Why Was Benjamin Franklin’s Basement Filled with Skeletons? (2013) | Hacker News Reader

Why Was Benjamin Franklin’s Basement Filled with Skeletons? (2013)

smithsonianmag.com

49 pointslihaciudaniel36 comments

“The most plausible explanation is not mass murder, but an anatomy school run by Benjamin Franklin’s young friend and protege, William Hewson”

To note, it was illegal at the time, which is why it would be in his basement instead of in a lab.

I was hoping they found hundreds of pages with the sentence

"Early to Bed and Early to Rise Makes Poor Richard a Dull Boy"

repeated on them.

Both explanations can be true at the same time.

Indeed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke_and_Hare_murders

Hey Benjamin, I need a new body :)

As unlikely as it may seem at first I lean towards the more sinister explanation. Why were almost half these bodies children. Wouldn't it have been more difficult to obtain child cadavers than adult ones. And I wonder how child cadavers would have benefitted Hewsons research. In fact how would anything to do with Hewsons research, focused primarily on blood, have benefitted from cadavers

I guess the fact that a large fraction of the available corpses were corpses of children was a factor in that.

Child mortality was extremely high up to around 1900. https://ourworldindata.org/child-mortality:

“What is striking about the historical estimates is how similar the mortality rates for children were across this very wide range of 43 historical cultures. Whether in Ancient Rome; Ancient Greece; the pre-Columbian Americas; Medieval Japan or Medieval England; the European Renaissance; or Imperial China: Every fourth newborn died in the first year of life. One out of two died in childhood”

It also may have been more practical to steal easier to haul corpses.

> hiw would anything yo donwith

What?

>On fact hiw would anything yo donwith Hewsons research, focused primarily on blood, have benefitted from cadavers

In fact, how would anything to do with Hewson's research, focused primarily on blood, have benefited from cadavers?

thank you for saving me a click!

And of course a complete disregard for human remains at the time. Nothing surprising.

If we hadn't broken the rules to study anatomy, we wouldn't have modern medicine.

Scientific advances are often made by pushing past the qualms of present cultural mores.

No kidding.

https://www.thelocal.de/20170503/german-scientists-to-identi...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke_and_Hare_murders

http://blogs.nature.com/news/2011/02/guatemala.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjDEsGZLbio

The difference here, which I think is a major one, is that the examples you've listed disregard the wellbeing of humans who are alive. Benjamin Franklin may have disrespected the remains of humans (or maybe he didn't, there's no conclusive evidence here on the dying wishes of those folks in his backyard), but those remains are objects and not humans.

You're right, and it brings controversy. Many times discoveries were made because of unethical approaches: they save time, resources, and debates. But sometimes there can be a moral price to pay.

I suppose if it is illegal there's little room for actual regard for human remains.

I'd advocate for a complete disregard of human remains today, because death is supposed to be benefit for the environment. Just reuse the organs that are in good shape, then grind and compost the corpses.

Composting carries risks - generally we don't want anything "eating" human flesh. Scavengers or bacteria as it breeds more virulent pestilence and possibly man eaters. Cremation while a bit ghastly and requiring fuel accomplishes the task the best.

But the environment is always a nuanced priority - like deep landfills vs surface dumping of any given substance.

I mean, speaking purely objectively, you're probably right, instead of locking the dead away in concrete and wooden boxes, but that's gonna be fun to try and normalize.

Maybe we could cute it up? Add the funeral equivalent of the ring bearer to turn on the mulcher for grandma?

Just think of it as carbon sequestration.

How about sky burial?

Are you referring to letting the birds eat you, or being fired out of a cannon?

Or dropped from orbit and cremated on re-entry?

Who cares about a dead body? In my opinion all dead bodies should be made available to scientific research or anything else after the funeral and final rites are done.

Evidently, a lot of people care about a dead body, whether for grieving or religious reasons. Your opinion is not the only valid opinion.

Oh god, who cares about a dead body? Try asking me that if any of my family died, or asking any of my family if I died. The body is all that's left. Irrational or not, maybe that's one of the most beautiful things about people. That intense salience that comes from loss, love, compassion, and longing.

Yeah, or maybe his Hellfire Club membership was more than just pagan rituals...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellfire_Club

Sort of on topic, the Hellfire Caves are really quite something, if you get a chance to visit them. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellfire_Caves

400m deep, dug by hand, to use the chalk for the road between Wycombe and West Wycombe. Quite the feat of engineering. Wonderfully creepy inside as well.

Just to be clear this was his house in London, UK. Not one in Philadelphia.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/36+Craven+St,+Charing+Cros...

William Hewson was a British anatomist:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hewson_(surgeon)

Because his closet was full.

(I'm sorry. I just couldn't help it :)

Ah, the life of an early adopter!

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