Ig4 HUMAN DISSECTION. ITS DRAMA AND STRUGGLE 



lish both a precedent for and a stigma against the practice in this 

 country (Krumbhaar, '22; Waite, '45b). 



The credit for the first dissection on man performed in the 

 colonies goes to Giles Firmin, a physician and clergyman. He was 

 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1632 to 1646, at first a 

 resident of Boston and later of Ipswich. The anatomizing was 

 conducted at the latter place in 1638, probably on the body of 

 an executed criminal. He is supposed to have lectured in anatomy 

 at Harvard, using a skeleton for demonstration. He returned to 

 England; one of the reasons given was that he did not fare very 

 well in his practice in this country (Viets, '30; Waite, '45b). 



One of the men of this period, John Eliot, a famous Christian 

 missionary to the Indians, was thinking in terms of establishing 

 a medical school, even before 1650. He attempted to teach the 

 redskins anatomy and general medicine. This was done, because 

 in trying to convert them to the new faith, he was always met with 

 the same question as to what would happen when they were sick. 

 In such cases, the savage method was to resort to the powwow or 

 sorcerer. He found that even the most intelligent were so ignorant 

 that they might profit by practical instruction in anatomy. In 

 addition, he proposed the founding of an institution which would 

 improve the medical education of young colonial students, who 

 were receiving only theoretical knowledge, and who were forced 

 to practice before they ever dissected. He stated that prior to his 

 time the only anatomy which had been performed in the country 

 was by Giles Firmin, previously mentioned (Ball, '28; Hartwell, 

 1881a; Krumbhaar, '22). 



An idea of the lack of anatomical knowledge prevailing in 

 the Massachusetts Colonies is indicated by an item in Judge; 

 Samuel Sewall's diary under the date of September 22, 1676. He, 

 in conjunction with six others, at least one of whom was a physi- 

 cian, dissected, on September 21st, the body of an executed In- 

 dian. One member of the group picked up the heart and affirmed 

 it to be the stomach. 



Several decades before the Revolution, Dr. William Hunter 

 delivered lectures at Newport, Rhode Island (1754-1756), which 

 were attended by physicians and laymen. These were first adver-i 

 tised in the newspapers but no mention was made that demon-- 



