Besides public lectures, public autopsies have been important in promoting knowledge of medicine. The autopsy of Dr.
Johann Gaspar Spurzheim, advocate of
phrenology, was conducted in public, and his brain, skull, and heart were removed, preserved in jars of alcohol, and put on display to the public. Public autopsies have verged on entertainment:
American showman
P. T. Barnum held a public autopsy of
Joice Heth after her death. Heth was a woman whom Barnum had been featuring as being over 160 years old. Barnum charged 50 cents admission. The autopsy demonstrated that she was between 76 and 80 years old.
