as was supposed, had attempted to violate the graves of the dead. Mr. Monro’s well-known character placed him above suspicion in the eyes of sober-minded men, but the vulgar of all denominations were of a different opinion. The city was in an uproar, and an Edinburgh mob was in those days very formidable. They beset Surgeon’s Hall, where Mr. Monro had from the first delivered his lectures, and had it not been for the spirited and vigorous measures of the magistrates, they would have destroyed and trampled under their feet the Anatomical preparations which he had accumulated with so much labor and expense. The tumult was fortunately quelled, but the magistrates found it necessary or convenient, in order to pacify the multitude, to offer a reward of £20 sterling to those who would discover the persons that were accessory to stealing dead bodies. The Session of the College rose in the course of a few weeks; no discovery was made, and the circumstance which occasioned the riot was speedily forgotten.” The preceding occurrence led to provision within the buildings of the University for the accommodation of the Medical School, and the greater security of the Museum belonging to it.
A similar unfortunate occurrence disturbed the quiet of Dr. Shippen’s demonstrations in Philadelphia. On one occasion his house was mobbed, and only by exercising great tact, and by the judicious interference of his friends and of the authorities was he saved from the entire destruction of his accumulated materials for teaching. The event was known for years after to the inhabitants as the Sailors’ Mob. In one of his early advertisements, Dr. Shippen exculpates himself from the imputation of procuring subjects in an illegal manner, by violating the sanctuary of the dead.[1]
In the changes that had taken place in the Faculty of the University of Edinburgh, at the period when the founders of the American School were educated within its walls, Cullen had come upon the theatre of action, and filled the highest place in their affections. As with the students of the University of Leyden, Boerhaave had been the ruling spirit, and had stamped his genius upon their thoughts and opinions,
- ↑ See Appendix E.
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