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The Story of Jeremy Bentham
🕑 Added 2023-02-10 11:15:01 +0000 UTCDirect link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cRnS8EJ-Gz8
Bentham's auto-icon is topped with a wax replica of his head... which isn't quite what he wanted. His original instructions called from the mummification and use of his actual head.
To be fair to Dr Southwood Smith (the man charged with carrying out the mummification process), he did give it a really good try. But while he was able to preserve Bentham's head, it ended up looking decidedly grisly.
For some years the head was stored in the same case as the auto-icon... but it was removed after it was the subject of several student pranks, and is now locked away securely in a storeroom. You can even see a picture of it here, although be warned: it's not particularly pleasant viewing!
Comments
Fascinating Horror
Thanks for this. What an excellent, clear, detailed article as well!
Fascinating Horror
I like that there are philosophers who "mummified in a glass case" is a more-or-less in-character move for
https://mx-schroeder.medium.com/cascaded-the-2017-dupont-usa-derailment-c5600093678c new one for ya
I have a major in ethics and I remember my lecturer mentioning offhandedly that Bentham's body was displayed sans head in a cabinet at a uni and... so weird. Just *so* weird. Kant I maybe might have credited it with but Bentham would not have been my first guess at "ethical philosophers who wanted their bodies stuffed and displayed".
