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František Palacký (1798-1876), a historian and politician, was one of the most eminent personalities of the Czech society of the 19th century. He died on 26 May 1876 in Prague and on 30 May 1876, in the evening before the burial, the Palacký's head was dissected and his brain was extracted and preserved as a liquid preparation. Then, it was deposited in the Museum of the Kingdom of Bohemia (present National Museum) in Prague; currently it is stored in a jar concealed in a wall niche of a column (next to a large statue of Palacký) in the Pantheon hall of the historical building of the National Museum on the Wenceslaus square in Prague. The investigation of the Museum archive brought some documents which elucidate certain parts of the history of the Palacký's brain preparation, although its whereabouts during other periods still remain hidden. For several years after its extraction, the Palacký's brain was deposited in the Museum library, and between the years 1878-1899 (most probably in 1892 at the latest), it was handed over to the Department of Zoology of the Museum, where it remained until 1931. Next fate of the brain is uncertain until 1958, when it was installed in the wall niche in the Pantheon hall, where it remains till now (with an interruption in the last five years), but again under the responsibility of the Department of Zoology and Department of Anthropology, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper deals with the cosmological role of the Titans in Hesiod's Theogony. Starting from their imprisonment in the Underworld, the Titans are depicted as an intermediate generation of gods, situated midway between the primordial divine powers like Heaven and Earth and the complexly developed cosmos under the rule of Zeus and the Olympian generation. Their role being mainly transitional, these gods under the rule of Cronos can't be fully incorporated into the new world-order, and they had to be locked away in the peripheral underground regions of the world, where hidden memorials of the cosmic origins are maintained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper deals with (presumably) Aeschylus' play Prometheus Bound and its main character, the Titan Prometheus. Prometheus is presented not only as a cultural hero who has brought various craftsmanship to mortal men, but also as a tragic person, an ancient titanic god fighting with the providence and the will of the Olympian Zeus, the new sovereign of the world. In the last part, the cosmological relevance of Prometheus' punishment is outlined, linking Prometheus' destiny at the Far East of the world with that of his brother Atlas who keeps Heaven and Earth apart, being located at the opposite Far West of the cosmos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]