ANATOMICAL MATERIAL
One of the most important means of the study of medicine, and especially of surgery, is a thorough acquaintance with the anatomy of the human body. No one would think of placing an engineer in charge of a complicated piece of machinery, who had never become intimately acquainted with all the parts of such a machine, so that he could take it to pieces and put it together again with ease and intelligence. Yet, until comparatively recently, this knowledge of anatomy was both required of, and yet at the same time the means of obtaining it was forbidden to, the medical student. If he performed an operation and was guilty of negligence or error, due to his want of anatomical knowledge, he was liable to a suit for malpractice. Yet his only means of becoming acquainted with the anatomy of the human body was by stealing the bodies of the dead. In England, up to 1832, this was equally true. A regular traffic in human bodies existed there as well as here, and, by reason of its perils, the cost of bodies for dissection was very great; but it was only a question of money. In his testimony before the Parliamentary Committee, Sir Astley Cooper made a shiver run down the backs of the noble lords who listened to him when he said that in order to dissect the body of any of them it was only necessary for him to pay enough. The large pecuniary profits of such business, when the supply was very small, led to the horrible atrocities of Burke and Hare in Edinburgh in 1832. They deliberately murdered a considerable number of persons, and sold the bodies to the dissecting rooms in that city. The discovery of their crimes finally led to the passage of the Anatomy Act, which has been in force in Great Britain ever since. Similar violations of graveyards in this country have led to the passage in various States of somewhat similar laws, usually giving for dissection the bodies of those who were so poor in friendship that no one would spend the money necessary for their burial. Even to-day, in a large number of our States, the former anomalous condition of affairs exists. The increase of anatomical material which has resulted from the enactment of wise and salutary laws for this purpose has given a great impetus to the study of anatomy, and has produced a far better educated class of physicians in most parts of the United States within the last few years. The enlightened sense of the community has perceived that to deny the medical schools the means of properly teaching anatomy was a fatal mistake, and resulted in an ignorance of which the community were the victims. As a result, it is possible now, by law, in most States to obtain a reasonable number of cadavers, not only for the study of anatomy, but for the performance of all the usual operations.