Georges Cuvier’s Autopsy Report on Sara Baartman: A translation and commentary

In the historical research on Sara Baartman, best known as the “Hottentot Venus,” references to and discussions of her autopsy report by Georges Cuvier have been based on the original French text, “Extrait d’observations faites sur le cadavre d’une femme connue à Paris et à Londres sous le nom de Vénus Hottentotte,” published in 1817. For scholars, students and the general public interested in the life of Baartman, an English translation of the autopsy report, with an introduction and a commentary, make an important contribution to Baartman’s biography. Additionally, the project contributes to the history of medicine and, expressly, that of autopsy in the post-Enlightenment age of the First French Empire.