h~jury(1989) 20,327-330 Pritid in Great Britain 327 D-id Mozart have a chronic extradural haematoma? B. Puech’, P-F. Puech’, P. Dhellemmes3, Ph. PellerW, Fr. Lepoutre4 and G. Tichf 10phthalmology, Hbpital Regional de Lille, France Wehistory laboratory, Mu.& de l’homme, Paris, France ‘Pediatric Neurosurgery, HGpital Regional de Lisle, France ‘Plastic Surgery, Hapital Regional de Lille -7nstitut fiir Geowissenschaften, Salzburg, Austria When M ozart diedat the uge of 36, was he zyxwvutsrq suffering frm the belated complications of a ualc$ed extradural haematoma? This theory tookshape dm’ng the ia2nt1jimtion process of the skull owned by the Momrtm, whenthe print of calcijied exfnadural haematoma ms discovered on thele# inmr fmrporoparical calvarial swjbc-5 of the skull. This printlook3 like a m&e, with three distinct wncenhicarem. 7’he firstouterareais striated, thcsecondmiddleoneisgmnularand~~~withbonydeposik, the thirdcentraloneismmkedm~fhvm&rgrooves. Materials and methods The legend has it that Mozart’s body anonymously disap- peared in a pauper’s grave in St Marx cemetery in Vienna since the grave-digger in charge of Mozart’s burial was unable to remember where the musician had been buried. Yet, in Salzburg, there exists a skull coming from St Marx cemetery in Vienna, which is believed to be that of Mozart, and which belonged to Joseph Hyrtl, the famous Viennese anatomist. The history of this skull is well-known. Obtained, in 1842, from the grave-diggers of this cemetery by the brother of Joseph Hyrtl, it remained within the family until 18399. After the death of Joseph Hyrtl’s widow and 2 years of judicial investigation, it became, on 6 October 1901, the property of the city of Salzburg. For many years, it was on display in Mozart’s birthplace (a museum) in Salzburg and is now to be found in the Salzburg Mozarteum. It is the skull of a young man, an ultrabrachycephalic Central European Caucasian, with widely separated frontal eminences, a vertical frontal bone, a nasomaxillary pro- trusion, reduced orbits and a marked medial supraglabellar prominence (Fig.I). The base of the skull has been sawed along a line parallel to the Frankfurt horizontal plane, across the external auditory meatus. The sawed-off base has been lost, as well as the mandible which still existed in the last century. Of greyish-yellow colour, it is covered in some areas with organic residues of collagen, meninges and small vascular pedicles emerging from the foramina of the bone. The pathology of the skull is rather complex since, apart from the injury, a mild craniofacial dysmorphism exists secondary to a premature synostosis of the metopic suture (PSMS) which is the subject of another article (Puech et al., 1989). These characteristics can be traced in Mozart’s 0 1989 Butterworth & Co (Publishers)Ltd 0020-1383/89/060327~4 $03.00 Figure I. Photograph of the skull. Front and left lateral views. Four arrows show the linear fracture. On the top of the frontal bone, the following inscription can be read: ‘Joseph Rothmayer, a grave-digger, remembered the place where he had buried Mozart and preserved this skull at the tie of the disinterment and replanning of the graves in 1801. He gave it to his successor Joseph Ratchoff who, in turn, gave it to my brother Jacques. HYRTL’.