Victor Frankenstein observing the first stirrings of his creature. Engraving by W. Chevalier after Th. von Holst, 1831.

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<p>Mary Shelley described in her novel Frankenstein, or the modern Prometheus, how Victor Frankenstein, a Swiss student at the University of Ingolstadt, Bavaria, created a living being from dead body parts. The creature lies on the floor, its legs astride a skeleton. In the left foreground, an open book. In the background, electrical and chemical apparatus, and a bookcase containing folio volumes on top of which are skulls. An astrological chart is stuck up on a wall. Frankenstein leaves hastily through a door on the right</p>

Victor Frankenstein observing the first stirrings of his creature. Engraving by W. Chevalier after Th. von Holst, 1831.

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