Hey everyone, a quick message. This is the 10th and final show in the fall season.

After this, we'll be taking a break until spring.

If you're creating more science history delights before then,

check out the science history institute's other incredible podcast, Distilations.

Or check out the dozens of bonus episodes I've posted at patreon.com slash disappearing spoon. In the meantime, enjoy this episode and I'll see you in the spring.

Oh, and before I start, in case you cannot tell from the title,

there is a murder in this story,

and this episode contains graphic violence.

The landlady opened the closet door and nearly vomited. She had never smelled anything so foul. What

had those dirty students left in this bundle of clothing? She had rented the room to

the students two weeks earlier.

They had seemed like decent fellows and even paid up front.

But after they had hauled this bundle of clothing up to the room, they vanished,

leaving her to clean up this mess.

The landlady sighed, holding her nose she picked up the dirty bundle.

At which point, two severed arms and two severed legs tumbled out.

The landlady had just uncovered one of the most sensational murders of 19th century Paris, the slaying of a poor old milkmaid.

The case proved sensational not only for the ghastly crime, but for the motivation behind it.

Because as strange as it sounds,

one of the murderers killed the milkmaid simply

to prove something about Charles Darwin's theory of evolution,

which in turn raised an urgent question in French society.

...