Today's video contains images of a preserved dead body.
If that's not for you: time to pick another video.
This is a dead man. Or most of a dead man.
This is the skeleton of philosopher Jeremy Bentham, who died in 1832,
preserved, stuffed, dressed in his own clothes,
all as requested in his will,
and put on display at University College London.
And it is a little bit creepy.
NICK BOOTH: He's bolted to his chair, and he's wearing a conservation-grade nodysuit
held together with copper wire and hinged in his joints, so in theory he could move
in a realistic manner. We don't do that any more, because he's very delicate.
There's a few theories as to why. He didn't like the church, he was an atheist, and at
the time you had to pay money to be buried, as you still do now, and one of the theories
is that he just didn't want to give money to the church. Also, he did have a bit of
a sense of humour. He maybe wanted to get some more use out of his body rather than
just be buried in the ground.
TIM CAUSER: Jeremy Bentham is most famous for being the founder of modern utilitarianism.
That is, the idea that all action and legislation should be for the promotion of the greatest
happiness. The famous quotation is "the greatest happiness for the greatest number".
Bentham tried to write about 12 pages a day. He tried to keep in that rhythm. And occasionally,
when we're looking through his papers, we'll come across a sheet dated 25th December and
think, you know, Jeremy, just have a break(!)
Transcribe Bentham is a crowdsourced transcription initiative. The transcripts of the manuscripts
that they're producing, we'll use as a starting point for producing volumes of Bentham's collected
works, which is the main purpose of the Bentham Project here at UCL.
One of the major things in his life was an attempt to reform the law. He studied law,
he began to practice law -- his first case, he realised his client would actually pay
him more than he would get in compensation, for Bentham representing him. So Bentham,
at this point, threw up the law and decided that he would instead dedicate the rest of
his life to reforming it.
TOM SCOTT: The actual head that came up with most of those thoughts, though? That's not
it. That is a wax model.
The actual head didn't get preserved really all that well, so it's kept in a sealed box
somewhere else.
It was kept in a sealed box just here, but then some students from a rival university
stole it and held it for ransom.
NICK BOOTH: It was stored in his chest cavity for a while, and then it was discovered there
in 1898, during the first proper inspection of him.
Then it was taken out and for a while it was kept in a box, we think, just on the ledge
on the doorway to my left, and now it's in one of the safes here at UCL.
TIM CAUSER: The thing that Bentham is most famous for is the Panopticon prison scheme.
The basic design of the Panopticon prison was that it was meant to be a circular prison,
with the cells arranged around the outside and a central inspection tower in the middle
of the prison. And from there, the prison inspector, through an elaborate network of
curtains and lights, would be able to look into any of the cells at any point and see
the prisoners without himself being seen.
So he expected that prisoners would, in trying to avoid any punishment that would come by
violating the Panopticon's rules and regulations, the prisoners would modify their behaviour
and eventually be released as working, decent members of the public again.
It became increasingly clear that the British government, rather than building a penitentiary,
would rather pack off prisoners to Australia, as it was a lot cheaper.
TOM SCOTT: And if you think it'd be a brilliant prank to write in your will that your should
be preserved, stuffed, and donated to someone you loved, or hated: don't get too excited.
Your rights end when you die. So the final say on what happens to your corpse goes to
your family and friends. And while it is perfect legal, in the UK, to preserve and display
a body -- if you want that to happen, you'll need to find someone as strange as the man
who preserved Jeremy Bentham.
[Translating this video? Add your name here!]