I thought it was pretty radical what these body snatchers
were willing to do to get a body from impersonating people, bribery, claiming
bodies from almshouses, and robbing graves. These are all pretty extreme things
to obtain bodies to sell to doctors. It does seem though since there are people
willing to go to extremes to attain bodies of people who maybe would rather be
left undisturbed that it would make more sense to allow people to donate their
bodies to science. Additionally, there are doctors who are willing to look the
other way when acquiring bodies and not ask questions. This further adds to the
problem since there is someone willing to accept these bodies and teachers even
had their own students going out and collecting bodies. Thus these people still
have an incentive to steal bodies to sell for science.
Furthermore, the work these doctors are doing with the
bodies is very important. They are making significant scientific discoveries
and advancing medical science none of which could have happened without
studying the human body. Consequently,
it seems as though it would make more sense to allow people to make the decision
on whether or not they want their body to be studied.
I also thought it was interesting how badly these doctors
wanted the bodies of people with abnormalities like the women who died of
consumption. Also noteworthy was how badly people did not want these doctors to
have bodies; going as far to have watchman in graveyards and patrolling so that
people can’t steal bodies. They did not like the doctors and were willing to go
to great lengths to make sure they could not just take any body that they
wanted.
Emily Fenger
1 comment:
That is a very good point about the medical advancement gained from the direct study of the human anatomy. I think that that statement can even be expanded upon to say that society may have also seen the work that the doctors were doing as great. I also think that this is one of the reasons that the doctors "got away" with their crimes while their underlings(resurrection men, whether they be professionals or amateurs) did not always escape without physical injury or prosecution.
The shear scope of how many bodies were taken during this time really astonishes me, but it also makes me realize that the doctors must have proliferated their knowledge to the new, vastly expanding, up-and-coming medical society. It is this development of a new society of skilled surgeons that opened the public's eye to the usefulness of their trade.
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