HUMAN DISSECTION IN IRELAND-A.D. 1590 TO 1885 129 



"Divil a knife's in him yet." The anatomist was able later to 

 give a public demonstration of the body of the giant, which was 

 well-attended by the curious. This constitutes an incident con- 

 cerned ^vith the sale of a human body, not considered to be real 

 property, where the payment of money triumphed over weak sen- 

 timent (Guttmacher, '35; Macalister, 1884, 1900). 



In 1784, the surgeons of Dublin founded a school of anatomy 

 which was attended by practically all the medical students in the 

 city. For example, in 1797, it had 100 pupils to only one at Trinity 

 College (Macalister, 1900). 



Of the four great metropolitan areas, in Great Britain, Dub- 

 lin was in a class by itself. This was due to the fact that the in- 

 cidence of paupers was very high in the city. The unemployed, 

 vagrants, and beggars of Ireland infested the city, some looking 

 for work, others hoping to be maintained without it. They in- 

 habited the worst districts, helping to create density of popula- 

 tion and filth, with an attendant, high death rate. Under these 

 standards, it was a simple matter to supply an adequate number 

 of cadavers for the medical schools (Guttmacher, '35). 



The main source of human subjects in Dublin was the burial 

 ground provincially known as Bully's Acre; its real name was 

 the Dublin Hospital Fields Burying Grounds. For over a thousand 

 years, it had served as the final resting place of the poor because 

 no charge was made for interment. It made easy pickings for the 

 resurrectionists because it was both unguarded and unfenced. 

 A neighboring inn found it good business to keep picks and 

 shovels on hand for the use of those relatives or friends who 

 wanted to dig graves for their dead (Guttmacher, '35; Macalister, 

 1900). 



It was natural that such a tavern was popular with resur- 

 rectionists, undertakers and hearse drivers, being a place where 

 they could either watch or assist in the interments. Knowing the 

 recent burial spots, it was relatively easy for groups to assemble 

 at a common meeting ground and then almost openly pillage the 

 newly made graves. The law enforcement authorities apparently 

 wore blinders and tolerated the practice. 



So plentiful were the bodies available in Bully's Acre that 

 it was exploited for exportation purposes by resurrectionists. Fif- 



