204 HUMAN DISSECTION. ITS DRAMA AND STRUGGLE 



A report on the evolution of the Massachusetts Anatomy 

 Act of 1831, the first in the United States, and in the English 

 speaking world, may not be amiss, at this time, because of its 

 importance to the Harvard Medical School. It portrays how much 

 difficulty can be encountered in the passage of such a statute. 

 Prior to this year, the public had become acutely conscious that 

 body snatching was more common than had been suspected and 

 the hostility against dissection and medical colleges had increased. 

 Individual physicians and some groups had asked the legislators 

 to provide adequate relief but had met with little success because 

 the lawmakers were cognizant of the well-known popular aversion 

 to anatomizing. Bills had been introduced by physician-members 

 of the House and Senate but never got beyond committee con- 

 sideration. 



The medical profession of the state had long desired an 

 adequate legal source of material for teaching practical anatomy. 

 The primary stimulus for this opinion was probably the series of 

 events which had occurred in Edinburgh, notably the Burke and 

 Hare murders. However, local events also served as an added 

 incentive, notably an episode of resurrection occurring in 1818, 

 in Ipswich, which was climaxed in the indictment of Dr. Thomas 

 Sewall, a local physician; he was found guilty and fined |800 

 (c.f. Chapter XV). Much credit must be given to Dr. Abel L. 

 Peirson of the Massachusetts Medical Society who took the lead 

 in advocating that a committee from that group be appointed to 

 seek legislation. He introduced such a resolution on February 

 4, 1829, which was accepted; he was appointed its chairman and 

 devoted much time and effective effort to the work. Each mem- 

 ber of the profession was asked to do his best to personally in- 

 fluence his local and state representatives. The first bill was 

 introduced in January of 1830. The committee report stated 

 the following: it "did not think it expedient to propose any alter- 

 ation of the laws at the present time; because in a community 

 like ours, it is necessary that laws should proceed from and he 

 supported by public opinion" (Waite, '45b). 



The next step taken by the Medical Society was to educate 

 the public. Articles signed by members of its committee were 

 published in the newspapers. A pamphlet advancing arguments 



