today

After Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo, his possessions toured England. His carriage, filled with enticing contents like a gold tongue scraper, a flesh brush, “Cashimeer small-clothes” and a chocolate pot, drew crowds and inspired the poet Byron to covet a replica. When Napoleon died, the trees that lined his grave site at St. Helena were slivered into souvenirs.

Some say it’s time to let Napoleon’s penis rest in peace. Museums are quietly de-accessioning the human remains of indigenous peoples so that body parts can be given proper burial rites. Some say Napoleon’s penis, too, should be allowed to go home and rejoin the rest of his captivating body.

Perhaps surprisingly, and maybe an example of a new entente cordiale, and Blair's friendship with France, Sarkozy has not yet asked for it's return. (Or perhaps it has to do, maybe in a Freudian sense, with Sarkozy's daughter having studied at Sheffield University, considered by some authorities to be a Northern Oxbridge - it is not too bad, I was a post-doc student there myself.) Anyway it is now in the USA.