174 HUMAN DISSECTION. ITS DRAMA AND STRUGGLE 



Alexander Leigh ton's (alias Nimmo of Edinburgh) The 

 Court of Cacus, or The Story of Burke and Hare. 



Edward B. Lytton's Lucretia, The Children of Night. 



David M. Moir's The Life of Mansie Wauch, Tailor in Dal- 

 keith. 



Robert L. Stevenson's The Body Snatcher. 



John Wilson's article in Blackiuood's Magazine. 



Sam Warren's Diary of a Late Physician, a chapter entitled, 

 "Grave Doings" (Ball, '28). 



Lord Cockburn, in a charming book on Scottish manners. 

 Memorial of His Time, included passages regarding the status 

 of the anatomists of his period. He is quoted as follows: "All of 

 our anatomists incurred a most unjust and very alarming, though 

 not an unnatural odium: Dr. Knox in particular, against whom 

 not only the anger of the populace, but the condemnation of 

 more intelligent persons, was specially directed. But tried in ref- 

 erence to the invariable and the necessary practice of the profes- 

 sion, our anatomists were spotlessly correct, and Knox the most 

 correct of them all" (Lonsdale, 1870). This author was regarded 

 as one of the ablest representatives of the Scottish Bar, as one 

 who could sift evidence and see through human motives with the 

 readiness of instinct. 



A series of lithographic prints, by Alexander Leighton, alias 

 Nimmo, one of whose books, is mentioned above, merits special 

 mention. They were entitled, Wretche's Illustration of Shake- 

 speare, but some dubbed them, Nimmo's Illustrations of Wretches, 

 and were directed mainly toward Knox. In one of the caricatures, 

 the devil is portrayed standing in a garden with a large pair of 

 shears, ready to crop a "NOX-I-OUS plant." It was intended 

 to show "an old virtuoso appropriating a new curiosity." This 

 drawing and others were meant to damage Knox in the minds 

 of the masses, both as a citizen and lecturer (Lonsdale, 1870). 



The romantic book by Alexander Leighton (Nimmo), Court 

 of Cacus, or The Story of Burke and Hare, lacked historical 

 truth and was a dressed-up tale which highlighted moral and 

 pious reflections to satisfy the Scottish mind. Tlie author's preju- 

 dices prevailed on every page and many readers mistook his views 

 as a true criterion of the events which happened. 



