The Anatomie générale of M. F. X. Bichat is a monument of his philosophical genius which will last as long as the structure and functions of the human body are objects of interest. His Anatomie descriptive is distinguished by clear and natural arrangement, precise and accurate description, Bichat.and the general ingenuity with which the subject is treated. The physiological observations are in general correct, often novel, and always highly interesting. It is unfortunate, however, that the ingenious author was cut off prematurely during the preparation of the third volume. The later volumes are, however, pervaded with the general spirit by which the others are impressed, and are highly creditable to the learning, the judgment and the diligence of P. J. Roux and M. F. R. Buisson. The system of A. Portal is a valuable and correct digest of anatomical and French systematic anatomists. pathological knowledge, which, in exact literary information, is worthy of the author of the Histoire de l’anatomie et de la chirurgie, and, in accuracy of descriptive details, shows that Portal trusted not to the labours of his predecessors only. A. Boyer published in 1803 a complete treatise on descriptive anatomy. H. Cloquet formed, on the model of the Anatomie descriptive of Bichat, a system in which he avails himself of the literature and precision of Sömmerring and the details of Portal. An English translation of this work was prepared by Dr Robert Knox. Jean Cruveilhier published in 1834–1835 a good general treatise on descriptive anatomy, which was translated into English, and published as a part of The Library of Medicine. Cruveilhier’s treatise has passed through several editions. The most elaborate work of the French school is the great treatise of M. J. Bourgery, consisting of four divisions, on descriptive, general, surgical and philosophical anatomy (1832–1854). These are beautifully illustrated.
Modern Human Anatomy (Anthropotomy)
The history of modern human anatomy in Great Britain begins with the time at which the dissection of the human body became part of the training of students of medicine, and this is one of the greatest debts, though by no means the best recognized, of the many which medical science owes to that remarkable man William Hunter. Before his time the anatomy professors of the most celebrated schools both at home and abroad used one or at most two subjects to illustrate their courses of lectures, and were in the habit of demonstrating the performance of surgical operations not on human bodies but on those of lower animals. Few students dissected the human body, because for such dissection they had no opportunities. The English law, since the time of Henry VIII., allowed only the bodies of persons executed for murder to be dissected, and the supply seems to have been sufficient for the humble needs of the time. The reformation of this antiquated and imperfect system took place in 1747, when Hunter established complete courses of anatomical lectures and opened a school for dissection. The practice of dissection grew so rapidly that by about 1793 there were 200 regular anatomy students in London, while in 1823 their number was computed at about 1000. Of course the supply of murderers was not enough for all these students, and the very fact that only murderers were allowed for this purpose made people bitterly hostile to the bodies of their relations and friends being dissected. In accounting for the great aversion which there has always been from dissection in England, it should be remembered that, although capital punishment was the penalty for very many offences at the beginning of the 19th century, only the bodies of murderers were handed over to the anatomists.
When once the absolute necessity of a surgeon’s having a good knowledge of anatomy was realized, bodies had to be procured at any hazard, and the chief method was to dig them up as soon as possible after their burial. This practice of exhumation or “body-snatching” on a large scale seems to have been peculiar to Great Britain and America, and not to have been needed on the continent of Europe. In France, Italy, Portugal and Austria no popular objection was raised to the bodies of friendless people, who died in hospitals, or of those whose burial was paid for by the state, being dissected, provided a proper religious service was held over them. In Germany it was obligatory that the bodies of all people unable to pay for their burials, all dying in prisons, all suicides and public women should be given up. In all these countries the supply was most ample, exhumation was unknown, and the cost of learning anatomy to the students was very moderate. In Great Britain the earlier exhumations seem to have caused very little popular concern; Hunter, it is said, could manage to get the body of any person he wanted, were it that of giant, dwarf, hunchback or lord, but later, when the number of students increased very rapidly, the trade of “resurrection man” became commoner, and attracted the lowest dregs of the vicious classes. It is computed that in 1828 about 200 people were engaged in it in London alone, though only a few gained their entire livelihood by it. In the first half of the 18th century, and for some time afterwards, the few dissections which were undertaken were carried out in the private houses of medical men. In 1702 a rule was passed at St Thomas’s Hospital preventing the surgeons or pupils from dissecting bodies there without the express permission of the treasurer, but by 1780 this rule seems to have lapsed, and a definite dissecting-room was established, an example which was soon followed by Guy’s and St Bartholomew’s.
In the early years of the 19th century the number of students increased so rapidly that a good many private anatomy schools grew up, and in 1828 we find that the total list of London dissecting rooms comprised those of Guy’s, London, St Bartholomew’s and St Thomas’s hospitals, the Webb Street school of Mr Grainger, the Aldersgate school of Mr Tyrrell, the Windmill Street school where Caesar Hawkins and Herbert Mayo lectured, and the schools of Messrs. Bennett, Carpue, Dermott and Sleigh. These schools needed and, it seems, obtained nearly 800 bodies a year in the years about 1823, when there were nearly 1000 students in London, and it is recorded that bodies were even sent to Edinburgh and Oxford.
When it is realized that the greater number of these were exhumed, it is easy to understand how hostile the public feeling became to the body-snatchers or “resurrection men,” and also in a modified form to the teachers of anatomy and medical students. This was increased by the fact that it soon became well known that many of the so-called resurrection men only used their calling as a cloak for robbery, because, if they were stopped with a horse and cart by the watch at night, the presence of a body on the top of stolen goods was sufficient to avert suspicion and search. It is in many places suggested, though not definitely stated, that the Home Office authorities understood how absolutely necessary it was that medical students should learn the details of the human body, on which they would be called to operate, and that the police had instructions not to interfere more than was necessary with the only method by which that education could be supplied, however unlawful it might be. So emboldened and careless did these body-snatchers become, and so great was the demand for bodies, that they no longer confined themselves to pauper graves, but took the remains of the wealthier classes, who were in a position to resent it more effectually; often they did not even take the trouble to fill in the graves after rifling their contents, and, in consequence, many sextons, who no doubt had been bribed, lost their posts, and men armed with firearms watched the London burial-places at night. The result of this was that the “resurrection men” had to go farther afield, and their occupation was attended with considerable danger, so that the price of a body gradually rose from £2 to about £14, which seems the maximum ever paid. In addition to this heavy sum the anatomical teachers had to pay the fines of the exhumers when they were caught, or to support their families when they were imprisoned. By 1828 the annual supply of bodies had dropped to about 450, and about 200 English students were forced each year to go to Paris for their anatomical instruction. There they could get a body for about seven francs and could also be taught by English anatomists who settled in that city for the purpose.
As early as about 1810 an anatomical society was formed, to
