“It has also been proved to the satisfaction of the committee that no mutilation or disfigurement of any kind was ever practised with a view to conceal the features, or abstract unreasonably any part of the body, the presence of which would have facilitated detection; and it appears clearly that the subjects brought by Burke and Hare were dissected in the same protracted manner as those procured from any other quarter.
“3. The committee have thought it proper to inquire further, whether there was anything faulty or negligent in the regulations under which subjects were received into Dr. Knox’s rooms, which gave or might give a peculiar facility to the disposal of the bodies obtained by these crimes, and on this point they think it their duty to state their opinion fully.
“It appears in evidence that Dr. Knox had formed and expressed the opinion (long prior to any dealing with Burke and Hare) that a considerable supply of subjects for anatomical purposes might be procured by purchase, and without any crime, from the relatives or connections of deceased persons of the lowest ranks of society.
“In forming this opinion, whether mistaken or not, the committee cannot consider Dr. Knox to have been culpable. They believe that there is nothing contrary to the law of the land in procuring subjects for dissection in that way, and they know that the opinion which Dr. Knox had formed on this point, though never acted on to any extent in this country, has been avowed by others of the highest character in the profession. But they think that Dr. Knox acted on this opinion in a very incautious manner.
“This preconceived opinion seems to have led him to give a ready ear to the plausible stories of Burke, who appears, from all the evidence before the committee, to have conducted himself with great address and appearance of honesty, as well in his connections with Dr. Knox, as in his more frequent intercourse with his assistants, and always to have represented himself as engaged in negotiations of that description, and occasionally to have asked and obtained money in advance to enable him and his associate to conclude bargains.
“Unfortunately, also, Dr. Knox has been led, apparently in consequence of the extent and variety of his avocations, to intrust the dealings with persons supplying subjects, and the reception of the subjects bought, to his assistants (seven in number) and to his door-keeper indiscriminately. It appears also that he directed or allowed these dealings to be conducted on the understanding (common to him, with some other anatomists), that it would only tend to diminish or divert the supply of subjects to make any particular inquiry of the persons bringing them.
“In these respects the committee consider the practice which was then adopted in Dr. Knox’s rooms (whatever be the usage in this or other establishments in regard to subjects obtained in the ordinary way) to have been very improper in the case of persons bringing bodies which had not been interred. They think that the notoriously bad character of persons who generally engage in such traffic, in addition to the novelty and particular nature of the system, on which these men professed to be acting, undoubtedly demanded greater vigilance.
“The extent, therefore, to which (judging from the evidence which they have been able to procure) the committee think Dr. Knox can be blamed, on account of transactions with Burke and Hare, is, that by this laxity of the regulations under which bodies were received into his rooms, he unintentionally gave a degree of facility to the disposal of the victims of their crimes, which, under better regulation, would not have existed, and which is doubtless matter of deep and lasting regret, not only to himself, but to all who have reflected on the importance, and are therefore interested in the prosecution of the study of anatomy. But while they point out this circumstance as the only ground of censure which they can discover in the conduct of Dr. Knox, it is fair to observe that perhaps the recent disclosures have made it appear reprehensible to many who would not otherwise have adverted to its possible consequences.”
This report was signed by John Robison, chairman; James Russell, Thomas Allan, W. P. Alison, George Ballingall, George Sinclair, W. Hamilton, John Robison, for M. P. Brown, Esq.; and John Shaw Stewart. The intention of the committee evidently was by it to clear Dr. Knox from the aspersions cast upon him; and this was a result far from satisfactory to a very large section of the community. The feeling was that Paterson, the “door-keeper” mentioned in the report, was, as that individual himself put it, being made the “scape-goat for a personage in higher life.” However, the matter was allowed to rest there.