_Inquiry into Dr. Knox's Relations with Burke and Hare--Report of
Investigating Committee._
The violent outbreak of public feeling described in the last chapter
against Dr. Knox seems at last to have moved him to take some means to
clear himself from the imputations cast upon him for his connection with
Burke and Hare, and to attempt to set himself right with the people, who
were likely to proceed to even more extreme measures than any to which
they had yet resorted. Accordingly, it was intimated in the _Courant_ of
Thursday, 12th February, that at the desire of Dr. Knox and his friends,
ten gentlemen, with the Marquis of Queensberry at their head, had agreed
to make a full and fair investigation into all Dr. Knox's dealings with
the West Port criminals, and make a report to the public. In the same
newspaper on Monday, the 23rd of February, it was stated simply that the
noble marquis had withdrawn from the committee of investigation. No reason
for this withdrawal is given.
The committee of investigation certainly took plenty of time to inquire
into the matter they had undertaken, and to prepare their report, for it
was not until Saturday, the 21st of March, 1829, that the result of their
labours was published in the _Courant_. This report, certainly by no means
the least important document in connection with the West Port tragedies in
their relationship to medical science, was as follows:--
"The committee who, at the request of Dr. Knox, undertook to investigate
the truth or falsehood of the rumours in circulation regarding him, have
gone into an extensive examination of evidence, in the course of which
they have courted information from every quarter. They have been readily
furnished with all which they required from Dr. Knox himself; and though
they have failed in some attempts to procure evidence, they have in most
quarters succeeded in obtaining it, and especially from those persons who
have been represented to them as having spoken the most confidently in
support of those rumours; and they have unanimously agreed on the
following report:--
"1. The committee have seen no evidence that Dr. Knox or his assistants
knew that murder was committed in procuring any of the subjects brought to
his rooms, and the committee firmly believe that they did not.
"2. On the question whether any suspicion of murder at any time existed in
Dr. Knox's mind, the committee would observe that there were certainly
several circumstances (already known to the public) regarding some of the
subjects brought by Burke and Hare, which now that the truth has come out,
appear calculated to excite their suspicion, particularly the very early
period after death at which they were brought to the rooms, and the
absence of external marks of disease, together with the opinion previously
expressed by Dr. Knox, in common with most other anatomists, of the
generally abandoned character of persons engaged in this traffic. But on
the other hand, the committee, after most anxious enquiry, have found no
evidence of their actually having excited it in the mind of Dr. Knox or of
any other of the individuals who saw the bodies of these unfortunate
persons prior to the apprehension of Burke.
"These bodies do not appear in any instance to have borne external marks
by which it could have been known, whether they had died by violence, or
suddenly from natural causes, or from disease of short duration; and the
mode of protracted anatomical dissection practised in this and other
similar establishments, is such as would have made it very difficult to
ascertain the cause of death, even if special inquiry had been instituted
with that intention.
"No evidence whatever has come before the committee that any suspicion of
murder was expressed to Dr. Knox by any one either of his assistants, or
of his very numerous class (amounting to upwards of 400 students), or
other persons who were in the practice of frequently visiting his rooms;
and there are several circumstances in his conduct, particularly the
complete publicity with which his establishment was managed, and his
anxiety to lay each subject before the students as soon as possible after
its reception, which seem to the committee to indicate that he had no
suspicion of the atrocious means by which they had been procured.
"It has also been proved to the satisfaction of the committee that no
mutilation or disfigurement of any kind was ever practised with a view to
conceal the features, or abstract unreasonably any part of the body, the
presence of which would have facilitated detection; and it appears clearly
that the subjects brought by Burke and Hare were dissected in the same
protracted manner as those procured from any other quarter.
"3. The committee have thought it proper to inquire further, whether there
was anything faulty or negligent in the regulations under which subjects
were received into Dr. Knox's rooms, which gave or might give a peculiar
facility to the disposal of the bodies obtained by these crimes, and on
this point they think it their duty to state their opinion fully.
"It appears in evidence that Dr. Knox had formed and expressed the opinion
(long prior to any dealing with Burke and Hare) that a considerable supply
of subjects for anatomical purposes might be procured by purchase, and
without any crime, from the relatives or connections of deceased persons
of the lowest ranks of society.
"In forming this opinion, whether mistaken or not, the committee cannot
consider Dr. Knox to have been culpable. They believe that there is
nothing contrary to the law of the land in procuring subjects for
dissection in that way, and they know that the opinion which Dr. Knox had
formed on this point, though never acted on to any extent in this country,
has been avowed by others of the highest character in the profession. But
they think that Dr. Knox acted on this opinion in a very incautious
manner.
"This preconceived opinion seems to have led him to give a ready ear to
the plausible stories of Burke, who appears, from all the evidence before
the committee, to have conducted himself with great address and appearance
of honesty, as well in his connections with Dr. Knox, as in his more
frequent intercourse with his assistants, and always to have represented
himself as engaged in negotiations of that description, and occasionally
to have asked and obtained money in advance to enable him and his
associate to conclude bargains.
"Unfortunately, also, Dr. Knox has been led, apparently in consequence of
the extent and variety of his avocations, to intrust the dealings with
persons supplying subjects, and the reception of the subjects bought, to
his assistants (seven in number) and to his door-keeper indiscriminately.
It appears also that he directed or allowed these dealings to be conducted
on the understanding (common to him, with some other anatomists), that it
would only tend to diminish or divert the supply of subjects to make any
particular inquiry of the persons bringing them.
"In these respects the committee consider the practice which was then
adopted in Dr. Knox's rooms (whatever be the usage in this or other
establishments in regard to subjects obtained in the ordinary way) to have
been very improper in the case of persons bringing bodies which had not
been interred. They think that the notoriously bad character of persons
who generally engage in such traffic, in addition to the novelty and
particular nature of the system, on which these men professed to be
acting, undoubtedly demanded greater vigilance.
"The extent, therefore, to which (judging from the evidence which they
have been able to procure) the committee think Dr. Knox can be blamed, on
account of transactions with Burke and Hare, is, that by this laxity of
the regulations under which bodies were received into his rooms, he
unintentionally gave a degree of facility to the disposal of the victims
of their crimes, which, under better regulation, would not have existed,
and which is doubtless matter of deep and lasting regret, not only to
himself, but to all who have reflected on the importance, and are
therefore interested in the prosecution of the study of anatomy. But while
they point out this circumstance as the only ground of censure which they
can discover in the conduct of Dr. Knox, it is fair to observe that
perhaps the recent disclosures have made it appear reprehensible to many
who would not otherwise have adverted to its possible consequences."
This report was signed by John Robison, chairman; James Russell, Thomas
Allan, W. P. Alison, George Ballingall, George Sinclair, W. Hamilton, John
Robison, for M. P. Brown, Esq.; and John Shaw Stewart. The intention of
the committee evidently was by it to clear Dr. Knox from the aspersions
cast upon him; and this was a result far from satisfactory to a very large
section of the community. The feeling was that Paterson, the "door-keeper"
mentioned in the report, was, as that individual himself put it, being
made the "scape-goat for a personage in higher life." However, the matter
was allowed to rest there.