Inspectors of anatomy were appointed, and various regulations were made for the decent and reverent disposal of the remains. The Anatomy Act was passed in consequence of the scandals connected with the great Anatomy School at Edinburgh, at which Dr. Knox was a celebrated teacher. It was discovered that a murderer named Burke provided bodies for surgeons by killing his victims by suffocation, leaving no marks of violence. The crime was known as Burking, and to remove the temptation to such scandals as the robbery of graveyards, and the murder of persons for the sake of the prices paid for their bodies, the wants of the surgeons were provided for in a legal manner.
French Surgeons.
Alexis Boyer (1757-1833), one of the most eminent French teachers of surgery, wrote a great work on surgical diseases and operations, in eleven volumes.
Jean D. Larry (1766-1842) was a famous military surgeon under Napoleon. His opportunities for studying his profession must have been unique, as he participated in sixty great battles and four hundred engagements. He wrote several treatises on military medicine and invented field ambulances.
Philibert J. Roux (1780-1854), surgeon to the Hôtel Dieu at Paris, practised resections of joints, by which the articular diseased extremity of the bone is removed and a false joint formed.
Jacques Lisfranc (1790-1847) was a famous amputator, whose operation for the partial removal of the foot is known by his name.
Armand Velpeau (1795-1867) was a celebrated teacher of clinical surgery.
Joseph Malgaigne (1806-1865) was a very distinguished writer on surgical anatomy and operative surgery.
Auguste Nelaton (1807-1874) was called “the Napoleon of Surgery.” He invented the probe by which he detected the bullet in the wound of Garibaldi.