Harvard University says it has removed human skin from the binding of a 19th century book about the afterlife that has been in its collections since the 1930s. It comes after a review found ethical concerns with the book’s origin and history. The book, “Des Destinées de L’âme,” meaning “Destinies of the Soul,” was written in the early 1880s. Harvard says the printed text was given to a physician, Ludovic Bouland, who ”bound the book with skin he took without consent from the body of a deceased female patient in a hospital where he worked.” The skin is in “secured storage” at the library, which is researching Bouland and the patient. It’s also working with French authorities to determine a “final respectful disposition.”
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