Anatomy. Proceedings at the National Political Union, respecting legislative interference in the study of anatomy, and the supply of bodies for anatomical research.

  • National Political Union
Date:
1832
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Anatomy. Proceedings at the National Political Union, respecting legislative interference in the study of anatomy, and the supply of bodies for anatomical research. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    When a short time since I ventured to introduce the subject of Anatomy to the Council, it was by way of experiment, I was uncertain as to the manner in which it would be received. That it was a subject of serious import all were ready to allow; that it deserved the most serious attention few who understood its merits were prepared to deny; but almost every one feared that any attempt to discuss it in the presence of any considerable body of the working people would be fruitless. I was told that it was directly in the teeth of their most inveterate prejudices; so abhorrent to their feelings, so opposed to their wishes that I ought not to expect the least countenance, much less any support, and might think my¬ self well off if I did not meet with severe reprehension. I was however satisfied that the progress which had been made in right thinking must have had some effect in less¬ ening the prejudices which I knew had existed against the practice of Anatomy, though I could not calculate on the cordial reception of what I thought proper to say on that occasion, which it met with. I had seen too much of the working people to believe that they had not kept pace on the path of knowledge with any other description of per¬ sons; and I thought it was but fair towards them to state the matter in a very general way, that I might ascertain the propriety of proposing it for more particular notice, or of letting it remain until circumstances should warrant me in again introducing it. I recollected that not long ago a human body was exhi¬ bited at the Mechanics’ Institution, partly dissected, and was lectured upon by that excellent man, that sincere and invaluable friend of the working classes. Dr. Birkbeck, with Mr. W. Colson as his demonstrator. It was a bold step; it was known that only a very few years before that time, the very men who were called upon to view the body in the different stages of its dissection, during the time the lec¬ tures were being delivered, would have pulled down the house in which a dead body had been deposited for the purpose of public dissection. But mark the result of better knowledge—the Theatre of the Institution, which will accommodate upwards of a thousand persons, was crowded to excess with members. The attention of these spectators was profound, the amount of instruction they received considerable, and many must have been instigated to desire and to obtain a larger share of information not only on this but on other subjects than they then possessed, and so potent is the excitement of thought when directed to useful purposes, that it would be difficult to appreciate the beneficial consequences of these lectures.