The owner of Napoleon's penis died last Thursday in Englewood, New Jersey. John K. Lattimer, who'd been a Columbia University professor and a collector of military (and some macabre) relics, also possessed Lincoln's blood-stained collar and Hermann Göring's cyanide ampoule. But the penis, which supposedly had been severed by a priest who administered last rites to Napoleon and overstepped clerical boundaries, stood out (sorry) from the professor's collection of medieval armor, Civil War rifles and Hitler drawings.
The chances that Napoleon's penis would be excised so that it could become a souvenir were improved by his having lived and died at a moment when the physical remains of celebrities held a strong attraction. Shakespeare didn't become Shakespeare until the dawn of the romantic period, when his biography was written, his plays annotated and his belongings sought out and preserved. Trees that stood outside the bard's former homes were felled to provide Shakespearean lumber for tea chests and tobacco stoppers.
After Napoleon's capture at Waterloo, his possessions toured England. His carriage, filled with contents like a gold tongue scraper, a flesh brush, "Cashimeer small-clothes" and a chocolate pot, drew crowds. When Napoleon died, the trees that lined his grave site at St. Helena were slivered into souvenirs.
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