Volume 1

Professional anecdotes, or ana of medical literature.

Date:
1825
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Professional anecdotes, or ana of medical literature. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and then, as to the supply of subjects, the practice of the German and Swedish universities, in carrying the bodies of the professors and servants of the Universities to the anatomical theatre for inspection, before burial, is the most rational, and might be extended to the whole medical faculty, their wives, and children under age and unmar- ried, by an act ordering their bodies to be carried to the nearest hospital, or the senior surgeon of the hundred, &c. for anatomical inspection. “ If the medical faculty set the example, by soliciting an act to this effect, there can be little doubt but that the friends of other deceased persons would, in a very short time, allow the examination of the bodies, or even in many cases, sell them for complete dissection, which might also be the lot (not punishment, for what can be more absurd than the attempt to punish a lifeless corpse?) of those who choose to die by their own hands, even if found to be lunatic. “ Thus, those who are benefited by the practice of dis- section, or who have laid violent hands upon themselves, would alone be forced to contribute their bodies to this purpose, and not the poor and friendless. “ If the supply thus obtained was not sufficient, the bodies of the beneficed clergy, and of the holders of offices under government, with that of their wives and children, would surely suffice, and the lacking of this condition to the acceptance of these charges and offices in future, would injure none.” This idea seems the most reasonable that has been proposed: the members of the faculty who should object to it would shew that they them- selves regard the dissection of their bodies with horror, and must, therefore, allow the nefarious