Precocious

through Impressionism, Cubism and campbell soup cans. The art world never stands still, but beyond the images themselves, how they're made has also changed. Those cave paintings were done using ground up minerals like ochre and charcoal. Artists like Rembrandt and van Gogh worked in paints made of linseed oil

and pigments to achieve their signature looks. But in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries a different material was introduced to the process, and by today's standards, its origin was highly unusual and controversial. It all started with the ancient Greeks and their use of a thing called bitumin. It was a black, viscous substance that was utilized in various applications,

from construction to curing the common toothache. We also used bitumen today, but mainly for paving roads and filling in potholes, as bitumin is commonly known as asphalt to the Greeks, though, it was a miracle substance typically found seeping from the ground throughout Persia. One twelfth century physician, though, wrote a lot about ancient Egypt and a substance that he mistakenly believed was also bitumen. You see, he had seen the blackened nature of the embalmed bodies there, and he thought

that they had been coated in it. In the event the natural supply, ever grew scarce, he claimed the viable substitute for bitumen could be harvested from these ancient Egyptian corpses. In reality, that black substance on them was just the embalming materials that had darkened over time, giving them their unique coloring. Persians had their own word for bitumen, which

they called mum or mamma. This word was also found in Arabic, and if it sounds familiar, that's because the words specifically applied to the kind of bitumen that came from Egyptian bodies. Eventually, mamma became the term we know today mummy due to the widely held belief that bitumen had medicinal properties. Though an extensive mummy trade was established between Egypt and Europe, it grew quite big during the sixteenth century, with imported mummies being ground up into powders

for various tinctures and the lixers. The use of mummies in medicine all but died out in the late seventeen hundreds, but many were still in circulation across Europe. Some were collected by the wealthy, while others were desecrated for entertainment purposes. Unwrapping parties even became popular, where mummified remains had their shrouds and wrappings removed so that the bodies inside could be examined by the gathered audience. But it was the art world that found a new way to use an

old material, the ground up mummy. A powder that had been used in various medical applications was now being mixed in with oils and water colors to create a new pigment known as mummy brown. And while mummy brown did first appear during the sixteenth century, it really hit it big. A few hundred years later, artists like Edward Burne Jones

and Martin Drolling used it in their paintings. Those who preferred it enjoyed how it behaved against the canvas, but as times changed, so did attitudes around the mummy trade. For one, other artists and critics found the pigments origins to be off putting. After all, trafficking in mummies was a vulgar act that disrespected the dead. Burns Jones had believed that the name was simply a descriptor and not

an indication of the contents within the tube. What a fellow artist and member of his emily confirmed it was true, and the realization offended Edwards so much he went and buried his tube of mummy brown in his garden. Among those who helped with the burial was his nephew, who was visiting him for Christmas. Though he was a young man at the time, he would go on to great acclaim as a prominent writer in the nineteen and twenty

centuries that young man Rudyard Kipling. In addition to the colors providence, the quality of the paint could also not be guaranteed. Not all mummies were created equally, it seems, and so while one tube of brown paint might be perfect, another might be rendered unusable. By the twentieth century, mummy brown was over, but mummy brown still exists today. The only difference now is that it's made from different minerals

easily found in nature and not graves. Proof that sometimes a curious history can also be a little bit colorful. We don't realize it as it's happening, but our children grow up right before our eyes. One moment their babies depending on us for every diaper change and bottle feeding, and the next moment they're getting married and starting families of their own. And somewhere in between they grow, they develop personalities and pick up things like mannerisms and beliefs

from the people around them, parents, teachers, siblings, friends. Everyone contributes something to who they become. Like Madaline. She was born Marie Madeleine Gera in seventy eight in a suburb of Montreal, Canada. Her father, Francois, was a soldier who arrived in town in sixteen sixty five to fight in

the Beaver Wars against the Iroquois people. Four years later, he married Marie Perrault, and then moved to a plot of land along the St. Lawrence River, and the couple did well for themselves, with Francois becoming quite the landholder, while Marie raised a dozen children, of which Madeleine was the fourth oldest. Now, the Beaver Wars carried on in some capacity for about a hundred years, with new battles

cropping up every now and then. The Iroquois fur trade had been destroyed by the Algonquins and their French backers, sparking a lengthy fight between the two sides. On one occasion, Madeleine's mother even helped stave off an attack on the fort where they lived, thanks to the help of four other soldiers. But in six two, when she was only fourteen years old, Madeleine was forced to step up to the front lines. Both her mother and her father had

left town to attend to business and gather supplies. While they were gone, the children stayed back at the fort with several others. Meanwhile, the Iroquois had arrived in town, looting and setting fire to people's homes. Despite the threat, a few of the people from the fort set out into the fields to do some work, and eight soldiers followed for protection. Madeleine stayed close by, tending to the cabbage garden, and that's when the Iroquois act, capturing the

men in the fields before heading toward the fort. Madeleine ran back, chased by one of the Iroquois who got close enough to grab the scarf around her shoulders. Thinking fast, she untied it and darted inside the fourth shouting to arms to arms. The small garrison inside wouldn't be enough to fend off the incoming forces, but Madaline wasn't about

to give up. She picked up a musket and fired shots from different points around the fort and told others to do the same, and then she shot off a cannon, a signal to other forts that they were under attack and in need of reinforcements. Her goal was to make as much noise as possible to fool the Iroquois into thinking the fort was fully armed with soldiers at the ready, and they bought it. They hid on the outskirts of the trees and bushes, along with the settlers they had

taken prisoner. Not long after, a canoe was seen drifting down the river toward them. On board was a family by the last name of Fontaine. Someone had to go and retrieve them before they too were taken captive, but none of the soldiers were willing to leave the fort, so fourteen year old Madeleine volunteered. She snuck out and helped the family get back to safety. She and her siblings and the others inside literally held down the fort over the next eight days, and then on the ninth day,

Madeleine was greeted by a welcome sight. A group of forty frenchmen had arrived from Montreal to help defend them. She ordered the gate open and rushed out to greet them. To their leader, Monsieur de la Monteree. She said, Sir, I surrender my arms to you, and allowed him to take command of the fort. They managed to run off the attacking Iroquois as well as rescue the captured settlers,

just as her parents were returning home. For her service, Madeleine received a pension for the rest of her life bestowed upon her by none other than the King of France himself, and a statue was erected in her honor along the river bank where she risked her life to help save the lives of others, lasting proof that heroes come in all shapes and sizes, and I'll ages too. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet

of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can learn all about it over at the World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.