One of the most important means of the study of medicine, and
especially of surgery, is a thorough acquaintance with the anatomy of
the human body. No one would think of placing an engineer in charge
of a complicated piece of machinery, who had never become intimately
acquainted with all the parts of such a machine, so that he could take
it to pieces and put it together again with ease and intelligence.
Yet, until comparatively recently, this knowledge of anatomy was
both required of, and yet at the same time the means of obtaining it
was forbidden to, the medical student. If he performed an operation
and was guilty of negligence or error, due to his want of anatomical
knowledge, he was liable to a suit for malpractice. Yet his only
means of becoming acquainted with the anatomy of the human body was
by stealing the bodies of the dead. In England, up to 1832, this was
equally true. A regular traffic in human bodies existed there as
well as here, and, by reason of its perils, the cost of bodies for
dissection was very great; but it was only a question of money. In
his testimony before the Parliamentary Committee, Sir Astley Cooper
made a shiver run down the backs of the noble lords who listened to
him when he said that in order to dissect the body of any of them it
was only necessary for him to pay enough. The large pecuniary profits
of such business, when the supply was very small, led to the horrible
atrocities of Burke and Hare in Edinburgh in 1832. They deliberately
murdered a considerable number of persons, and sold the bodies to the
dissecting rooms in that city. The discovery of their crimes finally
led to the passage of the Anatomy Act, which has been in force in
Great Britain ever since. Similar violations of graveyards in this
country have led to the passage in various States of somewhat similar
laws, usually giving for dissection the bodies of those who were so
poor in friendship that no one would spend the money necessary for
their burial. Even to-day, in a large number of our States, the former
anomalous condition of affairs exists. The increase of anatomical
material which has resulted from the enactment of wise and salutary
laws for this purpose has given a great impetus to the study of
anatomy, and has produced a far better educated class of physicians
in most parts of the United States within the last few years. The
enlightened sense of the community has perceived that to deny the
medical schools the means of properly teaching anatomy was a fatal
mistake, and resulted in an ignorance of which the community were
the victims. As a result, it is possible now, by law, in most States
to obtain a reasonable number of cadavers, not only for the study of
anatomy, but for the performance of all the usual operations.