158 HUMAN DISSECTION. ITS DRAMA AND STRUGGLE 



of Edinburgh organized against him; through its influence he 

 was dismissed from the hospital. His brother, Charles, took over 

 • the class in 1799, but opposition continued against the school 

 and it was never able to attract more than ninety students under 

 his direction. Therefore, he left for London in 1804 (Brash, '30; 

 Comrie, '22). 



Alexander Monro III proved to be an unsuccessful teacher 

 and students began to get instruction at the private anatomical 

 rooms which were springing up throughout the city. The open- 

 ing of these institutions paved the way for a greater number of 

 medical students; the enrollment increased from 200 in 1793 to 

 over 1,000 in 1820. By 1828, eight private schools had been estab- 

 lished there (Comrie, '22). 



One of the worthwhile innovations in the teaching of anat- 

 omy in the British Isles was allowing medical students to make 

 their own dissections. Up to the year of 1800, they were not given 

 this privilege; only a few favored and enthusiastic ones had helped 

 their teachers prepare the demonstrations, but universal anatomiz- 

 ing wasn't practiced because of lack of material. Dissections by 

 students became compulsory in 1826, both in the College of Sur- 

 geons and at the University of Edinburgh. In 1831, the chair of 

 surgery was separated from anatomy and this marked the begin- 

 ning of the modern epoch in anatomical teaching in the city 

 (Comrie, '22). 



The introduction of student dissection set one of the worlds 

 most infamous trades into full motion. Bodies became so scarce 

 that professors and practitioners, as well as professional resurrec- 

 tionists and murderers plied the field. Although the medical men 

 wanted the subjects for scientific purposes such as increasing basic 

 anatomical knowledge, perfecting or following up the results of 

 surgical operations and studying the effects of disease processes, the 

 latter were interested in monetary gains only. The following stories 

 illustrate the means these men used to attain their own particu- 

 lar end, in Scotland. 



In the early days of the practice of Robert Liston (1794- 

 1847), who was the first man in England to perform a major 

 operation under ether anestlicsia, he sought to obtain the body 

 of a man buried in Fifeshire, who had passed away as a result of 



