170 HUMAN DISSECTION. ITS DRAMA AND STRUGGLE 



tation. There were those who also became interested in probing 

 his religious beliefs and wondered what was to become of his 

 soul. When it was discovered that Knox belonged to no sect or 

 congregation, all the denominations of churches breathed more 

 freely. This gave them an opportunity to condemn him as a 

 miserable sinner. 



The policy followed by Knox was to say nothing; he allowed 

 the whole winter to pass without making any public declaration 

 which might appease the clamor. He made an error in expecting 

 a subsidence of the aroused emotions. In March, 1829, his char- 

 acter was blasted, in a foul manner, in an article, written in 

 Blackzvood's Magazine, by John Wilson, Professor of Moral Phi- 

 losophy. This author even attacked the students of Knox for dis- 

 playing an obvious, affectionate regard for their teacher. The 

 medical profession did not show any great signs of supporting 

 him; little sympathy was extended to him from that direction. 

 Lonsdale (1870) defended him on every count stating that Knox 

 never went out on body snatching expeditions, that he abhorred 

 resurrectionists and that he had suggested that the schools of 

 London, Dublin and Edinburgh take joint action in seeking 

 aid from the Parliament on anatomical affairs. Further, it was 

 by the merest accident that Burke had come in contact ^vith 

 him; it might have been any other teacher, especially Alexander 

 Monro III, Professor of Anatomy at the University of Edinburgh. 



The anatomical contemporaries of Knox showed overt un- 

 charitableness and even open hostility towards him, the teacher 

 who had attracted about two-thirds of all the medical students, 

 in Edinburgh, to his class. It seems possible that most of the at- 

 tacks made on him by professionals originated from disappointed 

 rivals. His laboratory had always been amply supplied with ca 

 davers principally because he was willing to pay good j)ii((s 

 for them; he disliked seeing his class disappointed. The greatest 

 amount paid was 25 guineas. He was known to be lavish and 

 careless of his own pocketbook, having spent the incredible 

 amount of about 800 pounds for subjects during one session. 

 He hated to see a single empty table even though there were 

 sometimes 400 pupils around him. Special agents were sent ns 



