{"id":1365,"date":"2024-04-02T18:23:38","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T01:23:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beethovenscholar.com\/?p=1365"},"modified":"2024-05-06T15:42:40","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T22:42:40","slug":"beethoveniana-the-romeo-seligmann-skull-fragments-donated-to-the-josephinum-medizinhistorisches-museum-wien","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beethovenscholar.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/02\/beethoveniana-the-romeo-seligmann-skull-fragments-donated-to-the-josephinum-medizinhistorisches-museum-wien\/","title":{"rendered":"The Romeo Seligmann Skull Fragments Donated to the Josephinum Medizinhistorisches Museum Wien"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

William Meredith<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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On Thursday, July 20, 2023, California businessman Paul Kaufmann donated the two large and remaining very small Romeo Seligmann skull fragments to the collections of the Josephinum in Vienna. These fragments are the subject of a two-part article I published in 2005 and 2015 (see Selected Essays<\/em> on this website for the texts). A number of online articles about Mr. Kaufmann\u2019s donation have appeared (see the list below), only one of which has a completely accurate title (Julia Sica\u2019s article in Der Standard).<\/em> The others state in the titles that they are authentic fragments of Beethoven\u2019s skull or are believed to be authentic; the authenticity has not been proven to date. Giving the contested fragments to the Josephinum is, in my estimation, a very worthy idea, since the bones return to Vienna where Dr. Romeo Seligmann lived and worked (though, depending on whose bones they are, they may be from anywhere in the world since Romeo Seligmann had a large collection of skulls he himself collected and also had skulls sent to him from around the world).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his consistent approach to supporting research on the fragments, Mr. Kaufmann has generously agreed to have the dna in the two large fragments tested by the same lab that undertook the genome analysis of the five authentic locks of hair. The results are anticipated next March. The dna of the two fragments, which may be from different people, will be compared to the authentic genome found in the five locks. If dna can be successfully extracted from the bones, then the comparison will answer the question of authenticity in 2024, which has been contested since the existence of the fragments was announced and discussed in Hans Bankl and Hans Jesserer\u2019s Die Krankheiten Ludwig van Beethovens: Pathographie seines Lebens und Pathologie seiner Leiden<\/em> (Vienna: Verlag Wilhelm Maudrich, 1987). (They misidentified the frontal bone as a parietal bone [pp. 106-09]).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The frontal skull fragment and the metal box in which the fragments were stored, with the frontal sinus on the midline clearly visible. This is one of the important characteristics of the bone that helps identify it as a frontal bone. I would like to thank Dr. Tim White for confirming this detail in an email of July 20, 2023. Photo credit: William Meredith (this photo was published in The Beethoven Journal in black and white as an illustration to S.D. Noam Cook, “Joy and Bones: Moral Reflections on Handling Bones from the Skull of Beethoven,” The Beethoven Journal 20, nos. 1 & 2 (2005): 75.)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

One of the major issues in the question of authenticity concerns the location of the frontal bone on the skull. The California osteologists who agreed it was a frontal bone (see the 2015 article) used the location of the posterior margin of the frontal sinus as one factor in their placement of the bone. An alternative placement was suggested last November by Dr. Christian Reiter, who suggested that the frontal bone could be from Beethoven if one placed it above<\/em> the craniotomy cut. (See his \u201cOn the Authenticity of Beethoven\u2019s Skull Fragments from the Estate of Prof. Dr. Romeo Seligmann,\u201d Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift,<\/em> November 29, 2022; his proposed placement is in Figure 8). However, his suggestion \u201cplaces the back end of the sinus VERY far from what is normal in humans\u201d (email of March 29, 2023, from Dr. White). For the anatomy of the frontal sinuses and their normal placement, see: https:\/\/www.cancer.gov\/publications\/dictionaries\/cancer-terms\/def\/frontal-sinus<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, quoting this site, \u201cThere are two, large frontal sinuses in the frontal bone, which forms the lower part of the forehead<\/em> and reaches over the eye sockets and eyebrows\u201d (italics mine).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authenticity of these fragments also concerns the question of whether or not Beethoven suffered from lead poisoning. One of the two Kaufmann fragments was tested for lead in 2010 by Dr. Andrew Todd of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, who reported that the \u201ctests with x-ray fluorescence had revealed no more lead in that skull than in an average person\u2019s skull.\u201d He concluded, \u201cBeethoven didn\u2019t have long-term high lead exposure, so I think we can stop looking at lead as being a major factor in his life.\u201d The New York Times<\/em> reporter James Barron wrote both about Dr. Todd\u2019s findings in 2010 and again this past April:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James Barron, \u201cThe Mystery of Beethoven\u2019s Skull Remains Unsolved<\/a>,\u201d The New York Times.<\/em> Published March 27, updated April 10, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James Barron, \u201cBeethoven May Not Have Died of Lead Poisoning, After All<\/a>,\u201d The New York Times.<\/em> May 28, 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is important ongoing research on the lead levels in two authenticated locks of hair, but the study is still in the works. Hopefully it will appear in the coming months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n