Fig 1.
A: Count Heinrich LII Reuss-Köstritz as Royal Bavarian General Major and Adjutant of the Bavarian King, around 1806; oil portrait by Leberecht Vogel von Vogelstein [Museum und Kunstsammlung Schloss Hinterglauchau, Germany; with permission]. B. Count Heinrich LII Reuss-Köstritz around 1833 at the age of 70 years. Lithography by Hanfstaegel [Prof. Dr. A. Nerlich, München, with permission].
Fig 2.
The mummy of General Count Heinrich LII. Reuss-Köstritz in his sarcophagus (after finishing the investigation).
Fig 3.
Skull of the mummy during the investigation.
Here, particularly, the dental status can be evaluated.
Fig 4.
CT scan of the lumbar vertebra showing a localised irregularly-shaped osseous defect of L2 (arrow).
Fig 5.
Sample of the CT scans of the lungs: Here the retracted left lung shows hilar calcifications (arrow) and significant osteophytosis of the vertebrae.
Fig 6.
CT scan of a retroperitoneal mass on the right side (arrow).
Fig 7.
Coronary plain section of the CT scans with a further aspect of the cystic lesion at the retroperitoneal space (circle).
Fig 8.
CT scan of the heart showing focal ring-like calcification of one of the coronary vessels (arrow).
Fig 9.
CT scan of the skull base showing bilateral calcifications of the internal carotid artery (arrows).
Fig 10.
CT scan cross section through the thorax showing focal calcifications of the vessel wall (full arrow); note the peripheral pulmonary calcifications (dotted arrow) that occurs occasionally in this cut of the left lung.
Additionally, the shell-like irregular objects are clearly visible.
Fig 11.
The autoptically removed right (A) and left (B) lung—Macro-preparation.
Fig 12.
Macro-preparation of the autoptically removed retroperitoneal cyst.
The cyst has been incidentally opened during removal from the body.
Fig 13.
A. Histological section through the mummy’s skin. Despite the loss of the superficial epidermis the collagen matrix of the dermis is excellently preserved. (H&E); bar = 1.000 μm. B. Histological view of a small arteriole of the subcutaneous skin tissue of the mummy. Again, very well-preserved structures are present. There is no evidence for vascular narrowing (microangiopathy) (Elastica-van Gieson stain); bar = 200 μm.
Fig 14.
Histological section of hilar nodular condensation of the right lung showing scar-like fibrosis and significant anthracosis.
Despite decalcification prior to the preparation there are unfortunately some artefacts from the calcifications (H&E); bar = 200 μm.
Fig 15.
A: Histological section of peripheral lung parenchyma of the right upper lobe showing post mortem condensed lung alveoli. (H&E); bar = 30 μm. B: At the right lower lobe a comparable histological section to Fig 15A reveals extensive intra-alveolar proteinaceous exudation (yellow material) (Elastica-van Gieson stain); bar = 30 μm. The stars indicate the condensed intraalveolar protein material.
Fig 16.
Histological preparation of the cystic wall showing a pseudocapsule and amorphous inner material.
(Elastica-van Gieson); bar = 200 μm.
Fig 17.
Ziehl-Neelsen special stain for acid-resistant bacilli shows a few positive rod-like mycobacteria in the amorphous inner layer of the “cyst wall” (Ziehl-Neelsen-staining); bar = 10 μm.
Table 1.
Stable isotope values of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur and hydrogen in collagen samples from tooth and bone tissue of Heinrich LI. Reuss-Köstritz.
Fig 18.
Gel electropherogram of the amplification products of the mummy´s tissues.
1 size ladder; 2 sample of the cyst wall; 3–6 various samples from both peripheral lungs; 7 sample from the right pulmonary hilus (calcified nodule); 8 sample from the L2 vertebral body; 9 negative control. The amplicon sizes are indicated in the left (dark arrows); the target amplicon size of 123 bp is shown by the red arrow (left).
Fig 19.
Spoligotyping results of the mycobacterial aDNA of the cyst wall.