A book owned by Harvard University has been been bound in human skin, scientists believe.
Des destinees de l'ame (Destinies of the Soul) has been housed at Houghton Library since the 1930s.
Writer Arsene Houssaye is said to have given the book to his friend, Dr Ludovic Bouland, in the mid-1880s.
Dr Bouland then reportedly bound the book with skin from the body of an unclaimed female mental patient who had died of natural causes.
"The analytical data, taken together with the provenance of Des destinees de l'ame, make it very unlikely that the source could be other than human," Bill Lane, the director of the Harvard Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics Resource Laboratory, told theHoughton Library Blog.
The practice of binding books in human skin - termed anthropodermic bibliopegy - has been reported since as early as the 16th Century.
Numerous 19th Century accounts exist of the bodies of executed criminals being donated to science, their skins later given to bookbinders.
Located within Des destinees de l'ame is a note written by Dr Bouland, stating no ornament had been stamped on the cover to "preserve its elegance".
"I had kept this piece of human skin taken from the back of a woman," he wrote. "A book about the human soul deserved to have a human covering."
The book, said to be a meditation on the soul and life after death, is believed to be the only one bound in human skin at Harvard.
Comparable tests undertaken on books at the university's law and medical school libraries revealed books bound in sheepskin.
据英国广播公司报道，一些科学家证实，哈佛大学的一本藏书用人类皮肤做封面。
这本《灵魂的归宿》（Des destinees de I'ame， Destineies of the Soul）自20世纪30年代以来就收藏在霍顿图书馆（Houghton Library）时。
据称，作家Asene Houssaye在十九世纪八十年代中期将这书送他的朋友Ludovic Bouland博士。
据报道称，Bouland博士那时从一名自然死亡、无人认领的女性精神病患者身上取下皮肤来作为封面。
哈佛大学质朴分析法和蛋白质组合资源实验室（Harvard Mass Sepctrometry and Proteomics Resource Laboratory）主任比尔•朗恩（Bill Lane）在霍顿图书馆的博客中说道：“结合《灵魂的归宿》起源，分析数据表明，这封面有极大可能是人类皮肤。”
对于人类皮肤用作书的封面——也称为人皮书（antrhopodermic bibliopegy）——最早在16世纪就有所报道。
19世纪的众多记录表明，许多执行死刑的罪犯尸体捐给科研机构后，他们的皮肤后来都运给了书籍装订商。
《灵魂的归宿》这本书中夹着一张Bouland博士写的字条，字条上写道，一直以来封面都没有装饰，目的是“保持优雅”。
“我一直保留着这张从女性背部取下的皮肤，”他写道。“一本有关人类灵魂的书值得有一张人皮作封面。”
据称，这本有关对人类死后的灵魂和生命冥想的书籍是哈佛大学唯一一本以人皮为封面的图书。
在哈佛大学的法律和医学院图书馆里作了一些相似的书籍检，显示有一些书用羊皮作封面。