Anatomy and Dissection in Nineteenth-Century Britain
Edited by Laurence Talairach
Volume I. Medical Education and Anatomical Practice in Nineteenth-Century Britain
Introduction – Volume I
Prologue
Lætitia Pilkington, ‘To the Rev. Dr. Hales’ [c. 1739]
Part 1: Anatomy and Medical Education in Britain
1. Benjamin C. Brodie, The Hunterian Oration delivered in the theatre of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, on the 14th of February, 1837 (London: Rees, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman, 1837).
2. Aesculapius, The Hospital Pupils’ Guide, being Oracular communications addressed to the students of the medical profession (London: E. Cox, 1818). 2nd edn.
3. [Anon.], ‘Medical Education in England’, London Medical Gazette (8 Dec. 1827), 10–11.
4. [Albert Richard Smith], The Physiology of the London Medical Student, and Curiosities of Medical Experience (Philadelphia: Carey and Hart, 1845), 5–48.
5. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus (1818), Chapter 4.
6. Charles Dickens, ‘How the Pickwickians made and cultivated the acquaintance of a couple of nice young men belonging to one of the liberal professions; how they disported themselves on the ice; and how their visit came to a conclusion’, The Pickwick Papers (1837), Chapter XXX.
7. George Eliot, Middlemarch (1872), Chapter XV.
Part 2: Normal and Pathological Anatomy
8. Matthew Baillie, The Morbid Anatomy of some of the most important parts of the human body [1793] (London: J. Johnson, and G. Nicol, 1797), i–xi (preface to the first edition).
9. Frederick John Knox, ‘Preface’ The Anatomist’s Instructor, and museum companion: being practical directions for the formation and subsequent management of anatomical museums (Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1836), i-vii.
10. Frederick John Knox, ‘Introduction’, The Anatomist’s Instructor, and museum companion: being practical directions for the formation and subsequent management of anatomical museums (Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1836), 1–7.
Part 3: The Call for Reform
11. William Rowley, On the Absolute Necessity of Encouraging instead of Preventing or Embarrassing the Study of Anatomy with a Plan to Prevent Violating the Dormitories of the Defunct. Addressed to the Legislature of Great Britain (London, 1795).
12. John Abernethy, Hunterian Oration, for the year 1819 (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1819), 1–41.
13. Humanus, A Letter to John Abernethy, Esq. on Stealing Dead Bodies (London: J. Hatchard and Son, 1823).
14. William Mackenzie, An Appeal to the public and to the legislature, on the necessity of affording dead bodies to the schools of anatomy, by legislative enactment (Glasgow: Robertson and Atkinson, et. al, 1824).
15. Thomas Southwood Smith, Use of the Dead to the Living (Westminster Review, 1827).
Part 4: The Select Committee on Anatomy
16. Report from the Select Committee on Anatomy (22 July 1828).
17. G. J. Guthrie, Remarks on the Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons, on Anatomy, and pointing out the means by which the science may be cultivated with advantage and safety to the public (London: W. Sams, 1829).
Index
Volume II: The Trade of Anatomy
Introduction – Volume II
Part 1: Body-Snatching
1. James Blake Bailey (ed.), The Diary of a Resurrectionist, 1811–12 (London: Swan Sonneschein & Co., 1896), 139–76.
2. Thomas Hood, ‘Jack Hall’ [1827], in Whims and Oddities, In Prose and Verse (London: Charles Tilt, 1836), 336–52.
3. Thomas Hood, ‘Mary’s Ghost: A Pathetic Ballad’ [1827], in Whims and Oddities, In Prose and Verse (London: Charles Tilt, 1836), 225–9.
4. [Anon.], ‘On the Pleasures of “Body-Snatching”’, The Monthly Magazine (3 April 1827): 355–65.
5. Samuel Warren, ‘Grave Doings’, in Passages from the Diary of a Late Physician, vol. 1, 4th edn. (Edinburgh: W. Blackwood & Sons; London: T. Cadell, 1835), 321–38.
6. Charles Dickens, ‘The Honest Tradesman’, A Tale of Two Cities. A Story of the French Revolution (1859).
Part 2: Burking
7. [Anon.], ‘Body-Snatching and Burking’, Once a Week (Feb. 27, 1864): 261–66.
8. [Anon.], ‘Old Stories Re-Told: Resurrection Men. Burke and Hare’, All the Year Round (16 March 1867): 282–8.
9. [A Modern Pythagorean], ‘The Philosophy of Burking’, Fraser’s Magazine, 5/25 (February 1832): 52–65.
