DISSECTION AFTER DEATH.
Amongst the strange institutions which have been started within the last few years is that of ‘The Society for Mutual Autopsy,’ which commenced its existence in Paris in the year 1876. No balloting or any elaborate system is necessary to become a member. A proper introduction with a fee of five francs suffices, and an engagement to will your body to the Society for the purpose of dissection after death. In order to prevent the friends and relatives of the dead from frustrating the intentions of the testator, by disposing of the corpse in the usual manner, a proper legal form has been drawn up and inscribed in the Rules. This Society, which consists of about two hundred members, a dozen of whom are ladies, contains amongst its members many men eminent in the medical world in Paris, as well as distinguished in science and art. The theory of the founders is, that in consequence of the difficulty of obtaining for post-mortem examinations any other subjects but those of the lowest classes, whose faculties are naturally warped or otherwise undeveloped, much benefit must accrue to science by an opportunity being given for the dissection of persons of cultivated understanding, and particularly by making observations on the brain. Between twenty and thirty of the members of this Society generally dine together once a month at a restaurant near the Halles, where they pass a congenial evening, although there is a touch of ghastliness in the gathering. When one of their community is missing at the banquet, instead of lamenting over his departure, every one listens with rapt interest to the surgeon’s explanation of the post-mortem examination he has made.