May 28, 2005
Brains under glass
"The brains on the cart are usually displayed in a glass cabinet on the second floor of Uris Hall. They serve no scientific purpose, Professor Finlay said, but they do make a powerful pedagogical point." (NYT article - CNET link)
"One force behind the effort was a desire to drive religion from the field of science." It's always nice when science has no agenda.
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"in 1889 he founded the Cornell Brain Society to collect the brains of "educated and orderly persons," including friends and colleagues. His own unremarkable looking brain floats placidly in a bottle on the cart just inside the door." and nowhere does it say that they were already dead..... :( after removing 600 brains, how could you sleep well at night???
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Brainssssss.... That said, all the time I spent at Columbia, I never saw 'em
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Because they were at Cornell.
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In 1994 I took a human perception class that met right next to the brain collection. If you got there before the door was opened you got to sit or stand in quiet contemplation of those brains while waiting in the hallway. The murderer's brain spoken of in the article was that of Edward Rulloff. There is a bar in collegetown named after him.
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Oddly enough Surliboy, your first comment was the only thing I could think of to say. Obviously Monkeyfilter has messed with our brainsssss.
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Cornell, that's a relief. There's a Uris hall at Columbia too and there's a cafeteria there. Brains is good food, Blue.
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I seem to recall reading somewhere that Rulloff's brain was the second largest brain on record. It certainly did appear rather oversized when compared to the other brains in the collection. And rather greenish if I recall correctly. I'm going up to Cornell in 2 weeks for reunion. Think I'll stop by the brains while I'm there.
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Give 'em a stir for me.
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Guess that Jaypro22 thinks he's too good for a bunch of Monkeys. He's going to go hang out with brains. He'll be coming back on a first name basis with Rulloff and Wilder. You'll see.