This mounted human head is just one of eight forgotten but stunningly preserved 19th-century Italian mummies whose secrets of preservation have only recently been unraveled. Working in the town of Salò, anatomist Giovan Battista Rini (1795 – 1856) preserved corpses and body parts by bathing them in a cocktail of mercury and other heavy metals, according to new chemical analyses and CT scans. I think this is how presidential candidates feel (and sometimes look) after the campaign is done.
Photo: Dario Piombino-Mascali, EURAC, and Clinical Anatomy/Wiley
Chief Writing Wolf 