An Italian family whose two-year-old daughter died on December 6, 1920, chose to retain her body after her death from pneumonia. The father of the child, Rosalia Lombardo, was deeply saddened. He wanted to keep her body close. She is known as the "sleeping beauty".
mummification
At that time, alchemist and Italian scientist Alfredo Salvia, who was in charge of embalming chemicals, was famous. Whoever looks at this baby may already believe that she is only asleep, and will not think she is stuffed and drained of her internal organs. Her father was entrusted with the task of preserving her body for this world, which is one of the best preserved bodies in the catacombs of Palermo in Sicily.
Salvia has used a special mixture. First replace her blood with formalin fluid to kill bacteria, alcohol to dry the body, glycerin to prevent dehydration, salicylic acid to kill fungus, zinc salts to soften the body. In addition, he used a wax solvent injected into the skin parts of the dead skin to restore to normal shape.
It is the most successful embalming done by this Italian world. But the curious part of Rosalia's story is that some visitors noticed opening her eyes and closing them. The scientific explanation is that this happens because of visual illusion when the sun is reflected on its body, where the glass coffin is next to the window.
Source:
http://www.littlethings.com/rosalia-lombardo-90-years/