DISSECTION IN MEDICAL SCHOOLS OF NEW ENGLAND 199 



did not have the natural teaching abilities of his father, lacking 

 his voice, but he was more broadly educated. 



Among the biographical notes left by John C. Warren, are 

 remarks made regarding the procurement of subjects. In the 

 early part of his dissecting career, he said, this caused him a 

 great deal of trouble and anxiety. After the Revolutionary War, 

 great difficulty was experienced in obtaining cadavers. Occasion- 

 ally, bodies of executed criminals and paupers were available, 

 averaging not more than two a year. Even before he graduated in 

 1796, he began the business of acquiring specimens. As a medical 

 student, he went on a body snatching party. 



On this expedition, he described setting out for the North 

 Burying Ground, reaching it at ten o'clock on a rather light 

 night. They soon located the pertinent grave but being unsure 

 about it, went to another place. On examining this, they found 

 themselves in error and returned to the original site. One of the 

 group was put on guard while the others worked rapidly. When 

 the coffin was reached, they broke open the cover, which re- 

 vealed a stout young man. The body was taken out, put in a 

 bag and carried to the cemetery wall. As they were about to lift 

 it over, a stranger was spotted on the other side, walking along 

 the edge of the barrier smoking a pipe. A plan of action was 

 formulated by the gentlemen resurrectionists. One of the group, 

 feigning intoxication, accosted the man, entered into conversa- 

 tion with him and then started a quarrel. A second member of 

 Warren's party appeared, pretended to side with the stranger 

 and ordered the supposed drunk to go about his business. Taking 

 the unwanted man by the arm, he led him off to a safe distance 

 and then returned to the burying-ground. The body was then 

 quickly hoisted over the wall, put in a two-wheeled carriage and 

 carted off to Cambridge. Warren and a friend stayed behind 

 to fill the grave and efface the vestiges of their labor. His com- 

 panion, however, not relishing the task, left the scene before it 

 was completed (Warren, 1860). 



I When the elder John Warren learned that his son had been 

 engaged in this episode, he was very much alarmed but when 



