132 HUMAN DISSECTION. ITS DRAMA AND STRUGGLE 



the 1826 season, in five Dublin schools, whereas Erinensis cal- 

 culated 1,500 to 2,000 which probably overshot the mark (Macal- 

 ister, 1900). The local Humane Society became so upset over 

 the situation prevailing at the cemetery mentioned above, that it 

 organized a successful campaign to collect money to provide it 

 with guards. The best they could hire were of low caste and they 

 began by selling disinterred bodies to the resurrectionists; the 

 majority of such subjects were put in barrels and piano cases and 

 shipped to Scotland. Nevertheless, by persecuting the body snatch 

 ers, the Humane Society was instrumental in reducing their nuni 

 ber from fifty to twenty. 



Macartney was likewise concerned about the unchecked raid- 

 ing of the graveyards and in 1832 after the passage of War- 

 burton's Anatomy Act, by the English Parliament, he petitioned 

 this legislative body for a change in the laws, claiming the fol- 

 lowing: 



1. Prejudices existed against the teaching of practical anat 

 omy. 



2. Anatomical students were unable to acquire the necessary 

 knowledge or meet regulations. 



3. There was increasing difficulty in obtaining dead bodies. 



4. Crimes were committed because of the impossibilities ol 

 supplying laboratories in a legal manner. 



5. An act was needed which should: 



a. Honor dissection. 



b. Discontinue the anatomizing of executed murderers. 



c. Permit willing of bodies. 



He advocated that all dissecting-rooms in the United Kingdom 

 be closed temporarily. 



According to Macartney, if these suggestions were followed. 

 it would rectify the weak spots in Warburton's Anatomy Ad. 

 of August, 1832 (Macalister, 1900). 



A number of private schools sprang up in Dublin during tlu 

 last one-third of the 19th Century. The anatomists competed 

 among themselves, showed little originality and were primarily 



