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This story is about a government, which considered the management of madness not a medical issue but a matter of law and order. and a 64 years old official who became the director of a madhouse having no medical nor managing expertise in mental disease, but just humanity and dedication. But most of all it's the story Of their attempt to project an image of themselves and of what they had done. that turned out in something completely different: a literary myth which went sofar to reach the pen of Aterandre Dumas and Edgar Allan Poe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the history of the Cabinet of Pathological Anatomy at the University of Palermo, Italy. Topics discussed include collections of pathology present at many Italian and European universities that are an asset and have now become teaching materials; Professor Giovanni Gorgone at the medical faculty of Palermo, who was an anatomy teacher and skilled surgeon; and the collection of nearly 1600 specimens of pathological anatomy since 1859 at the University of Palermo.