Papers relative to the question of providing adequate means for the study of anatomy.

  • Ferguson, Robert, 1799-1865.
Date:
1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Papers relative to the question of providing adequate means for the study of anatomy. 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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    success, as though it would be found impracticable to reconcile the public to its introduction ; and one in particular, apprehends that religious feelings may impede its adoption. An objection founded on religious feelings, does not apply to the plan in question only, but would be equally valid, generally, against all dissection what- soever ; and should lead those who urge it, consistently with their own principles, to endeavour to put down altogether the study of practical Anatomy. Though it may be true that the public are, to a certain degree, averse to dissection, yet it is satisfactory to find several of the wit- nesses adducing facts to prove that those feelings of aversion are on the decline. They state, that in those parish infirmaries where the bodies of those who die are examined, as the practice has be- come common, it has been viewed with less jealousy; that in those hospitals where a similar rule prevails, neither patients themselves are deterred from applying for admission, nor their relatives on their behalf; that the addition of public dissecting rooms to hos- pitals has not produced any diminution in the number of applica- tions for relief within the walls of those hospitals; and that, by reasoning with the friends of those who die, and by explaining to them how important it is to the art of healing that examination should take place after death, they may usually be brought to con- sent to the bodies of their friends being examined. Hence it is argued that, in involving the subject of dissection in mystery, as has hitherto been the case, the public have been treated injudici- ously; that, with proper precautions, and the light of public dis- cussion to guide them, they may be made to perceive the impor- tance of the study generally, and the reasonableness of the particular measure now contemplated, and that, when they come to regard it as the means of suppressing exhumation, they will receive it with favor, and finally acquiesce in it. The legislative measure which most of the witnesses are desirous of, in order to enable them to carry the plan into effect, is the re- peal of any existing law which would subject to penalties those who might be concerned in carrying the proposed plan into execu- tion; they wish for an enactment, permissive and not mandatory, declaring that it shall not be deemed illegal for the governors of workhouses, &c., and for anatomists, the former to dispose of, the latter to receive and to dissect, the bodies of those dying in such