Flesh & Stone

a desecration of the dead. Therefore, only the bodies of criminals were permitted to be studied, and once analyzed, even they had to receive a decent burial. He wasn't a doctor, though, so he took to dissecting bodies in secrecy, in relative secrecy. He was just seventeen at the time, and the majority of the cadavers he worked with came from the monastery of Santa Spirito in Florence, Italy, and with the full permission of the Catholic Church. He had always been interested

in the human form. When he was just thirteen, he studied under a famous sculptor, and by the time he reached adulthood, his talent for documenting the intricacies of the human form had not gone unnoticed. Back then, doctors and medical students relied on such drawings. Importance was given to the understanding of how bones and muscles lie under the skin.

When he was just fifteen, he showed so much potential that the statesman known as Lorenzo de Medici, a k a. Lorenzo the Magnificent, became quite impressed with the young man's talent and incredible understanding of the human form. Not only did Medici take him in and raise him alongside his own children, who became his childhood friends, the statesman also granted him a special room to continue his dissection. Soon

he joined the Florentine Center for Humanism. Like many young and aspirational students in the field, he poured over drawings, sculptures, and skeletons. The ultimate goal was scientific naturalism, the highly detailed and accurate portrayal of the subject in a natural setting.

After the death of his mentor, Lorenzo de Medici, he offered to create a large wooden cross complete with a life size sculpture of Christ, in exchange for the new Statesman's permission to continue his studies and to obtain more corpses and it worked now. Since cadavers were prone to decomposition, he would quickly make molds of muscles in various positions for later reference. He spent years dissecting countless human corpses

and even those of animals, mostly horses. Though cardinals and other leaders frequently remarked that experienced and trained physicians and scholars themselves knew less about the human physique than this young man, and that he dissected more than men he had in a lifetime of service. His knowledge and talent caused some jealousy among even the most revered of his peers. They didn't always agree, and they often clashed when they met.

For years, he drew his discoveries with the most striking detail, but later he began to doubt his abilities and destroyed most of his drawings. His rivals may have played down his talents, but others did not. Unlike most artists, he rechieved recognition and fame well within his own lifetime. Today, thousands flocked to see his works. You see, he wasn't a physician or even a philosopher, and while he did create intricate and detailed illustrations for medical use, he wasn't

even an anatomist. No, he was an artist and one of the best. Later, Pope Julius the second commission him the artists that we've come to note today as Michelangelo for one of his most famous works, the Sistine Chapel. The chapel ceiling is his most famous painting, and the marble statue David his most famous statue. The depiction of God creating Adam perfectly illustrates the human brain. Other panels also demonstrate Michelangelo's vast knowledge of human anatomy. The Statue

of David took Michelangelo two years to complete. It's fine anatomical details impressed city leaders, who decided David should reside in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, where everyone could see the breathtaking statue up close, instead of seeing it high on a cathedral. Ledge and Michelangelo's envious rival, the first

Renaissance man himself, Leonardo da Vinci. Yes, he also dissected cadavers for the sake of art, and while the two men didn't agree on many things, they both believe that when it came to portraying the human body, art is not only better when it imitates life, but also death. America loves to celebrate first the first president, the first telephone call, the first time Edison turned on a light bulb, charting new territories, and performing feats no one has done before,

especially intrigues us. And often it's these tales of adventure that have the most incredible journeys to take us on. For example, on July six of nineteen sixty nine, Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon before spacecraft, though we were celebrating airplanes. On nineteen seven, Charles Lindberg was the first person to cross the Atlantic solo. And before that, well, there's another amazing story to tell.

On April eighteen forty four, The New York Sun reported the sensational adventure of several men and their balloon trip from England to the United States. The headlines that day read astounding news by Express via Norfolk the Atlantic cross in three days. As you might imagine, crossing the Atlantic in such a short time was nothing less than astounding. Accompanying the detailed five thousand word article was an illustration

of the balloon, named the Victoria. At the Helm was the inventor of the first steam powered airship and famed aeronaut himself, Thomas Monk Mason. Two crewmen and five of Mason's friends helped steer the craft, while author Harrison Ainsworth chronicled the journey. The article listed eleven oh seven a m as the moment the balloon left the ground in North Wales. They gathered at daybreak, but waited until a dense fog had lifted. For a few moments. The crew

held their breath as the balloon cleared the cliffs. Found the ascent force greater than we had expected, the journal read. The gorges and cliffs along the ocean's edge had been nothing short of romantic and breathtaking. One of the crewmen noted that the mountains they passed over in the south looked small in comparison to when traveling through them on the ground. Once at sea, the crew lowered the balloon

Along the way. They passed over a few ships sailing below, and the men took to cheering them and yelling as the balloon flew past. By night, the winds had increased, pushing the balloon even faster. The wind, along with the night air and the atmosphere, made the men rather cold, and they wrapped themselves in blankets. The next day, though the balloon shifted more northward then anticipated, and the wind

had died down a bit. This morning, we had again some little trouble with the rod of the propeller, which must be entirely remodeled for fear of serious accident. The journal stated, the wind has been blowing steadily and strongly from the northeast all day, and so far fortune seems bent upon favoring us. By night, though the sea oddly appeared to glow by the light of the moon and stars. By the third day, though the crew was exhausted. Around one pm that day, they finally spotted land off the

coast of South Carolina and were overjoyed. By the time they touched down on Sullivan's Island in Charleston County, the wind had nearly died down. The final entry read, we have crossed the Atlantic fairly and easily crossed it in a balloon. Who shall say that anything is impossible hereafter and readers were enthralled. People instantly scrambled to buy the paper, and The Sun sold an impressive fifty thousand copies. Everyone wanted to have a keepsake of history in the making.

There was one small problem though. Two days after it had been printed, the newspaper revealed that the whole thing had been a hoax. You see, the first balloon to cross the Atlantic wouldn't happen for another one hundred and forty four years, when the Double Eagle two made the trip in eight in a little less than six days.

Though the men in The New York Sun's story really did exist, they'd been in on the hoax from the start, and the whole thing had been created and written by one author, a man who the paper didn't pay a single sent despite the tremendous profit they earned from it. That author's name a struggling right named Edgar Allan Poe. Oh and there's more, you see. Curiously, pose great hoax went on to inspire another great storyteller by the name

of Jules Verne. He would write his beloved novel Around the World in Eighty Days in eighteen seventy two, although despite the modern film version, his original never had a balloon. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me, Aaron Manky in partnership

with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show and you can learn all about it over at the World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.