Abstract

Investigates the circumstances surrounding the removal of Whitman's brain at his autopsy and the subsequent loss of the brain by the American Anthropometric Society; offers a historical, medical, and cultural context for the story, involving the Wistar Institute and the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, anatomist Edward Anthony Spitzka, alienist Edward Charles Spitzka, doctors and scientists Henry Cattell, Francis X. Dercum, Joseph Leidy, Andrew J. Parker, Daniel Longaker, Harrison Allen, Alexander McAlister, William Osler, Henry Donaldson, and others

How to Cite:

Burrell, B., (2003) “The Strange Fate of Whitman's Brain”, Walt Whitman Quarterly Review 20(3/4), 107-133. doi: https://doi.org/10.13008/2153-3695.1708

Rights: Copyright © 2003 Brian Burrell