[XIV] 



HUMAN DISSECTION IN SCOTLAND-A.D. 



1500 to 1958 



O, 



'f all the countries of Europe, it was Scotland which developed 

 the deepest, most lasting, unchanging traditions in anatomy. From 

 the beginning, major significance was attached to its importance 

 and it has always been treated accordingly in the medical cur- 

 riculum. It was there that the biggest emotional and dramatic 

 incidents in the history of anatomy occurred. In Scotland, as in 

 England, there was no immediate enactment of the laws which 

 had worked successfully on the Continent, especially in Italy. 



Whatever anatomical codes were initially formulated in Scot- 

 land, they were such that they provided a minimal number of 

 cadavers. For an interval of 200 years, between 1505 and 1705, 

 nothing much was done in anatomy. The people of Scotland, 

 at least many of them, were concerned with theological disputes 

 and destruction of witches. The center of medical activity was 

 Edinburgh. A charter was granted there to the Guild of Surgeons 

 and Barbers granting the privilege of dissection, as early as 1505. 

 The body of one criminal per year was allowed which apparently 

 increased public horror of dissection; it had a retarding effect 

 upon the practice for about three centuries (Ball, '28; Comrie, 

 '22; Creswell, '14; Guttmacher, '35; Watson, '36). 



Annual demonstrations were presented by master surgeons 

 of Edinburgh until 1645. At this time, a teacher, John Borthwick, 

 was appointed to fulfill this duty. He was the first teacher of 

 anatomy in that country. Before this, the craft met in doctors* 

 homes but, thereafter, held classes in rented rooms. Due to the 

 efforts of Borthwick, the students were required to take exams 

 in anatomy in 1647 (Ball, '28; Comrie, '22; Creswell, '14). 



A human skeleton was presented to the Town College of 

 Edinburgh, by Dr. Michael Young, in the year 1671. It was as- 



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