William Cooke

“ But these gentry may receive a graver and heavier rebuke; such as, from its eminent and official source, shall convincingly teach them, that to conspire against the future prospects of any man, by raking up a groundless charge of felony against him, when his character is untainted, and his pursuits even in the imputed felony are useful and honourable, is in itself so very contemptible, and yet so heinous an offence against common society, as to require a direct rebuke from the Chief Magistrate, and to deserve that severe punishment which would follow an action at law. ”

“ Peel is well known to entertain the most liberal views upon the subject, and it would be strange indeed, if a gentleman so distinguished, so much a scholar, and so much a patriot, should, amid numerous wise enactments, overlook those serious obstacles, which prejudice, ignorance, and vulgarity throw in the way of medical and surgical science. Upon these hopes I would congratulate the profession, and their patients no less, as upon a promise of a very important good. ”

“ To the great majority of thinking men, it will appear as if I were going about to prove that pain was an evil, by advancing arguments in proof of the necessity of Anatomy. But I have good reasons for believing, that certain persons who talk loudly about the horrors of disinterment, are quite unaware of the nature or object of that science, which they would consent to sacrifice at the shrine of an ill-directed, if even a praiseworthy feeling. ”

“ There is that, however, which “makes all doctrines plain and clear,” and it is the duty of every man to acquire popularity—his interest at least—and if his interest, then his duty: because, if it be the duty of a citizen to promote the general good, how can he do that in a readier way, than by promoting his own good? ”

“ You know, I presume to think, Sir, that it is difficult for men even of enlarged minds to divest themselves of opinions once formed,—perhaps publicly declared.—Rumour has a thousand tongues, and prejudice catches every whisper;—is it fair then, that I, or any one else should be tried by a jury who could by any possibility prejudge the question? ”

“ A legal gentleman, perceiving that it was a charge of disinterment, and no more expecting an indictment for felony than one for high treason, neglected, for some days, to inform me that it was necessary I should plead to so serious a matter in person. A general exclamation of surprise and merriment attended its relation; except in some persons, who conceived it too serious a piece of malice to be met in any other way than by indignant deprecation. For my own part, I was content: I felt assured of the view which an enlightened judge would take of the subject ”

“ Lest, however, our patients should delicately refrain from seeking information of their medical attendants, as supposing that they would be unwilling to betray the secrets of their art and mystery, let them be assured, that necromancy and juggling are not farther removed from the practice of medicine and surgery, than are reserve and mystery from that theoretical information, which every educated practitioner is, at all times, willing to afford. ”

“ Mayor, men of eminent ability will, certainly, be compelled by their less gifted fellow citizens, to assume high and responsible situations: and dazzling as their elevation may be to the vulgar eye, we are assured that the cares and toils of office, are ever in proportion to its dignity and importance. None can be supposed to enjoy distinction and honour unqualified and unmixed. ”

“ Nay more, when we exert ourselves, and procure it in the best way we can, in a state scarcely fit for handling, the implement being utterly useless for any other purpose, we are rewarded with complaints and abuse. Would this were all: we are prosecuted. (Once, we were, facetiously enough, indicted for a felony upon this score; but it need not be feared a second time: for the wit of the proceeding not happening immediately to appear, this merry conceit assumed too much the tone of malice aforethought, to render the jest expedient in future.) ”

“ But, something ought to be done to relieve the medical profession from the disgusting necessities under which it is placed. Criminals whose bodies are sentenced to dissection, afford, happily, a very inadequate supply. Instances of persons bequeathing their remains for the purposes of science are very rare. An eminent example, however, of that kind of liberality occurred lately in the metropolis, and the donor was of the Medical Profession. It has been said, Why do not Surgeons generally set an example of such devotedness to science? There is no justice in such a demand. ”

“ But, surely, it is a little hard upon the profession, not only to deny to them any fair and agreeable means of procuring subjects, but after compelling them to converse with the most equivocal characters that they may procure what is absolutely necessary to them, to denounce their dealings with such men as criminal and felonious. ”

“ Gentlemen scorn dishonourable actions, scholars are liberal toward science and the students of it, and Christians are just at least, being commanded not to “bear false witness against their neighbour.” Can they possibly, can any learned individual among them, find texts to justify the accusing a man of a disgraceful offence, when he knows that none has been committed? ”

