Physicians had to fight against taboos to dissect the dead

WHEN medical schools in the 19th century needed bodies for anatomical studies, there were some ghoulish operators willing to supply them.

Rembrandt’s painting The Anatomy Lesson of Professor Nicolases Tulp, in 1632.

THEY were known as the London Burkers, a group of men who supplied dead bodies for anatomy lessons in the 1830s. At the time, the study of medicine was booming and training colleges had an insatiable demand for real bodies to instruct their students in all of the intricacies of the human body.

While there were many suppliers (also known as “resurrectionists”) who operated within the law, the Burkers were unscrupulous men who didn’t wait for people to die, but killed people to keep up with the demand.

In 1831 John Bishop and James May tried to sell the body of a 14-year-old boy to Guy’s Hospital in Southwark. But as the body was too fresh and showed no signs of being buried, the director of anatomy Richard Partridge sent for the police.

May and Bishop were arrested, along with colleague Thomas Williams, and police then conducted a search of a cottage rented by Bishop. It yielded evidence of dozens of other victims. They confessed to killing the boy by drugging him with rum and laudanum, before throwing him into a well near the cottage. They also confessed to other murders and stealing as many as 1000 bodies from graves, all of which condemned Bishop and Williams to be hanged at Newgate and their bodies be dissected in an anatomy class. May’s sentence was commuted to transportation and he was sent to Van Diemens Land. He died in prison in 1834 and was buried in an unmarked grave on the Isle of the Dead at Port Arthur.

A sketch of the London Burkers — John Bishop (left), Thomas Williams and James May — on trial in 1831.

Such were the suspect dealings that often surrounded the study of anatomy. At times dissection was illegal and doctors needed to wait for a dead body — by accident or war — to advance their studies. It has taken centuries to overcome some of the cultural and even spiritual barriers to dissection. Today, the public can look at genuine preserved dead bodies, in various states of dissection at the Real Bodies exhibition opening tomorrow at the Byron Kennedy Hall, Moore Park.

The first attempts to dissect dead people for science were made back in ancient times.

Herophilus of Chalcedon was a great believer in experimentation in medicine and, in Alexandria in the 3rd century BC, he conducted public dissections for people who wished to learn about the human body. It is possible that Egypt, where bodies were routinely cut up for mummification, had fewer taboos about dissection. Among Herophilus’ students was Erasistratus who continued the practice. Centuries later the Ancient Greek physician Galen (AD129-AD216), who was forced to live within strictures against dissection imposed by the Romans, was still recommending people travel to Alexandria to learn anatomy.

Various sketches of the head and brain by Leonardo da Vinci.

Diagram on the human body by artist scientist Leonardo da Vinci.

During medieval times people had to rely mostly on the written works of the ancients rather than cutting up bodies, although the occasional war gave some physicians insights into the workings of the body while tending to the wounded.

Up until the 13th century dissection remained mostly illegal, but some countries began granting doctors the bodies of condemned criminals and paupers who were unable to pay for burial to study. In 1315 Italian physician Mundinus (Mondino de Luzzi) conducted the first recorded public dissection since ancient times.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) developed an interest in anatomy as part of his study of the body for his artworks. Collaborating with anatomist Marcantonio della Torre, Da Vinci
took part in more than 30 dissections and produced many sketches of the human anatomy.

Although by the 17th century many nations had recognised the need for cutting up cadavers, there were often strict controls.

Leonardo da Vinci’s Studies of the Foetus in the Womb, from about 1510-1513. Grant)

Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical studies from the 1500s.

In the Netherlands only condemned criminals were used; the painting, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp by Rembrandt, shows the once-a-year dissection of a dead felon by Tulp, who only conducted his dissection in winter so that the corpse wouldn’t smell.

In Britain strict limits on dissections applied up until the 18th century when the Murder Act of 1752 made the bodies of executed criminals available.

However, by the beginning of the 19th century demand for bodies had become so strong that people began stealing bodies from graves and even taking to murder to provide hospitals with enough corpses.

In Scotland in 1828 William Burke and William Hare murdered 16 people to provide anatomist Robert Knox with subjects for his classes. Burke and Hare were caught and executed, and used for medical studies themselves. They inspired the London Burkers Bishop, May and Williams so named because they emulated Burke.

The crimes resulted in the passing of the 1832 Anatomy Act, which insisted on a licensing system for those teaching anatomy, but also allowed physicians to dissect unclaimed bodies, condemned criminals and bodies donated by members of the public.

Originally published as Physicians had to fight against taboos to dissect the dead