In a bizarre development, the World's prominent educational institute Harvard University has issued an apology for keeping a creepy book in its library for ages. As per reports, Harvard University kept a book called Des destinées de l’âme whose cover was bound by a dead woman's skin. Harvard human skin binded book Des destinées de l’âme was published in the 1880s by French author Arsène Houssaye. Its name means "The destinies of the soul" in English. As per US media reports, Harvard Book Des Destinées de l'Ame (Destinies of the Soul) has been kept at Houghton Library since the 1930s. In 2014, scientists reportedly determined that the material it was bound with was human skin. Below is what Harvard University said about the book controversy-
"In the course of its review, the library noted several ways in which its stewardship practices failed to meet the level of ethical standards to which it subscribes..Library lore suggests that decades ago, students employed to page collections in Houghton’s stacks were hazed by being asked to retrieve the book without being told it included human remains.
In 2014, following the scientific analysis that confirmed the book to be bound in human skin, the library published posts on the Houghton blog that utilized a sensationalistic, morbid, and humorous tone that fueled similar international media coverage...Harvard Library acknowledges past failures in its stewardship of the book that further objectified and compromised the dignity of the human being whose remains were used for its binding.. We apologize to those adversely affected by these actions."
Who was the real owner of the book?
Harvard reportedly revealed that the human skin book blonged Dr. Ludovic Bouland. Ludovic Bouland bound the book with a deceased woman's skin. She died in a hospital that he worked in, and did not consent to the binding. US media report suggests that Ludovic Bouland was born in France in 1839. The identity of the woman and the year she died is unknown. Notably, Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, Puritan clergyman John Harvard.