10. [Anon.], ‘A Recent Confession of an Opium-Eater’, Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, 80 (Dec. 1856): 629–36.
11. George W.M. Reynolds, ‘The Mummy’ and ‘The Body Snatchers’, The Mysteries of London (London, George Vickers, 1846), vol. 1.
12. David Pae, ‘The Murder of Mary Paterson’, Mary Paterson; Or, the Fatal Error. A Story of the Burke and Hare Murders (London: Fred. Farrah, 1866), 128–38.
13. Robert Louis Stevenson, ‘The Body-Snatcher’ [1884], in The Story of a Lie and Other Tales (Boston: Herbery B. Turner & Co., 1904), 237–76.
Part 3: Warburton’s Anatomy Bill (1829)
14. [Anon.], ‘Supply of Anatomical Subjects’, London Magazine, 3/11 (Feb. 1829): 121–32.
15. Thomas Wakley, Editorial, The Lancet (Jan. 3, 1829): 433–8
16. Thomas Wakley, Editorial, The Lancet (Jan. 31, 1829): 562–3
17. Thomas Wakley, Editorial, The Lancet (March 14, 1829): 753–6
18. Thomas Wakley, Editorial, The Lancet (March 21, 1829): 785–9
19. Thomas Wakley, Editorial, The Lancet (March 28, 1829-: 818–21
20. Thomas Wakley, Editorial, The Lancet (May 15, 1829-: 211–14
21. Thomas Wakley, Editorial, The Lancet (May 23, 1829): 241–2
22. [Robert Gooch], ‘A Bill for Preventing the Unlawful Disinterment of Human Bodies, and for Regulating Schools of Anatomy, 1829’, Quarterly Review, 42 (Jan–March 1830): 1–17.
Part 4: The Anatomy Riots
23. Albion, ‘Cholera Riots in Liverpool’, The Liverpool Mercury 1101.22 (June 8, 1832): 182.
24. George Eliot, Chapter 45, Middlemarch (1872).
25. George MacDonald, Chap. LXVII, Alec Forbes of Howden (London: Hurst and Blacklett, 1866), 299–302.
26. Thomas Wakley, ‘Destruction of a Theater of Anatomy’, The Lancet (31 Dec. 1831), pp. 479–486
Part 5: The 1832 Anatomy Act
27. T. E. Baker, An Appeal to the Common Sense of the People of England in Favour of Anatomy (London: Baldwin and Cradock, 1832).
28. [Anon.], ‘Regulation of Anatomy’, Wesminster Review (April 1832): 482–96.
29. James C. Somerville, A Letter Addressed to the Lord Chancellor, on the Study of Anatomy (London: J. Hatchard, 1832).
30. Guthrie, G.J. Remarks on the Anatomy Bill Now before Parliament in a Letter addressed to the Right Hon. The Lord Althorp, and given to the members of either house on their personal or written applications to the publisher (London: Wm. Sams, Royal Library, 1832).
31. The Anatomy Act of 1832
Part 6: The Workhouse Body Trade
32. Charles Dickens, ‘A Great Day for the Doctors’, Household Words 32/2 (9 Nov. 1850): 264–8.
33. Charles Dickens, ‘Use and Abuse of the Dead’, Household Words 17 (1 April 1858): 361–5.
34. ‘Regina v. Alfred Feist’, in Henry Richard Dearsly and Thomas Bell (eds), Crown Cases Reserved for Consideration and Decides by the Judges of England, Vol. 1 (London: Sevens & Norton, 1858), 590–600.
35. Charles Dickens, ‘Mr Wegg looks after himself’, Our Mutual Friend (1865).
Part 7: The 1871 Anatomy Act
36. Anatomy Act of 1871.
Index
Volume III: Investigating Death
Volume III - Introduction
Part 1: The Signs of Death
1. John Galt, ‘The Buried Alive’, Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, 10 (1821): 262–4.
2. Charles Dickens, ‘The Black Veil’ (1836).
3. Alfred Swayne Taylor, ‘Real and Apparent Death’, Elements of Medical Jurisprudence (London: Deacon, George Yard, 1843), 62–98.
4. John Abercrombie, ‘The Early Signs of Death’, in The Student’s Guide to Medical Jurisprudence (London: J. & A. Churchill, 1885). 8–22.
Part 2: The Rise of Medical Jurisprudence
5. William Hunter, On the Uncertainty of the Signs of Murder in Case of Bastard Children [1783] (London: J. Callow, 1818).
