The Brookhaven leader., 1885-07-16
a STUDY OF HEADS.
The Horrible aud Ghastly Attractions of
an Anatomical Museum.
Munich LETTER

One of the most CHASTITY sights il Munich
Is to be Witnessed in the anatomical
Museum. on Schiller r-strass,. 1t consists
of the heads OF persons who have been
guillotined in Bavaria for a good many
years back.
dropped into the muaCEu Yesterday and
paid for my prurient curiosity by the loss
of nv appetite for the rest OF the day. The
museum contains good many attra Ctions,
but these heads are the great drawing
card. Nothing is said about them in the
guide books, and 50 the average tourist
goes and comes without the slightest sus-
picon that so remarkabl" a spectacle is
TO be seen for a very small fee. The heada
in question are just inside OF the door, to
the right as you enter. They are inclOsed
rows of glass jars filed with alcohol,
There are seven in single "ow which are
made more conspicuous than the rest, for
the reason, suppose, ttat they are souve-
Mrs OF criminals who attempted some
extraordinarily aulGcious thing, and
therefore became especially cele-
brated. The eyes were ali ,.osed, and the
faces expressionless. I looked in vain for
anything that SPOKE still, by facial dis
tortion, she agony Of dread which must
have inspired the victim as he approached
the instrument Of his death, Not a few
wore mustaches, hut nous boards; from
which infer that it is customary to shave
the chin before execution. The eyes Of
over half the heads had been cut ont.
An examination of the places where the
neck had been severed revealed skillful
work on the part of the machine as rule.
Some were as neatly cut as any apple that
you have to divide with friend. One
head had evidently belonged to man
with short neck, as the amputation had
taken place SO close to the chin as to almost
pare of its under surface. A few necks were
very ragged where the knife had struck,
as though the machine had bungled-ne-
cessitating more than one stroke. The
heads of prisoners executed in Bavaria are
thus preserved, for tho warming of those
who are disposed to be similarly lawless.
and the bodies are turned over to the med
ical students for dissection.
The anatomical colleCtion contained
many other remarkable attractions. There
were shelves loaded down with skulls and
dried heads. Tho various organs OF the
body were preserved according to several
methods, some specimens being preserved
IN alcohol, others dried, picked, etc. The
odor was by no means savory, or else my
Imagination is too vivid. There We're glass
stanks filed with alcohol containing nearly
full length sections of the body, sawed and
split so as to illustrate the functions of all
the myriad organs. There were dried bod
les intact, hung up as skeletons are usually
hung. There were also all sorts of malfor-
nations and monstrosities presented in
bottles and glass retorts. The assortment
of infants with an extra numberSot heads,
arms or legs was especially comprehensive.
A series of glass-jars contained heads of
individuals who had evidently met with
violent accidental deaths, as their cracked
skulls or mashed eountenances implied.
In fact, the place was such \ repository
of horrors that ! hurried from it with a
feeling that had been following some in
visible &ephistophelas into the internal re.
gions tS special permits