For the person who asked -- and anyone else who's interested -- the
     short story is this.  As Edison lay near death in his bedroom at his
     home, Glenmont, in West Orange, New Jersey, his son supposedly placed
     test tubes out in the room.  After Edison expired early in the morning
     of October 18, 1931, the test tubes were capped.  Thus they
     "contained" Edison's last breath, or, more accurately, air from the
     room in which he died.

     Further details for the curious can be found by emailing Doug Tarr at
     [log in to unmask]

     Kristin Herron
     Former Curator of Glenmont