6. Alfred Swayne Taylor, ‘Introduction’, Elements of Medical Jurisprudence (London: Deacon, George Yard, 1843), 1–29.
Part 3: Coroners’ Inquests
7. The 1836 Medical Witnesses Act
8. Thomas Wakley, Editorial, ‘Medical Witnesses’ Act’, The Lancet (18 Dec. 1841): 409–13
9. Thomas Wakley, Editorial, ‘Objects of the Coroner’s Office’, The Lancet (12 Nov. 1842): 259–62.
10. [Anon], ‘A Coroner’s Inquest’, Household Words 1 (1850): 109–13.
11. Charles Dickens, ‘Some Recollections of Mortality’ [1860], The Uncommercial Traveller (1861).
12. Charles Dickens, ‘Our Dear Brother’, Bleak House (1853).
Part 4: Medical Coroners
13. George Rogerson, A Letter to the Reform Corporations on the Necessity of Electing Medical Coroners (London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman; Liverpool: Marples, 1836).
14. ‘Meeting of the Freeholders of Middlesex in support of Mr. Wakley, as coroner for Middlesex’, The Lancet 14/365 (28 August 1830): 867–76
15. Thomas Wakley, Editorial, The Lancet 33/844 (2 Nov. 1839): 205–13.
Part 5: Secret Poisoning
16. Robert Christison, ‘Preface to the First Edition’, in A Treatise on Poisons, in relation to medical jurisprudence, physiology, and the practice of physic [1829], 3rd edn (Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman, 1836), v–xx.
17. [Alfred Swayne Taylor], Editorial, ‘On the Increase of Secret Poisoning in this Country’, London Medical Gazette (Jan. 15, 1847): 105–108.
18. [Alfred Swayne Taylor], Editorial, ‘On the Increase of the Crime of Secret Poisoning’, London Medical Gazette (Jan. 29, 1847): 191–4.
19. [Anon.], ‘The Mistakes of Coroners Corrected by Magistrates.—Encouragement of Secret Poisoning’, London Medical Gazette (Jan. 29, 1847): 217–18.
20. [Anon.], ‘Secret Poisoning’, The Pharmaceutical Journal 9.5 (Nov., 1st, 1849): 201.
21. [Anon.], ‘Poisoning in England’, The Saturday Review (Dec. 22, 1855): 134–5.
22. Alfred Swayne Taylor, On Poisons in Relation to Medical Jurisprudence and Medicine (London: John Churchill, 1848), 99–142.
Part 6: The Penge Mystery
23. Editorial, ‘The Medical Evidence in the Penge Case’, The Lancet (29 Sept. 1877): 468–9.
24. Editorial, The Lancet (20 Oct. 1877): 579–81.
25. ‘Professor Virchow on the Penge Case’, London Medical Gazette, 17 Nov. 1877): 543–44.
Part 7: Forensic Medicine
26. Douglas Maclagan, ‘Address in Forensic Medicine’, The British Medical Journal, 2/920 (Aug. 17, 1878): 233–9.
27. Rudolph Virchow, ‘Introduction’, A Description and Explanation of the Method of Performing Post-mortem examinations, transl. from the second German edn by Dr. T.P. Smith (London: J. & A. Churchill, 1880), 1–43.
28. Rudolph Virchow, ‘Regulations for the Guidance of Medical Jurists’, in A Description and Explanation of the Method of Performing Post-mortem examinations, transl. from the second German edn by Dr. T.P. Smith (London: J. & A. Churchill, 1880), 102–24.
29. John Abercrombie, ‘Introduction, in The Student’s Guide to Medical Jurisprudence (London: J. & A. Churchill, 1885), 1–6.
Part 8: Forensic Medicine and Literature
30. Wilkie Collins, ‘The Purple Flask’, Book the Last, Armadale (1864).
31. Wilkie Collins, Chapter XXV, I Say No (1884).
32. Arthur Conan Doyle, Chapter 1, ‘A Study in Scarlet’ (1887).
33. Arthur Conan Doyle, ‘The Adventure of the Cardboard Box’ (1893).
34. Arthur Conan Doyle, ‘The Adventure of the Norwood Builder’ (1903)
Index
Biography
Laurence Talairach is professor of English at Université Toulouse III-Paul Sabatier. Her publications include Gothic Remains: Corpses, Terror and Anatomical Culture, 1764–1897 (2019) and Wilkie Collins, Medicine and the Gothic (2009).
