Anatomy laws versus body-snatching.

  • Dwight, Thomas, 1843-1911.
Date:
[1896]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Anatomy laws versus body-snatching. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    -—^ ANATOMY LAWS F^i2*^C/^ BODY-SNATCHING. A COMMITTEE, of wliich I was a member, reported to the Associa- tion of American Anatomists, at its meeting in December, 1895, on the question of the supply of subjects for dissection.' More than a year earlier this committee had addressed to all professors of anatomy in the United States, and to many in Europe, a circular asking for information. The answers were so ciirious and interesting that I have been tempted to pursue the matter further; for it opens many historical and social questions which are well worthy the consideration of think- ing people in general, and of legislators in particular. In my presi- dential address to the anatomists, I referred to the report of the com- mittee as theu' contribution to civilization and to science: I hope to show that it fully deserves that title. Since the Middle Ages it has been understood that a knowledge of anatomy is necessary for the treatment of disease, and that it can be acquired only by dissection. Nevertheless, law-makers have dealt with the question timidly, knowing the universality of public aver- sion to dissection. Owing to their timidity *on the one hand, and to the zeal of anatomists on the other, glaring abuses in the obtaining of bodies have everywhere occurred. It is instructive to see how the problem of securing a sufficient number of subjects for dissection has been more or less perfectly solved ; to study the successive phases; to note the repetition of similar scenes in widely different countries ; and to observe the uniformity of human nature at several epochs and among diverse races. It is particularly interesting to Americans because, in this country, the question has passed through the same phases with greater rapidity. In some States, however, it is still far behind the point which it has reached in others. In comparatively few, if indeed in any, has a satisfactory solution been obtained ; and in none is the system so perfect as it should and might be. ' This report was published in Science, January 17, 1896. A paper by Dr. Hartwell on the study of anatomy, in the Journal of Social Science, No. XIII, 1881, contains much information and a good account of the laws of the several States with regard to this subject at that time. The latter have, how- ever, been considerably changed since the paper was written.