Edward H. Rulloff (b. 1819 or 1820; d.1871) was a noted philologist and criminal. Rulloff is also notable for his brain which as of 1970 is the second largest on record and can be seen on display at the psychology

Psychology

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

 department at Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

 in Ithaca

Ithaca, New York

The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

.

Rulloff was born near Saint John

Saint John, New Brunswick

City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...

, New Brunswick

New Brunswick

New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...

 to German immigrants. As a youth, he served a two-year jail sentence for embezzlement

Embezzlement

Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....

 before moving to Ithaca. Self-educated

Autodidacticism

Autodidacticism is self-education or self-directed learning. In a sense, autodidacticism is "learning on your own" or "by yourself", and an autodidact is a person who teaches him or herself something. The term has its roots in the Ancient Greek words αὐτός and διδακτικός...

, Rulloff studied many fields, but excelled at linguistics. In 1869, he presented his theory of language origins The Method of Languages to the American Philological Association

American Philological Association

The American Philological Association , founded in 1869, is a non-profit North American scholarly organization devoted to all aspects of Greek and Roman civilization...

. Rulloff believed that his book, "Method in the Formation of Language" would prove to be definitive.

Rulloff was accused of many crimes during his lifetime. Notably, he was accused of beating his wife and daughter to death as well as poisoning his sister-in-law and niece. Rulloff spent time in prison on several occasions but was always released due to a dearth of evidence against him. Rulloff moved about Upstate New York

Upstate New York

Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, and Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 for several years. In 1870, Rulloff was sentenced to death for the murder of a store clerk in Binghamton, New York

Binghamton, New York

Binghamton is a city in the Southern Tier of New York in the United States. It is near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers...

. Because of his fame as a linguist, some people believed that Rulloff's life should be spared so that he could continue to contribute to that field of study. Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...

 satirically wrote an editorial, proposing that another individual be hanged in Rulloff's place.

Rulloff's execution was the last public hanging

Hanging

Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...

 in New York. Rulloff's final words were "Hurry it up! I want to be in hell

Hell

In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...

 in time for dinner." After his death, Cornell professor Burt Wilder declared Rulloff's brain the largest on record. Rulloff's brain can be seen on display as part of the Wilder Brain Collection

Wilder Brain Collection

The Wilder Brain Collection is a collection of brains maintained by the Cornell University Department of Psychology. The collection was created by professor of anatomy, Burt Green Wilder...

. A tavern

Tavern

A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food, and in some cases, where travelers receive lodging....

 in Ithaca bears Rulloff's name.

Rulloff was the brother of photographer, William Rulofson

William Rulofson

William Herman Rulofson was a Canadian-American photographer, who along with his partner, H. W. Bradley, was considered one of the leading photographers in the city of San Francisco, California. He was also the brother of Edward H...

.

External links

• Biography
• Rulloff: the great criminal and philologist by Samuel D. Halliday, 1905