I love the Franklin quote. If the connectomics people are right, he could have had a sporting chance -- had he only gone through with it! Luckily there are a few others scattered throughout history whose brains were chemically preserved, such as Einstein and Babbage. Franklin has another interesting tie to the cryonics movement as well, as a pioneer in the area of long-term "Methuselah" trusts. (Not every attempt was so successful -- reference the cautionary tale of )