2'«» S. No 39., Sept. 27. '56.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



251 



subject and displays in a marked manner the 

 penchant of the compiler. This collection of 

 florwoodiana is half-bound in folio, and on the 

 back is a label (about 6 in. by 3 in.) of the human 

 cuticle tanned. It is somewhat of the texture of 

 light-coloured Russia leather, with tooled border 

 lines in gold, as ornament, " a skull and cross- 

 bones " stamped in each corner, and the following 

 inscription in old English character, also gilt : 



" Cutis Vera 

 Johannis Horwood." 



A memorandum within the book sets fortb that 

 " the bones were macerated and the skin tanned 

 at the infirmary." Bearing upon a topic that of 

 late has been much before the public mind, whether, 

 in the words of a defunct Edinburgh reviewer, 

 capital punishment cannot be made " dull as well 

 as deadly," may I insert the following correspon- 

 dence which passed upon the occasion of Hor- 

 wood's execution ? It distinctly shows what dread, 

 what thrilling fear, that sad sequel to an ignomi- 

 nious death, the dissecting-room, produced upon 

 tiie lower manifestations of human character. 



The solicitors concerned in the above case, 

 Messrs. Browne and Watson, made a feeling ap- 

 peal to Mr. Smith to obtain a remission of the 

 latter part of the sentence, as contained in the fol- 

 lowing copy of the receipt, &c., given to the 

 sheriff's, for the body : 



" The delivery of Our Sovereign Lord the King's Gaol in 

 the City and County of Bristol, of the Prisoners in the said 

 Gaol being held in the Guildhall in and for the said City 

 and Co., on Saturday the 2nd April, 1821, before George 

 Hilhouse, Esq., Mayor; Sir Ilobt. Gifford, Knight, Ee- 

 corder, and others their Associates Justices assigned, Ac. 



" John Horwood, convicf^ of the wilful murder of Eliz. 

 Balsum. 



" Let him be hanged by the neck until he shall be 

 dead, and let his body be delivered to Mr. Ricli'i. Smith, 

 of the City of Bristol, Surgeon, to be dissecf and anatom- 

 ized." 



" Received this 13th day of April, 1821, from Thomas 

 Hassell and Rob'. Jenkins, Esqs., Sheriffs of the said City 

 of Bristol, and Co. of the same Citj', the body of the 

 above-named John Horwood, deceased, for the purposes 

 mentioned in the above Fiat or sentence. 



Richard Smith, Surgeon." 



A second appeal on behalf of the parents of 

 Horwood elicited the following rejoinder : 



" Gentlemen, 15 April, 1821. 



"I have placed before the surgeons of the Infirmary 

 your second letter respecting the body of John Horwood. 

 We have in consequence reconsidered the matter in the 

 most serious and deliberative manner ; and I am under 

 tlie unpleasant necessity of saying that we can see no 

 reason for altering the opinion expressed to you in a 

 former communication. The father and brother of the 

 unfortunate malefactor have probably informed you that 

 I have had with them at my house this morning a most 

 painful interview, and certainly if I had permitted my 

 feelings to have assumed the mastery over the sense of 

 duty in this miserable affair, the tears of so respectable an 

 old man would, as far as I was personally concerned, have 



prevailed and forced me to yield to his solicitations. I trust, 

 however, that even this afflicted parent went away satis- 

 fied with the rectitude of the motives which alone actuated 

 the surgeons, and convinced that they were prevented from 

 being free agents by a due sense of the obligation due 

 from them to their fellow-citizens. I need scarcely, gen- 

 tlemen, point out to you, that although I am alone named 

 in the order of the Court, 3-et I consider myself in trust 

 for mj' brethren conjointly ; and that I do not feel at 

 liberty to act without their concurrence. Allow me also 

 to observe that an attentive and unprejudiced considera- 

 tion of the wording of the Warrant to the Sheriffs, and 

 the guarded Receipt, which I was under the necessity of 

 giving, appear to me imperative as to the fulfilment of 

 the latter part of the sentence. It is, as you know, not 

 merely for dissection that it was delivered to me by the 

 Magistracy, but to be anatomized, — the real meaning 

 and intent of which can scarcely be misunderstood. How 

 far the bodj' might be leyally given up for interment I 

 shall not take upon me to determine (although it must be 

 conceded that the Act of Parliament is very strongly 

 featured), yet after the obligation incurred by the con- 

 ditional Receipt given to Mr. Ody Hare, the Under- Sheriff, 

 I cannot but feel myself morally bound to complete its 

 intentions. It is therefore clear to me, that after having 

 given to the Professional Students of Bristol, and to as 

 many Gentlemen as may please to honour me with their 

 presence, a summary course of Lectures, the remains 

 ought to be formed into a skeleton, and deposited by the 

 side of the two unfortunate Infanticides who after execu- 

 tion were delivered to the late Mr. Godfrey Lowe, for the 

 same purpose a few years since. The Surgeons, Gentle- 

 men, feel fully satisfied that j'ou have on your part done 

 only your duty in your strenuous endeavours to alleviate 

 the mental sufferings of j'our client; and they trust that 

 in return you will give them credit for acting upon no 

 other principles than those which ought to actuate all 

 persons holding public situations. 



" I remain, Gentlemen, 

 " Your most obedient servant, 

 " To Richard Smith. 



" Messrs. Browne and Watson." 



Stratagem was resorted to in order to remove 

 the body from the gaol ; for the friends of the 

 criminal had mustered in strong force, and lay in 

 ambuscade, with a determination to rescue the 

 body from the surgeons. Mr. Smith, in his MS. 

 book, details very graphically the personal risk he 

 ran in conveying the corpse to the infirmary. 

 Here the senior surgeon, through its medium, ex- 

 emplified the functions of the circulation and 

 respiration in a course of lectures " ad populum." 



F. S. 



Churchdown. 



I find from an article in Chambers's Papers for 

 the People, entitled " The Microscope and its 

 Marvels," that at the meeting of the Microscopical 

 Society, on April 26, 1848, a most curious paper 

 was read by Mr. J. Quekett, upon the application 

 of the microscope to a very singular sort of anti- 

 quarian research : 



" Early in the month of April, 1847, Mr. Quekett was 

 asked by Sir Benjamin Brodie whether it were possible to 

 determine if skin whicii had for many years been exposed 

 to the air were human or not ? He replied in the af- 



