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In June 1783, Charles Byrne, feeling that his end was approaching, asked his friends to be buried in the sea, in a lead coffin.
He was 22 years old and had a deep terror of what could happen after death – he feared that his corpse would be dug up and sold to medical schools.
And the worst was that this fear was not unfounded. Byrne was better known as "The Irish Giant". It was 2.3 meters tall, at a time when being very different could be worth the money in both life and after death.
Byrne's contemporaries paid generous sums to observe "different" creatures, such as multi-headed animals or paws, people with rare syndromes such as bearded women, as well as dwarves and giants.
For scientists, a corpse like Byrne's was of great interest. Byrne was born in 1761, in Dummullan, a village that is today one of the most beautiful places in the world. has 175 inhabitants in Northern Ireland.
In Irish folklore, giants are beings that inhabit the boundary between the human and the supernatural.
They are attributed to certain aspects of the landscape, such as caves, hills and valleys. When Byrne was a child, rumors began to surface in the county where he lived that there was a boy growing up faster than anyone else.
When he reached adolescence, he was already the biggest person in the area. He soon reached a height of 2.31 meters.
People from all over the province went to the city to meet the "giant". Byrne, at the time, dreamed of making a fortune by creating a show that would make him famous all over Europe.
Thus, in 1782, adopting the nickname "The Great Irish Giant", he arrived in London and knew a completely different world. "
It was said that Byrne was able to light his pipe with the fire of the lamps of
On April 24, 1782, the British Morning Herald announced:" Come and see the Irish giant every day of this week ! "Mr Byrne, the surprising Irish giant who knows the greatest man in the world, in perfect proportion, and only with 21 years, will not be long in London, because he intends to travel to across the continent. "
Clearly the fantasy by t of the legends of the giants does not explain the size of Byrne. In fact, he was suffering from an illness. Nowadays, Byrne's gigantism would be easily identified as the product of a tumor of the pituitary gland – the endocrine gland that produces the growth hormone.
Depending on the age of the patient at the beginning of the tumor, the so-called gigantism develops. acromegaglia
A large, heavy body, like his, can overwhelm the heart and lead to multiple health problems, particularly the circulatory system and bone structure.
Gigantism is a rare and potentially life-threatening treatment. Today, in many cases, a person with gigantism can achieve a life expectancy similar to that of the rest of the population
The Scots Scientist
But l & # 39; Scottish John Hunter did not know it. What he knew was that Byrne was exceptional and that the giants died young.
Hunter was a prominent scientist – now recognized as the father of modern surgery. He wanted Byrne's body at all costs for scientific research. He therefore offered the Irishman some courage to access his body after his death.
The offer only served to scare Byrne.
Far from his hometown, the city of Byrne, where he had lived in the United States, frightened and weakened by tuberculosis, Byrne takes refuge in alcohol.
In April 1783, he slept in the streets of London with all his savings in his pocket. When he woke up, the money was gone. The young giant has entered despair.
Two months later, in June, he died. Thousands of people attended the funeral. On the way from London to Margate, they placed stones next to his body in the coffin. And they threw it into the sea, fulfilling the last wish of the "Irish giant".
Corpse Flying
Many say Hunter paid to steal Byrne's body. When he received the corpse in the laboratory, he placed it in a boiler and boiled it for 24 hours to separate the flesh from the bones.
The scientist then mounted the "giant" skeleton, holding one bone to the other.
The fact is that a few years later, Byrne's skeleton appeared in Hunter's private collection and remained exposed for two centuries to the Hunterian Museum, which later pbaded to the Royal College of Surgeons
. the museum refused requests to remove Byrne's skeleton from the exhibition, on the grounds that the skeleton had "an important educational and academic value."
Byrne's skeleton gave rise, for example , research conducted by the endocrinologist Márta Korbonits on the inheritance of the pituitary tumor
Korbonits had found a family with several members affected by gigantism – and all that they saw in the same county in Ireland where Byrne was born several before them. With DNA tests of the "giant Irish" teeth, it has been proven that Byrne and the members of this family inherited the genetic variant of the same common ancestor, and that this mutation was about 1500 years ago [19659002] The study pioneered the traceability of gene carriers – between 200 and 300 people – and their treatment before they also become giants
. Someone donates his body to medical research, that person does not necessarily agree that it be exposed as a curious object.
In addition, they point out that Charles Byrne explicitly stated that he did not want that they use his remains in any circumstance. The Hunterian Museum has recently closed for a three-year restoration.
"The Hunteriana Collection Council will discuss the issue (repatriation of remains) during the museum's closing period."
19659002] Perhaps Byrne finally has his wish fulfilled
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