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Some Edinburgh Medical Men at the Time of the Resurrectionists *

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Some Edinburgh Medical Men at the Time of the Resurrectionists * SOME EDINBURGH MEDICAL MEN AT THE TIME OF THE RESURRECTIONISTS * By H. P. TAIT, M.D., F.R.C.P.Ed., D.P.H. Senior Assistant Maternity and Child Welfare Medical Officer, Edinburgh Some time ago I was asked to give a paper to this combined meeting on some historical subject connected with the Edinburgh Medical s School. Since you are to be guests at a performance of Bridie " " The Anatomist tomorrow evening, it was suggested to me that I might speak of some of the medical men of Edinburgh at the time of the Resurrectionists. I hope that what I have to tell you tonight of may be of some interest and may enable you to obtain some sort " background for a more complete enjoyment of the play. The " of Anatomist centres round the figure of Dr Robert Knox, one he our leading anatomists in the twenties of the last century, and it was who gained an unwelcome notoriety by reason of his close association with Burke and Hare, the Edinburgh West Port murderers. Before proceeding to discuss some of the leaders of Edinburgh medi- cine at the time of Knox and the Resurrectionists, may I be permitted to give a brief outline of the Resurrectionist movement in this country- Prior to 1832, when the Anatomy Act was passed and the supply of anatomical material for dissection was regularised, there existed no legal means for the practical study of anatomy in Britain, save for the scanty and irregular material that was supplied by the gallows. Yet the law demanded that the surgeon possess a high degree of skill in his calling ! How, then, was he to obtain this skill without regular dissection ? The answer is that he obtained his material by illegal means, viz., rifling the graves of the newly-buried. To those individuals " who opened graves and removed the corpses, the names of Resur- " " " " rectionists," Resurrection-men or Sack-'em-up Men were given- With the rise of Edinburgh as a medical centre, in particular of its anatomical school under the two Monros, primus and secundus, and the later development of extra-mural anatomical teaching during the professorship of the incompetent Monro tertius, the Resurrectionists became busy both in and around the city and in other parts of Scotland. The Resurrectionists of Dublin also assisted the Edinburgh School and a regular traffic in corpses developed between the two cities (Ball, 1928). The first three decades of the nineteenth century mark the peak period of the resurrectionist movement. Public indignation, roused by the evidence revealed during the trial of Burke and Hare in 1828, effectively put a stop to resurrectioning in Scotland, but a Bill introduced into Parliament in 1829 and intended to free anatomists from the restrictions under which they laboured, was withdrawn. * Read at a Joint Meeting of the Tuberculosis Association and the Tuberculosis Society of Scotland held in Edinburgh on 16th July 1947. ' SOME EDINBURGH MEDICAL MEN "7 Only in 1832, after the Anatomy Act was finally passed did resur- rectioning become, for all practical purposes, extinct in Britain. These resurrectionists comprised two groups of men. The first Sroup was composed mainly of anatomists, surgeons, physicians and Medical students, who, though their activities were illegal, were largely anirnated by a desire to advance science. As members of this group ^e might cite such men as the immortal John Hunter, Robert Liston and Sir Charles Bell. The second group consisted of low fellows, whom Sir Astley Cooper " " Ascribed as the lowest dregs of degradation (Ball, 1928), and ^'hose activities were pursued solely for financial gain, who stopped at nothing to achieve these ends, and whose patron was ever he with the most liberal purse. Some of the Edinburgh members of this group were well-known characters locally and rejoiced under such names as " " " " Merry Andrew," the Stupe and the Spune (Macgregor, 1884). As extra-mural teachers of anatomy and surgery quickly increased ln numbers during the first quarter of the last century, competition f?r " " subjects became acute, and the rival gangs of resurrectionists had many encounters, often bloody. The general public gradually became cognisant of the activities ?f these intruders, and began to take measures to circumvent them. Guarded graves, such as still may be seen in Greyfriars' Churchyard here, and watchers over the graves were both tried but with varying sUccess. Too often whisky, darkness and the eerie surroundings of the graveyard proved too much for the watchers who deserted their " Posts leaving the coast clear for the thieves of the night." Burke and Hare appeared on the scene in the winter of 1827, hut, having no stomach for body-snatching, they resorted to cold, calculated murder?one of the