Report from the Select Committee on Anatomy.

Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Anatomy.

Date:: 1828

Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report from the Select Committee on Anatomy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

32/158 (page 28)

B. C. Brodie, Esq. 23 April 1828. • Quarterly Journal of Foreign Medi¬ cine and Surgery. Vol.I. Art. Ill- student in a year, does it occur to you how that is to be reconciled with your opinion ?—I think that is an over calculation ; I do not know what he is to do with them ; there is no time to use them ; the bodies must be wasted. 165. Do you think that the students of surgery in London, after completing their education, would be able to go through the following examination which takes place at Vienna*. “ One of the public examinations for the degree of master in surgery, consists in the performance of certain operations on the dead body; the operations are determined by lot; the candidate describes the surgical Anatomy of the parts; lays down the indications for the operations; performs them upon the dead body which is before him, and applies the proper bandages.” Do you think that the students, as they now quit the schools, after having gone through the two courses of dissection, would be able to acquit themselves of a trial so severe as that?—No; not those of ordinary education. I think that two courses of dissection is a very imperfect education indeed ; and instead of two courses of dissection which occupy one year, four or five years are necessary to complete the education of a surgeon. 166. Do you think the students of Dublin have an advantage over the students in London, from the facility with which the bodies are procured?—I believe the majority of them are better anatomists than the English students. 167. You have heard that there is an abundant supply of dead bodies to be obtained in Dublin?—Yes. 168. Are you aware that the candidates for the diploma of the College of Surgeons appear to be well or ill instructed, according as they came from schools where faci¬ lities are given for dissection?—I cannot speak from experience, not being an examiner; but I have heard so. 169. Have you known any injury done to the health of English students, towards the close of the season of tuition, from their continual exposure to bodies in a state of putridity ?—I think the health of many students suffer from their being too long in the dissecting-room; but they generally have got their dangerous diseases from opening recent subjects, not from putrid ones. John Abernethy, Esq. called in; and Examined. John Abemethj, 170. ARE you surgeon to St. Bartholomew^ Hospital, and lecturer on anatomy Esq. and surgery there ?—I was surgeon ; I am not now. v^ 371. Will you state your opinion as to the importance of dissection for students in anatomy, surgery, and medicine ?—It is of the highest importance to the public; nothing in life, I believe, that can be considered as more important; it is the founda¬ tion of all medical knowledge. Anatomical knowledge is not merely requisite in order that we may perform operations successfully, but it is the foundation of phy¬ siology ; and the knowledge of the structure and functions of the organs and parts of the body is the sole source of our know ledge of disease. 1 72. You would state it therefore generally to be your opinion, that the practice of dissection must be protected and encouraged under any circumstances ?—Unquestion¬ ably ; it wrould be little less than the commission of murder not to do it; it would be a cause of the greatest aggravation of human sufferings. The subject which is now urged on the consideration of Parliament by the necessities of the medical profes¬ sion, has been one that has excited the utmost attention and endeavours of all the teachers of Anatomy in this town for a great number of years. It is between fifteen and twenty years ago that we endeavoured to get the subject submitted to the consi¬ deration of His Majesty’s government, of the magistrates, and of the directors of eleemosynary establishments, through the intervention of the Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons ; and here is a paper to which they all subscribed their names at that time. [The Witness delivered in the same, which was read, as follows:] The undersigned, who are or have been teachers of Anatomy, respectfully represent to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, that in their opinion the fol¬ lowing subjects should be submitted for consideration to the government of the country, its magistrates, and the directors of eleemosynary institutions: 1st. Medical or chirurgical knowledge has never been acquired and augmented, but in proportion as Anatomy has been practically taught and studied. 2d. The, importance of medical and chirurgical knowledge, although universally ad¬ mitted, is never clearly understood nor strongly felt by individuals, until such know¬ ledge be urgently required. A few instances will sufficiently illustrate this truth. The industrious parent of a numerous and happy family may, even in the vigour of life, in consequence of neglecting the faulty actions of some important organ of his 3 sum '* • body.