HUMAN DISSECTION IN ENGLAND-A.D. 1510 to 1958 143 



excerpts revolving around it and particularly in respect to the 

 efforts of the medical profession to obtain the corpse. The three 

 below are quoted from Guttmacher ('35): 



June 7, 1783: "The whole tribe of surgeons put in a claim 

 for the poor departed Irish giant and surround his house just as 

 Greenland harpooners would an enormous whale." 



June 7, 1783: "Since the death of the Irish giant, there have 

 ])een more physical consultations held than were ever convened 

 since King Henry the Eighth was in existence. The object of 

 these Aesculapian deliberations is to get the poor departed giant 

 into their possession, for which purpose they wander after his 

 remains from place to place and mutter more "fie, fob and fums" 

 than were ever breathed by the whole gigantic race when they at- 

 tempted to scale heaven and dethrone Jupiter." 



June 13, 1783: "The Irish giant requested in his last mo- 

 ments that his ponderous remains should be thrown into the sea 

 in order that his bones might thus be placed far out of reach of 

 the chyrurgical fraternity. In consequence of which the body was 

 shipped aboard a vessel last night in order to be sunk in 20 

 fathoms of water. The body hunters, however, are determined 

 to pursue their valuable prey, even to the profoundest depths 

 of the aquatic regions, and have, therefore, provided a pair of 

 diving bells with which they flatter themselves that they shall be 

 able to weigh the hulk gigantic from its watery grave." 



Although the proper ceremony was performed by a duly 

 authorized undertaker and the coffin was thrown off the chartered 

 vessel in waters at the prescribed depth of 120 feet, John Hunter 

 was able to direct the body of this mammoth specimen to his 

 private cherished collection. The funeral director was bribed 

 with 500 pounds, worth $2,500 in that day, a staggering price. 

 While the escorts, on their way to the ocean, stopped at an inn 

 to indulge in some drinking, the coffin was locked in an adjacent 

 barn under the guise of safety. A paid accomplice of Hunter re- 

 moved the body from the receptacle, replaced it with an equivalent 

 slab of paving stone, and that night transported it to the museum. 

 The distinguished anatomist, distrusting its presence there, took 



I in his own carriage to his home in Earl's Court. Once there, 

 e body was immediately immersed in boiling acid which de- 



