HUMAN DISSECTION IN SCOTLAND-A.D. 1500 TO 1958 



155 



senibled from the body of a young Frenchman which the physi- 

 xian had obtained while in Paris. This, apparently, excited awe 

 land wonder (Ball, '28; Lonsdale, 1870). 



There is some evidence that one of four gypsies, who were 



condemned, hung and buried in a single grave, was stolen by a 



surgeon for the purpose of making an anatomical dissection, in 



the year of 1678, in Edinburgh. 



In 1694, the Town Council of Edinburgh gave permission to 

 ithe Royal College of Surgeons of that city to use the bodies of 

 Ifoundlings, suicides, executed criminals, those dying in correc- 

 [tion houses and stillborns. The stipulation was made that an 

 [anatomical theatre must be erected within three years and one 

 [public dissection held annually. The Royal College accepted the 

 |terms and had the building completed by 1697. There was some 

 delay in making the initial dissection as it was not performed 

 luntil December, 1702. The anatomizing took eight days; the 



)ody was divided into as many regions and each demonstration 



ivas done by a different professor. 



In 1705, Robert Eliot was chosen as public dissector and 



)aid by the to^vn; he was, therefore, the first Professor of Anatomy 



It the University of Edinburgh and in Great Britain. His salary 

 Iwas 15 pounds per annum and he held the position for twelve 

 ^years. In 1720, following the temporary tenures of John M'Gill 

 [and Adam Drummond, the chair was given to the first of the three 

 Monros, who collectively were to form an unparalleled profes- 

 [sorial hierarchy lasting for 12 decades (Ball, '28; Comrie, '22; 

 iCreswell, '14; Cunningham, '03; Lonsdale, 1870; Watson, '36). 

 Body snatching got an early start in Scotland and it came 

 to the attention of the College of Surgeons in Edinburgh in 1711. 

 This organization took official notice of the situation and wrote 

 l^a protest stating that "of late there has been a violation of 



^pulchres in the Grey-Friars Churchyard by some who most un- 

 khristianly have been stealing the bodies of the dead out of their 

 ^graves" (Creswell, '14; Lonsdale, 1870; Watson, '36). Apparently, 

 [no attention was paid to this notice; in fact, the practice in- 

 creased, if anything. 



The reign of the Alexander Monros at the Department of 



inatomy at the University of Edinburgh, began in 1720 and 



