On the effects of the Anatomy Act, and the facilities for the study of practical anatomy in Glasgow / by George Buchanan.

  • Buchanan, George, 1827-1905.
Date:
[©1855?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the effects of the Anatomy Act, and the facilities for the study of practical anatomy in Glasgow / by George Buchanan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    ing the study of anatomy in London; but if the students had to expend considerable sums of money in obtaining dissection, they could, at least, do so without much trouble or danger to themselves, the duty of procuring the subject being entirely left to the resun-ectionists. In Glasgow it was different. There were no men who made it a business to obtain bodies, and the onus of supplying the dissecting-rooms lay with the teachers themselves, and with their students. The students wei:e therefore compelled to band together, and perform the disgusting duty which in London was delegated to the resurrection men. Many of the sur- geons of this and other towns, will remember with hoiTor the escapades in which they were engaged while studying ana- tomy in this city. What would the students of the present day say, if, in addition to mastering the details of their dissection, they had been compelled previously to become masters of the body, by a laborious and disagreeable operation ? For the infor- mation of those who are now enjoying in ease and safety the fruits of Mr. Warburton's Bill, I shall detail the mode of pro- cedure of the private resurrectionists of Glasgow, as related to me by one who was not unfrequently present at these predatory ex- cursions. The grave of a recently buried body was carefully observed and marked during the day, and a band of a sufficient number—usually four or six—was made up. The party, pro- vided with a dark lantern, an old carpet, a sack, and shovels and pickaxe, took the advantage of the first dark, cloudy, perhaps windy night, in order that their proceedings might be the better concealed. Sentries were posted to give notice of any alarm which might get up, and the principals entered the graveyard by climbing the wall, at a distance from the gate. The grave was then opened to about half its extent, and, by dint of hard labour, about one-third of the coffin lid was exposed. The strongest of the party now entered with the lantern to perform the most difficult part of the whole, and over the open gTave was thrown the carpet above mentioned, for the double purpose of con- cealing the light and deadening the noise of the working. The coffin-lid was wrenched open by a short crowbar, and, by sheer force, was broken off where it remained covered with earth. The noose of a strong rope was now put round the neck of the body and handed up to the others outside, who soon pulled up the corpse to the surface. It was then wrapped up in the sack, and carried off to a convenient place, and the grave was filled up and covered, great care being taken to leave the surface as near as possible in the same condition in which it was found. Such were the means that the students were necessitated to employ in order to gain a knowledge of their profession, and it may easily be conceived that, with such difficulties in the wav only a scanty supply could be obtained, and the bodies often con- A 2