116 HUMAN DISSECTION. ITS DRAMA AND STRUGGLE 



of anatomy; all were practitioners as well, a system which was to 

 last for many years. 



From the standpoint of what viewpoints were accepted from 

 the Continental system, no immediate innovations were made in 

 the teaching of anatomy in the British Isles. The developments 

 paralleled those in Italy in many respects, but they were even- 

 tually handicapped by less liberality in the dissection laws. Scar- 

 city of cadaver supply was the outstanding feature during the 

 17th, 18th and first-half of the 19th Centuries. This became more 

 acute and distressing when it was decided that medical students, 

 who were increasing in numbers, should be extended the privilege 

 of dissecting human bodies. 



The sole legal supply of bodies by statute in Great Britain, 

 until the early part of the 19th Century, was those of executed 

 felons. Even though there were fewer medical students and rela- 

 tively more frequent hanging of criminals, in the 1700's, the sub- 

 jects, which were obtained under the jurisdiction of the court, 

 only partially satisfied the demand. What developed was an ex- 

 panding interest in anatomy. This arose from a realization that 

 the existing morphological knowledge was founded on insecure 

 grounds, that it was based on equivocal tradition rather than on 

 scientific considerations, and that ignorance of specific facts was 

 retarding the whole of medicine. 



The first reaction to this state of affairs was the introduction 

 of secret dissections carried on in the homes of physicians, with- 

 out the sanction of the guilds, of which they might be a member, 

 and in violation of the law. It was obvious that a new source of 

 cadavers had to be found, outside of executed criminals, and that 

 there was another choice: the newly buried bodies in cemeteries 

 and especially potter's fields. To obtain them, became a job for 

 young apprentice barber-surgeons or physicians working in con- 

 junction with gravediggers. 



The name Potter's Field goes back to the time of Christ. After 

 Judas Iscariot became repentant following his betrayal of Christ, 

 he returned the thirty pieces of silver he had accepted to the priests 

 of the temple. Because it was regarded as blood money, the 

 clergymen decided that the money could not be put in their treas- 

 ury. Instead, they ruled that it should be utilized to buy a plot. 



