5 Famous People And Where Their Organs Have Been Preserved

Human beings have conserved all manner of themselves during the course of history. The reference in this point – mummies in Egypt. However it hasn’t just been mere royals dipped in embalming fluid; many famous people over the years have had their organs kept properly, like these fine fellows.

1. Napoleon Bonaparte’s penis

The French Emperor may have died in the year 1821, but his penis has lived away long and travelled long past that year. An English surgeon who apparently autopsied Napoleon detached his penis, after which it was apparently processed down from generations. It travelled from an Italian priest in the 19th Century to a London bookseller in the 20th, to the private collection of an American urologist, who paid $2900 for it in the year 1969 and preserved it beneath his bed in a suitcase till his death in the year 2007. In the year 2016, the urologist’s compilations were auctioned, and Napoleon’s penis is said to have been one among the objects sold.

2. Galileo’s fingers, teeth and vertebra are on display in a museum

Renaissance astronomer Galileo Galilei’s thumb along with the middle finger is exhibited at the Museum of the History of Science situated in Florence, Italy. The digits probably snapped off in 1737, while his body was being moved from one tomb to another. The museum also showcases his teeth and a vertebra, and people flock to get a closer look into the man – quite literally.

3. Albert Einstein’s eyes and brain

Just a few hours after Einstein died in the year 1955, a pathologist named Thomas Stoltz Harvey performed his autopsy, separating and segregating his brain into 240 pieces before encasing the segments in a plastic-like material named collodion. Through a series of occurrences, many of these brain blocks are housed at Washington’s National Museum of Health and Medicine, while the remaining are at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia. Einstein’s eyes were also separated by the pathologist, and they’re said to be in a safe deposit box in New York City.

4. Pancho Villa’s trigger finger is on sale at a pawnshop

One of the significant figures of the Mexican Revolution, this rebel general was executed in the year 1923 at the time when his car was ambushed and he was shot by a group of riflemen. Although, a severed and mummified appendage said to be his finger is on sale at Dave’s Pawn Shop in El Paso, Texas. The owner of the place dissents to vouch for its validation, so we can only think of it.

5. Thomas Edison’s last breath is preserved in a test tube

This may be a stretch, but it perhaps still exists. As per a legend, automobile magnate Henry Ford asked Thomas Edison’s son Charles to sit by the inventor’s bedside at the time of his last breath and kept a test tube next to his father’s mouth to preserve his final breath. Charles then gave it to Ford, who was Thomas’ business partner. Currently, it’s showcased at Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

Also read: 39 Historical And Rare Photos From Around The World You Have Never Seen Before