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The mystery of the flute boy bones


Eldorado

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Tucked inside the bowels of an anatomy museum at the University of Melbourne is a small skeleton.

But this is no ordinary set of bones.

Seated on a pedestal, and posing with a recorder, legend has it this is the skeleton of a boy with a rare condition and who led an extraordinary life in French Revolution Paris.

Full 26mins radio documentary at ABC: Link

"On a remarkable symmetrically deformed skeleton"

Full article at Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 1868: Link

"Jauntily posed on a wooden baluster, the small, rickety skeleton holds a recorder in both hands, head tilted to one side as though anticipating the merry jig he is about to play. He is something of an anomaly sitting in a display case in the Harry Brookes Allen Museum of Anatomy and Pathology at the University of Melbourne.

"A pathological specimen, it’s true, and yet one brimming with a perverse humour as he clasps the wooden recorder between the carefully articulated bones of his fingers. He was a beggar, we have been told, who played his recorder at the gates of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, probably during the French Revolution.

"Living until approximately 18 years of age, he was apparently well known to the people of Paris."

Full story at Collections Magazine (PDF): Link

 

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19 hours ago, Eldorado said:

Tucked inside the bowels of an anatomy museum at the University of Melbourne is a small skeleton.

But this is no ordinary set of bones.

Seated on a pedestal, and posing with a recorder, legend has it this is the skeleton of a boy with a rare condition and who led an extraordinary life in French Revolution Paris.

Full 26mins radio documentary at ABC: Link

"On a remarkable symmetrically deformed skeleton"

Full article at Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 1868: Link

"Jauntily posed on a wooden baluster, the small, rickety skeleton holds a recorder in both hands, head tilted to one side as though anticipating the merry jig he is about to play. He is something of an anomaly sitting in a display case in the Harry Brookes Allen Museum of Anatomy and Pathology at the University of Melbourne.

"A pathological specimen, it’s true, and yet one brimming with a perverse humour as he clasps the wooden recorder between the carefully articulated bones of his fingers. He was a beggar, we have been told, who played his recorder at the gates of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, probably during the French Revolution.

"Living until approximately 18 years of age, he was apparently well known to the people of Paris."

Full story at Collections Magazine (PDF): Link

 

I really don't know how you do this day after day, Eldorado, but thanks!

You're always finding quirky stuff to pique my interest and keep me occupied!

Now I shall be listening to the Aussie podcast this afternoon, I'm not sure if I am acquiring useful knowledge at UM, but I am acquiring it anyway lol!

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