fine arts of de Quincey. The method adopted by this couple was to render their victims drunk with whisky, or to smother them then to compress their mouths and nostrils, else as they lay in their drunken sleep. By such .means, some sixteen Hare for Dr c?rpses of murdered folk were provided by Burke and Knox before that infamous pair were arrested in November 1828. The subsequent events of the trial of this couple are well known. while Hare escaped the hangman's loop by turning King's Evidence, on ^Urke paid the supreme penalty by public hanging 29th January was *829. The day following, a public lecture and demonstration in serious given on Burke's brain?an event which nearly resulted were rioting in the City. On the 31st January, the general public wrote in permitted to view Burke's body and Sir Walter Scott his " Journal that, all the world flock to see him." After this exhibition, for future lectures. the body was further dissected and preserved Burke's skeleton now rests in the Museum of the Anatomy Department ?f our University here. the first of the Might I remind you that during thirty years was not the world centre nineteenth century, Edinburgh only of vol. lv. no. 2 H 2 118 H. P. TAIT of medical education, but this period also marked the culmination her intellectual glory (Gillies, 1886). It was the period of the philosophy of Dugald Stewart, of the physical researches of Playfair, Leslie and of Hope, of the portraiture of Raeburn, of the immortal writings Sir Walter Scott, of the Bar resplendent in Jeffrey, Cockburn and Moncrieff. In the twenties appeared the facile pens of John Wilson (" Christopher North ") and John Gibson Lockhart. The Edinburgh Review exerted its all-powerful influence in literary criticism, while Maga, Blackwood''s Magazine, and the publishing house of Constable were known to all. of The leaders of Edinburgh medicine at this time were men powerful personality and forcible character and exerted their influence on medicine throughout the world. The first who falls to be briefly mentioned is Alexander Monro, tertius (1773-1859). Appointed Professor of Anatomy at the University in 1798 as colleague and successor to his father, Monro secundums, he was indifferent to his students and careless, though he lacked neither ability nor accomplishments (Christison, 1885). Garrison (1929) " refers to him as the evergreen tertius." Small wonder, then, that he soon lost command over his class, though Christison admits Monro gave a very clear and complete course of lectures on anatomy. Monro was one of the central figures in a most exciting afternoon of in the history of anatomy. In the presence of a great concourse local celebrities and students, he lectured on Burke's brain the day after the execution. Monro practised as a physician, and this, combined with his ineptitude in teaching anatomy, contributed to the steady rise of the extra-mural anatomy teachers, and to the clamant necessity f?r s instituting a Chair of Surgery within the University, since Monro a duties as Professor of Anatomy also included instruction in surgery, subject which he dealt with in a most perfunctory manner in his lectures. Such, then, was the way anatomy and surgery were taught in the University, and small wonder, therefore, that other, more striking figures appeared outside the sacred walls and began to teach these subjects. One of these extra-mural teachers of anatomy and surgery who arose during the period under review was John Barclay (1758-1826)- He had an active period of teaching extending from 1797-1825- Destined for the Church, for which he qualified after a distinguished academic career, he turned his attention to medicine and graduated M.D. at Edinburgh in 1796. After spending a year in London studying anatomy under Marshall, Barclay returned to Edinburgh and began to teach it privately. After a period of struggle, he gained official recognition as a teacher in 1804, and from that time his classes swelled rapidly in number, many students transferring their attendance from Monro to Barclay (Struthers, 1867). Barclay was a clear and witty lecturer, holding the attention of his audience by the frequent use of apposite anecdote. His knowledge SOME EDINBURGH MEDICAL MEN n9 ?f anatomy was profound, and he was often consulted by surgeons before they tackled some difficult or intricate operation (Struthers). His a had reason liberality was proverbial, and many medical student to be grateful for Barclay's generosity. Comparative Anatomy was Barclay's special study, and he at one tirne petitioned the Town Council of Edinburgh to be made Professor ?f that subject in the University, but his petition failed. Nevertheless, he was largely instrumental in having established the Royal (Dick) Veterinary College here. He was not a prolific writer, but his works were of a high standard, and he retained to the end an early interest in philosophy.
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