At Harvard, they removed the binding from a book made of human skin and apologized for inappropriate humor (4 photos)

Once the binding is completely removed, the university will decide what to do with them.





The Harvard library said that they decided to remove the binding from the book Des Destinées de L'Ame ("The Fate of Souls") by Arsene Housset, since it was made of human skin. The decision was made by the Harvard Museum's collections return committee after a meeting with interested parties. What these sides are is not specified.

According to the university, the leather used for binding belonged to a deceased patient in a French psychiatric hospital. The author himself said that it was human skin in the note, and his words were confirmed by an examination. Arsene Housse worked as a medical student and borrowed skin from one of the patients, CBSnews reports.



Arsene gave this book to his friend, Dr. Louis Buland, in the early 1880s. Bowland's handwritten note included in the volume states that "a book about the human soul deserves to have a human cover."

“The main problem in creating the volume was a doctor who did not see the whole person before him and committed the odious act of removing a fragment of skin from a deceased patient, almost certainly without consent, and using it in the binding of a book, which many have done for many years. more than a century. We believe that the time has come to bury these remains,” Harvard said.



There was even a kind of custom at the university. Students were asked to pick up the book, they were not told what it was made of, and then they were only informed. Harvard also apologized for this custom.



The university stressed that once the binding is removed, staff will begin to consider options for the "final respectful treatment" of the remains used to make the binding. Perhaps he will be buried.