Barbour County index., 1885-03-20
a STUDY OF HEADS.
The Horrible and Ghastly Attractions of
an Anatomical Museum.
Munich Ie.ter1


One Of the most ghastly sights in Munich
is to be witnessed in the anatomical
Museum, on Schiller-strasss. It consists
of the heads of persons who have been
guillotined in Bavaria for q good MANY
years back.
dropped into the museum yesterday and
paid for my prurient curiosity by the loss
OF my appetite for the rest of the day. The
museum contains a good many attractions.
but these heads are the great drawing-
card. Nothing is said about them in the
guide-books, and so the average tourist
goes and comes without the slightest sus-
picion that so remarkable a spectacle is
to be seen for very small fee. The heads
in question are Just inside OF the door, to
the right as you enter. They are inclosed
il rows of glass jars filed with alcohol.
There are seven in single row which are
made more conspicuous than the rest, for
the reason, suppose, that they are souve-
Mrs of criminals who attempted some
extraordinarily audacious thing, and
therefore became especially cele-
brated. The eyes were ell closed, and the
faces expressionless. looked in vain TO.
anything that spoke still, by facial dis
tortion, the agony OF dread which must
have inspired the victim as he approached
the instrument of his death. Not q few
wore mussaches, but none boards; from
which infer that it is customary to shave
the chin before execStion. The eyes OF
over half the heads had been cut out.
An examination OF the places where the
neck had been severed revealed skilIful
work on the part of the machine as rule.
Some were as neatly cut as any apple that
you have to divide with a friend. One
head lad evidently belonged to a man
with a short neck, as the amputation had
taken place so close to the chin as to almost
pareoR rs under surface. A few necks were
very ragged where the knife had struck,
as though the machine had bungled-ne-
eessitating more than one stroke. The
neads OF prisoners executed in Bavaria are
thus preserved, for the warning of those
who are disposed to be similarly lawless,
and the bodies are turned over to the med
icai students for dissection.
The anatomical collection contained
many other remarkable attractions There
were shelves loaded down with skulls and
dried headB. The various organs of the
oody 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 were glass
tanks 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 nailor-
nations and monstrosities presented in
bottles emo glass retorts. The assortment
Of infants with an extra numbered. heads,
arms or legs was especially comprehensive.
A series OF giass-jars contained heads Of
individuals who had evidently met with
violent accidental deaths, as their cracked
skulls or mashed countenances implied.
In fact, the place was such a repository
Of horrors that / hurried from it with q
feeling that had been following some in
Sisible Mephistopheles into the internal re-
slons by special permit