“ Or, he opens the vein, he divides some of the nerves, or he ties them up with the artery. It is all the same. He might as well have laid open the original tumour, and thus have killed the patient at once.
That man’s prejudices against Anatomy, Mr. Mayor, and even against disinterment, must be rooted indeed, who, in the face of such facts as these, would still oppose himself against some slight sacrifice of feeling, to secure such important advantages as anatomical knowledge has been seen to confer. But, Sir, the law requires of medical men that they be Anatomists. ”

“ On the other hand, how numerous are actions against surgeons merely for supposed want of skill in treating fractures and other cases, when the patient does not acquire that relief which he expects. Suppose I were exposed to an action from my prosecutors for ignorance in that science which they have just prosecuted me for studying, who would be more ready to prosecute than they? ”

“ He exposes a portion of the artery, he conveys a ligature around it, and his patient is safe. Suppose, again, that the operator, from a delicate sentimentality, has held disinterment to outweigh, in horror, any good that can arise from it, and has neglected to study Anatomy, lest he should encourage this “disgusting traffic.” Imagine this philosopher encountering these difficulties at the bottom of a bleeding wound. ”

“ This operation well performed, and under favourable circumstances, effects a perfect cure. But it is dreadful for any man to attempt it, (and there are many operations much more difficult,) without the most exact anatomical knowledge. It were far better that he allowed his patient to die secundum naturam, than that he presumed to hasten his death, by destroying him secundum artem. And, better were it many times over, that he experimented upon his own, than upon the throats of his unfortunate patients. Does he know the exact situation of the artery relatively to the deep parts about it? ”

“ Wherefore, by consulting his own individual good, regardless of irrelevancies, (for such, in this scholastic view of things, honour and honesty must be allowed to be,) a man is evidently, and bona fide, playing the part of a good citizen. ”

“ My uneasiness (whatever may have been the nature of theirs) consisted in a participation in the distresses of those persons, whose private feelings had been so deeply and (as I fear they supposed) cruelly wounded; and in the reflection, that the disgusting subject of human disinterment must be again agitated, commented upon, written upon; a subject which, of all others, whether relating to a necessity or not, ought to be kept profoundly silent, and almost mysteriously secret. ”

“ We must understand the healthy structure and functions of the various organs and parts of the body, or we can never understand the nature of their diseases, nor the rational mode of effecting their cure. ”

“ Birkbeck accomplished that object in the acquisition of which I should have preceded him, (though in a very humble manner as to the Lecturer, yet with the proud and pleasing advantage of addressing professional, literary and scientific men with regard to the audience) but for Yarde’s direct disobedience to very plain and positive orders. Dr. B. is a champion of science and education, but not such only; he is a true and an enlightened patriot. He is teaching his countrymen “the task of greatness,” as well as “the path of honour;” ”

“ Every dead body which has lain for inspection a certain time, and is unclaimed, is sent to one or other of the schools of Anatomy, whence it is returned after proper examination enveloped in matting and ready for interment. ”

“ If there had been any complaint, it might, most rationally, have been expected from us, pioneers levelling the path of life: who, while expected to be ever ready to assist our masters, whensoever their necessities require our interference, are unprovided with the principal instrument required in the work. ”

“ Some of the more respectable parishioners were ignorant of the first meeting, till its resolutions were made known to them; resolutions to prosecute me for a felony, which, but for this accident, would never have been adopted. This is evidenced by the opposition with which these gentlemen met all subsequent proceedings: so that I repeat, it is but justice to allow, that, though outvoted continually, the conduct of these gentlemen, in the estimation of the liberal minded, will half redeem the character of the parish. ”

“ It must be plain that books and plates cannot qualify a man to remove a stone from his neighbour’s bladder, or to lay open the fore part of his friend’s eye, and therefore I refrain from touching upon the subject.
Next comes the important question, How are subjects to be obtained? Disinterment, it is now well known, affords by far the greater number of those used in the schools. ”

“ A subject is, by means of it, to be obtained for about five or six francs, and students are enabled to dissect with greater perseverance than in this country, where no subject is to be obtained for less than ten or twelve guineas. ”

“ I would humbly hope, that a thorough investigation of the real state of things, may incline you, in any future transactions of this kind, to view them with that leniency which gentlemen will always feel inclined to extend toward scientific objects, and which has been ever held to be consistent with, if not the most ennobling quality of, Justice. ”

“ If then the superintendents of prisons, poor-houses, and eleemosynary establishments, would but consent that the remains of those who die in such circumstances and are unclaimed, should be made the subjects of anatomical instruction, we should be put upon the same footing as other nations, and the obnoxious offence of disinterring the dead, would be no longer necessary, or committed. ”