A 1985 experiment found that Einstein had more glial cells - those that support and maintain neuronal abilities - in a particular area of the brain when compared to a set of control males. The slides of Einstein's brain were studied to determine whether the brain of a genius differs in structure from that of the average person. “She had these slides on her desk for decades and decided in November 2011 to donate them to the Mütter Museum.” Lucy Rorke-Adams, a noted neuropathologist who is still alive and a longtime Fellow of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia,” Dhody said. Then Ehrich's widow passed it along to pathologist Allen Steinberg, also at Philadelphia General Hospital. As chief of pathology at the Philadelphia General Hospital and Penn's Graduate School of Medicine, he kept his box of 46 slides until his death in 1967. Boxes containing several slides were gifted to prominent neuropathologists, including Philadelphia's own William Ehrich. Keller and Harvey carefully whittled down the precious specimen into 1,000 slices thinner than a human hair, then stained and mounted them on glass slides. “She was one of the best in the area, and with Penn being one of the foremost medical schools in the world, this was apparently the woman to go to if you wanted your brain made into slides.” “The woman who prepared the slides, Marta Keller, was a lab technician at Penn Medicine's Department of Pathology,” said Dhody. The brain was then brought to Philadelphia to be turned into microscope slides in a lab at the University of Pennsylvania. A few days later, he managed to receive permission from the family given that it would be used for scientific research only. On April 18, 1955, Harvey effectively “stole” Einstein's brain along with his eyeballs (which were gifted to the scientist's eye doctor). “His brain was removed from his body without initial consent.” Thomas Harvey was the pathologist in Princeton who performed his autopsy - and without the family's permission, he took the brain,” said Anna Dhody, curator of the Mütter Museum. But a Princeton Hospital pathologist named Thomas Harvey went rogue and brought his brain to Philadelphia, where parts of it have been circulating for 60 years, finally landing at the Mütter in 2011. The world-renowned physicist and Nobel Laureate actually wanted his body cremated after death, to discourage “Einstein groupies” from worshipping his remains. The Mütter Museum, part of the The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, is the only place in the world where the general public can see Einstein's brain on permanent display. What makes this a treasure is that these slices originate from one of the greatest minds of human history: Albert Einstein. The wooden box and its contents - slices of a human brain - aren't gruesome or outrageous in the least. WATCH: Coffins, human bones unearthed at Old City construction siteĪs a contrast to its other high-profile exhibitions, one of the Mütter's most prized specimens is a humble box of 46 neatly organized glass slides.Mutter Museum to screen silent film 'Phantom of the Opera'. The secret science behind chocolate's sensuality.And a glass coffin contains the Soap Lady, a Philadelphia woman whose body turned into a wax-like substance called adipocere. The famous Mega Colon is a nine-foot-long diseased colon, formerly owned by a man who died from chronic constipation at age 29 with 40 pounds of feces in his intestines. A plaster death cast of conjoined twins' Chang and Eng accompany a glass container preserving their fused livers. But its permanent exhibitions, while relatively small in number, pack a major punch. Of the more than 25,000 objects in its possession, only a small percentage goes on display at any given moment. “Don't eat shortly before visiting” is a common warning given to those touring the museum for the first time. The Mütter Museum fully embraces its reputation as a disturbing - and sometimes disgusting - collection of unique medical oddities.
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