Saturday 29 December 2007

Your vote, Sir?

When Jeremy Bentham, the "Father of Utilitarianism," died, in 1832, he willed his body to the University College Hospital in London. However, it was willed on the condition that his "dear friend Doctor Southwood Smith" would preserve his body in the manner shown in the picture above. In Bentham's own words: "The skeleton he will cause to be put together in such a manner as that the whole figure may be seated in a chair usually occupied by me when living, in the attitude in which I am sitting when engaged in thought in the course of time employed in writing."
For years, Bentham carried around the glass eyes he hoped would go inside his mummified head. While Bentham's head was mummified, it deteriorated rapidly and a wax head was put on his skeleton instead. However, in 1975, student kidnapped Bentham's real head, demanding a £100 ransom for charity. The college eventually paid £10 and Bentham's head was placed at his feet (see picture above).
Bentham also wished for his body to be present at all board meetings, and tradition has it, that when there is a tied vote, Bentham votes favorably for the motion.
Source. Source.

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