castrated now exumed and disected,
does this fellow get any rest.

terrible to disturb remains like this.

Castrated, eh? Don't think I could have handled that!

Besides ... the words "male genitals" and "cut" are perhaps the greatest example of an oxymoron in the language ... next to "Bush" and "President"!

Mark J's comments (no. 1) seem to me to be ill thought out.

First, he objects to dissection, which the article does not mention. Perhaps they will dissect the corpse, perhaps not. I should think it more likely that they will use non-invasive scanners.

His use of the word 'rest' is unfortunate. It suggests Farinelli is putting his feet up for a few minutes or taking a nap. He isn't; he's dead; what happens to his remains affects him not one jot.

(His soul? Talk of immortal souls is, of course, pure mumbo jumbo. We are the products of Evolution, and there is no evolutionary reason why souls should have appeared. Even if they had, it would be a rotten prospect if they were trapped in the corpse or suffered by proxy what happened to it. It can't be any fun being cremated or gnawed by worms.)

Why do we bury people in cemeteries? Why don't we just dig them into the fields like mulch so they can do the Green thing and turn into wheat? I don't think we do it for the benefit of the corpse, but for those who remain.

After 300 years, I don't suppose many of Farinelli's relatives still visit his grave. Nonetheless, it is satisfying that he continues to have a physical presence in the world, not just in the history books.

Will exhumation change that? I doubt it (I assume they'll put him back again when they're done). It may well spark more interest, more visitors, and more respect. If I had been him, I'd have enjoyed the prospect of that.

Castrati played heroic male leads from the mid-17th to late 18th century when the bel canto was the rage in Europe.
Farinelli, born Carlo Broschi in 1705, was the most famous of all, in a career lasting from 1720 to 1737.
I regret this incident. I am so used to seeing the coloured movies that the Alfred Hitchcock black and white movies together with the cast are out of my head. I want to look forward. First, I read CASTRO of CUBA. The CIGAR MAN. Then it is the singer. Well. I am sorry for the beetles who broke up and I am sorry for Elvis who drunk himself death by drugs. All of them WERE GOOD. No point in talking about them. Now we have the new breed and the PCs string and acoustics at the highest innovated form.

Firozali @ 4 ......... what??????????

The Italian Castrati had nothing to do with Fidel Castro, the Cuban dictator, Elvis, the Beatles or any other singer.

The noun Castrati comes from the verb to castrate. The reason that boys were castrated before puberty was to try and retain their soprano voice. The Roman Catholic church did not allow women, to sing in church at that time.

The most famous Castrati were the celebrities of their day and it is understandable that scientists and historians would like to understand the effects on the body of castration