's handwritten memoirs.His name and contribution should be recognised in the international scientific literature on the Sicilian mummies and Alfredo Salafia.
The second anomaly we identified concerns the direct attribution of Rosalia Lombardo's embalming (Figs.3A-B) to the caring hands of Alfredo Salafia.This association was first presented by Johnson et al. in 1993Johnson et al. in (1993, 25), 25).Quoting the authors: «....in one chapel repository for children and infant's bodies, there is a glass-topped coffin containing a two years old girl, Rosalia Lombardo, embalmed by Alfredo Salafia.Appearance and color of the face and head would have led one to believe she had been dead at most a few days.Comparison photographs taken in 1920 and within the past year or two no visible change».Johnson et al. (1993, 24) claimed that a photograph of Rosalia Lombardo dating to 1920 exists.However, their claim has never been supported by the publication of the 1920 photograph and no source was cited.
In the 1998 edition of the book Modern Mummies (1998, 50), Quigley wrote that «Rosalia Lombardo is probably the most famous and perhaps the youngest of Dr. Alfredo Salafia's clients» but reference to a documental source is lacking.«However, his most celebrated case is indeed Rosalia Lombardo.She is still on display in the Palermo Capuchin Catacombs in the original glass-topped coffin which she was placed.Her face is all that is visible with the rest of the body covered by a sheet, and shows a remarkable state of preservation…despite the fact that her face has recently turned darker presumably due to oxidation.A recent X-ray examination (the X-rays were performed on July 2008 but the scientific results were published 2 years later in Panzer et al., 2010Panzer et al., , 1126Panzer et al., , 1130Panzer et al., -1131) ) helped to establish that the tissue covered by the cloth and the internal organs are beautifully preserved with the exception of the medial thighs, which seem to have degraded».
Similarly, a further association between Rosalia Lombardo (1918)(1919)(1920)) and the discovery of the manuscript was proposed by Piombino-Mascali et al. (2009, 355-357), thus, implying that, indeed, Alfredo Salafia was the embalmer of the little child.The same view was further reiterated when the coffin containing the body of Rosalia underwent a Multidetector Computed Tomography in December 2010 (Panzer et al., 2013, 401): «Rosalia Lombardo reportedly died of bronchopneumonia in 1920 and was preserved by the embalmer and taxidermist Alfredo Salafia».
The authors (Panzer et al., 2013, 404) further added that the «analysis of the CT examination revealed indirect indicators for the historically-reported endovascular treatment of Rosalia's body».However, it should be pointed out that there are no published documentary, archival or photographic sources which support the claim that Alfredo Salafia embalmed Rosalia Lombardo.As to the sentence «the historically-reported endovascular treatment» (Panzer et al., 2012, 404), this attribution is based on some vague hints existing in the archives of the Capuchin Convent in Palermo.These were most cursorily mentioned by Father Flaviano Domenico Farella in his book Cenni storici della Chiesa e delle Catacombe dei Cappuccini di Palermo (Farella, 1982, 101-102).This topic was, subsequently, described in more detail by Piombino-Mascali in Il Maestro del Sonno eterno (Piombino-Mascali, 2009;third edition 2012, 60).
According to Piombino-Mascali (Piombino-Mascali, 2009; third edition 2012, 60), there exists a letter that Father Liberato of Palermo (Ugo Saitta) wrote in 1991.Father Liberato quoted some memories attributed to Giovanni of Aliminusa (Giuseppe Todesco), a lay friar who died in 1964.Giovanni of Aliminusa stated that he had assisted in the embalming of Rosalia Lombardo and saw a man called «Solafia» making injections in Rosalia Lombardo's head and putting a bottle inside her coffin.Following Piombino-Mascali (Piombino-Mascali, 2009;third edition 2012, 60), it is more likely that Giovanni of Aliminusa assisted only in the final stages of Rosalia's embalming which took place in the Catacombs.
