After death the body goes through many chemical and physical changes.  One of these is termed the postmortem pH shift.   

In the early postmortem phase the body becomes acidic. This is because of continued metabolism and the lack of elimination of waste. As time progresses the body becomes more alkaline (or basic) due to proteins breaking down and the liberation of nitrogen from amino acids. 

So the postmortem pH shift is from Acidic to Basic or (and here’s the mnemonic) from A to B

I can’t stress strongly enough that its import to understand the chemical changes that are happening in a body to cause this but, Acid to Base or A to B is very helpful while you’re studying this topic.

Here’s a mnemonic for your history class.

Ancient Egyptian embalming/mummification included canopic jars. These are containers that were used to store viscera that had been dried in natron that was not returned to the body.

There were four canopic jars and describes the tops of the jars as representative of the children of Horus. These are described as a jackal head, a human head, a hawk head and an ape head.

Each jar contained specific viscera. Here is where our mnemonic lies!!

The jar with the ape head contained the lungs….You may have seen video of an ape beating on its chest considered to be for mating or intimidation.  Well, the lungs are right under where the ape is beating! So when I try to remember what viscera is in the canopic jar with an ape head, I just think about what I ‘ve seen apes to at the zoo and on TV.

An easy way to remember the three parts of the small intestines in the anatomical order they are found.  Duodenum, Jejunum, Ilium.  If you take the first letters of Duodenum and Jejunum you get DJ, then add Ilium for D.J. Ilium!