Exploded human skull

Yes, this is a real human skull in pieces and mounted in an exploded view on wires. It is an old educational device residing in Hillary House's Koffler Museum of Medicine here in Aurora. The old Gothic Revival home is a National Historic Site. I had seen the skull before but today is Doors Open Aurora 2012 so I took advantage of the opportunity to make for a most unusual blip. There is an accompanying story on a card nearby:

"...This skull was brought back to the house by Norman L. Hillary, who fought in Italy during WWII. It is said that the skull came from an old medical school or hospital that had been destroyed by the war in Italy. The skull was kept in the house for interest, and Nora Hillary remembered bringing the skull out on New Year's Eve, and placing it on the dining room table, in order to show a sense of the passing of time."

Can you imagine this morbid thing on your dining room table in your Victorian-era home? Jeepers! I know they were a family of doctors but that's still a bit weird. But then, those Victorian society folk did a lot of weird stuff like Egyptian mummy unwrapping parties.