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# An anatomist's head is precisely what one expects to find in a museum of science
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/golova-anatoma-eto-deistvitelno-to-chto-ozhidaesh-uvidet-v-muzee-nauki/
- Published: 2019-05-26T18:22:47.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:43:58.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Museums, Science, Education, People

An anatomist's head is precisely what one expects to find in a museum of science. Antonio Scarpa, the foremost surgeon of his day, left behind neither lawful heirs nor any well-wishers after death, and in the absence of a last will his assistant took it upon himself to part the professor's head from his body and embalm it, together with several fingers and the urinary tract of the deceased. Napoleon's chief surgeon was a man of stern temper and unfriendly disposition, so that many suppose the severing of his head may have been the pupil's little jest. Nevertheless, Scarpa's head today occupies a place of honour in the museum of the University of Pavia, one of the oldest in Italy. Alarming, equivocal, but perfectly scientific