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



attended with a large measure of success. He is on record as having 

 sold the body of his exhumed sister (Guttmacher, '35). 



It was difficult, if not impossible, to carry out resurrectionist 

 projects alone because the human body could not be handled 

 singly whether unburied or buried. Three assistants worked with 

 Merry-Lees and were named Spune, Mowatt and Howard. The 

 first was a little man w^ho acted demure, resigned and saintly. 

 All of his assigned duties were carried out in a grave and stately 

 manner. To Howard, was given the task of impersonating a clergy- 

 man, when such was needed. This entailed wearing an appropriate 

 black suit with a white cravat, knowing how to recite prayers and 

 importune those around the coffin to reflect on the uncertainties 

 of life and the need for spiritual uplift. Mowatt was a general 

 handyman. When their coup went off successfully, they served 

 as mourners for the funeral cortege, which usually proceeded to- 

 ward the suburbs. When night came, no time was lost in con- 

 veying the body to a selected dissecting-room, where an agreed 

 amount of cash was put in Lees' hand. The climax to the series 

 of events usually resulted in a wild night of drinking and revelry, 

 with the head of the gang leading the way. Lees was known to 

 average about sixteen large glasses of whisky per day and, on oc- 

 casion, he could consume as many pints. 



A remarkable series of events, murder-wise occurred in the 

 year of 1828, in Edinburgh. The principal characters in this drama 

 were two men and two women: Mrs. Hare, William Hare, Wil- 

 liam Burke and his mistress, Helen McDougal. The women al- 

 ways acted as accomplices up to the point where the crime was 

 committed, when both discreetly withdrew. Their business of 

 selling bodies to the anatomical schools began as follows: an old 

 pensioner, by name of Donald, a roomer in the lodginghouse of 

 Hare, died leaving an unpaid debt of 4 pounds, on November 29, 

 1827. The owner decided that the only way he could retrieve 

 the money due him was to sell the body to the anatomists. He en- 

 listed the aid of Burke and they were successful in substituting 

 tanner's bark in the coffin, which had been sent to the house by 



I the parish authorities. The body was hidden in the bed. It was 

 sold later to the laboratory of Dr. Robert Knox for the sum of 

 I 