According to Piombino-Mascali, a similar account can be found in the notes of Father Salvatore of Gangi (Antonio Cigno who died in 1995) (Piombino-Mascali, 2009;third edition 2012, 60).None of the above documents has been published and no precise reference to their exact location and code numbers in the Capuchins archives has been reported.Piombino-Mascali himself states that it is impossible to establish the reliability of the above accounts ([s]tabilire l'attendibilità della narrazione è impossibile) (Piombino-Mascali, 2009;third edition 2012, 60).Father Domenico F. Farella further wrote that since the physician «Solafia» died and the Lombardo family moved from Palermo, the mummy of Rosalia was allowed to stay in the Capuchin Crypts (Farella, 1982, 101-102).Since Alfredo Salafia did not die in 1920 but in 1933, all the above references appear scientifically weak or at least contradictory.Concerning the CT scan investigations, Panzer et al. (2013, 402) wrote: «Rosalia Lombardo's body is still exhibited in the original glass-topped coffin in which she was placed.Only her head is visible; the rest of the body is covered by a (black) sheet.Her face shows a remarkable state of preservation-she still looks as though she is alive and sleeping.In the past few years, however, signs of oxidation and decay have become more obvious.Specifically, the child's hair and accompanying textile have become lighter, while her face has darkened and shrunk».Panzer et al. further wrote: (2013, 402): «CT was believed to the best nondestructive method to investigate Rosalia because she had to be kept untouched in her sealed coffin, in order to maintain the preservation of the body».Concerning the embalming procedure, Panzer et al. (2013, 406) added: «Salafia specified the femoral artery as the preferred injection point.He discouraged the use of the carotid and axillary arteries as possible injection sites due to the rigor mortis.As far as the evaluation of CT data was possible due to artifacts, we could not find soft tissue cuts or other defects that indicate a possible injection site» and «…there was no evidence that embalming fluid has been injected intra-muscularly or inter-muscularly all over the body, which Salafia had described using for same cases.Also, we could not find clear evidence of the application of a paraffin treatment although it seems very likely that this treatment was used, considering how perfectly preserved Rosalia's face appears to be» (Panzer et al., 2013, 407), and «in general the organ preservation seen in Rosalia Lombardo is the result of an extemely effective treatment by embalming fluid, in which intracranial and intrathoracal structures were probably only treated endovascularly, while intra-abdominal organs were treated endovascularly and externally, via cavity treatment.Therefore, the ingredients of the embalming fluid were effective in stopping early decay and preventing further decomposition, allowing excellent preservation of the body to the present day» (Panzer et al., 2013, 407).
The results of the paleoimaging showed no scientific evidence to support the notion that Rosalia Lombardo was embalmed by Alfedo Salafia.Similarly, it is not scientifically proved that the «Perfection Fluid» was injected into her vascular system through the femoral artery or through any other artery (i.e.carotid arteries, axillary arteries), using a gravity injector.Similarly, no evidence of intra-or inter-muscular injection sites was found.Only a «defect» of the navel was found but was not described.The authors wrote that this «defect» is consistent with a local treatment of the abdominal cavity (Panzer et al., 2013, 406-407).
However, even if a treatment of the abdominal cavity had occurred through the insertion of a cannula in the navel, this action alone would not explain how the rest of the body was embalmed.Finally, no biochemical investigations were performed on the child's mummy to verify whether the embalming substance used to treat her really corresponded to Salafia's «Perfection Fluid» (Nerlich and Bianucci, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1614-6_20-1).

Closing remarks and future perspectives
One hundred years after her death, Rosalia Lombardo's case is still open.Based upon the anomalies highlighted in the present paper, it is desirable that a complete edition of the original Salafia manuscript is published in order to provide the scientific community with a full understanding of the underlying chemical reactions required to obtain a «perfect preservation of human cadavers in the fresh state».Furthermore, an in-depth reassessment Rosalia Lombardo's mummy should be planned in the near future.The mummy should be removed from the coffin and undressed in order to perform an accurate morphological and macroscopical observation of the whole corpse.Then, the mummy should undergo CT scanning and mini-invasive sampling of biological tissues and textiles.The reason why the infant was not removed from her wooden casket between 2007 and 2011 remains unclear.Piombino-Mascali and Johnson-Williams (2009, 55) declared that: «she (Rosalia) is still on display in the Palermo Capuchin Catacombs in the original glass-topped coffin which she was placed».This sentence is not correct.As a matter of fact, there is ample evidence that Rosalia's mummy was exposed, more than once, without being covered by the black shroud.Over the past 40 years, different persons witnessed the child being exposed for public display with different coloured dresses and bows.
In the Seventies, one of the authors (TL) and her mother, saw Rosalia Lombardo's entire body dressed in blue and with a blue bow matching her dress (Lanza, 2010, 44).In 1998, Quigley (1998, 54) quotes the content of a letter addressed to her by John Strausbaugh, editor of the New York Press and dated February 1996: «I had the impression she was something of a star attraction-there are few small signs on the walls leading you to her-and that there may be some local-saint sort of tradition attached to her, which would not be surprising, given her remarkable state of preservation».Quigley continues: «Rosalia is displayed at a slight angle in a small casket with a transparent top.She is wearing a light colored, frilly dress, and her reddish-brown hair is arranged in ringlets» and quoting John Strausbaugh (February 1996): «she is startlingly well preserved-looks asleep rather than dead, not shrunken or shriveled or dried at all, though it does have a faintly sickly yellowish cast to it… She looks like she could be ill, but she doesn't look dead, and she certainly doesn't look like she has been dead for years».
In 2000, Andrea Peers, an American student of the University of Massachussets (Amherst), who paid a visit to the Palermo's Catacombs with her class mates, describes the striking differences between the mummy of Rosalia Lombardo and that of the other mummified bodies (https://www.umass.edu/journal/sicilyprogram/Sicily2000/portfolio/peers/article.html)(Lanza, 2010, 44): «But the body of Rosalia was not a skeleton at all.She looked like she was figure in a museum.She lays in her case, eyes shut, as if sleeping.Her face was still rosy with color; her blue dress perfectly fit on her small body.Her blond locks of curly hair remained in place with a blue bow that matched her dress.Her glass coffin was showered with roses of different colors.She resembled a porcelain doll in her box, a collector's item never opened, never touched, never disturbed».
Lastly , in 2003 (2003, 140), Corsani writes: «…Tutte tranne una.Miracolosamente colorata; di un colore un po' pesto, come rinforzato dal fard, ma certo vivo, caldo, poroso, rispetto al bianco e nero allucinante delle altre salme.È una bambina, la piccola Rosalia Lombardo.Con il suo vestitino pesca, i capelli biondi e perfino il fiocco giallo in testa, se non fosse in una bara, e in questo posto sembrerebbe addormentata.E invece sta qui nelle catacombe dal 1920…» [All but one.Miraculously coloured; the complexion of her face appears a bit livid as she was coloured with a fard but vivid, lifelike, and porous if compared to the hallucinating black and white of the other corpses.She is a child, the little Rosalia Lombardo.With her peach-coloured dress, her blonde hair held by a yellow ribbon, if she were not in a coffin, and in this place she would look asleep.Intead she has been here in the catacombs since 1920].
These testimonies strongly suggest that Rosalia's glass top was removed several times and the black shroud covering her body was removed.Over the decades, Rosalia Lombardo's body was manipulated to change her dress and bow.All the above information reinforces our idea that, between 2007 and 2011, Rosalia's mummy could have been carefully removed from her coffin and thoroughly examined.
Having established that Rosalia's mummy underwent several manipulations, it would be important to verify whether, underneath the black shroud, her body had originally been wrapped in white shroud.In one of the few published «extracts» of Alfredo Salafia's memoirs (Piombino-Mascali, 2009;third edition 2012, 57), it is stated that: «La salma avvolta in un lenzuolo bianco… Poi un lenzuolo nero dovrebbe coprire la salma…in modo che resterebbe nuda solo la testa, e dare all'osservatore l'illusione di trovarsi alla presenza di uno che dorme» [the corpse (has) to be wrapped in a white shroud… Subsequently, a black shroud shall be positioned to cover the body…so that only the head is visible and give to the observer the illusion to look at someone who is sleeping].In case the two shrouds were present, it would be important to verify whether they were both repeatedly washed over the decades.In the latter case, a huge amount of information on the child's embalming technique would have been lost forever.
In 2011, the coffin containing Rosalia's mummy was placed into a passive controlled atmoshere display case (Samadelli et al., 2019, 152) to slow down the oxidation process.Apparently, the process of degradation progressively developed after the 2000s.In 2000, Andrea Peers describes Rosalia as follows: «She lays in her case, eyes shut, as if sleeping.Her face was still rosy with color…» (https://www.umass.edu/journal/sicilyprogram/Sicily2000/portfolio/peers/article.html).
aged 40 years old, Alfredo Salafia moved to New York City.On the 21 st December 1909 he embarked, in Naples, on the ship Caronia [Passenger ID: 101254030016; Frame: 108; Line number: 16] landing in Ellis Island on the 2 nd January 1910 (The Statue of Liberty -Ellis Island Foundation Incorporation, http://www.statueofliberty.orgAccessed May 7 th 2021) (Figs.1A

Fig. 1A .
Fig. 1A.List or Manifest of Alien Passenger for the U.S.A. reports the departure of Alfredo Salafia from Naples, Italy, on the 21 st December 1909.Reproduced with permission.

Fig. 1B .
Fig. 1B.List or Manifest of Alien Passenger for the U.S.A. reports the arrival of Alfredo Salafia at Ellis Island, New, York, U.S.A. on the 2 nd January 1910.Reproduced with permission.

Fig. 3A .
Fig. 3A.Rosalia Lombardo in an old postcard (scan copy of postcard from FMG's personal archive).
s seems not to have been a mystery at all.In the monograph Il Maestro del Sonno Eterno (Piombino-Mascali, 2009; third edition 2012, 118), Di Cristina et al.'s 2007 book is referenced, and Umberto Di Cristina himself is acknowledged.