208 



HUMAN DISSECTION. ITS DRAMA AND STRUGGLE 



The following is another anecdote in the teaching careei 

 of Holmes quoted from Abbot (1895). ''In my early student 

 days in the Tremont Street Medical School, after a recitation ii 

 anatomy to Dr. Holmes, at which I happened not to be present, h< 

 sang to the class a new song of his own composition— probabb 

 one of his humorous medical productions, but of this I am not 

 quite sure. Two days after, while he and I were engaged togethei 

 in the dissecting-room, I casually remarked, "I greatly regret 

 not being present at the last recitation in anatomy." "Why?'- 

 he asked. "Because I lost the song you were so kind as to sinj 

 to the students." After a moment's pause, with his head turne( 

 down a little towards one shoulder, and a peculiar compressioi 

 of the lips— an attitude and expression of the mouth which al| 

 his old friends will remember, he said abruptly, "Would you lik< 

 to hear it?" "Why, of course, doctor, I should," was my replyj 

 "Well, I'll sing it to you," was his immediate response. So he lai( 

 down his scalpel and forceps, and standing facing me, with th< 

 poor relic of humanity on the table between us, he began, an< 

 went through the whole of it, with as much enthusiasm as if h< 

 were singing to a thousand people. After the prolonged applaus< 

 of his audience of one had subsided, he said, "Do you like it?* 

 "Why of course, doctor," said I, "no one could hear it without 

 liking it." "Well," said he, "it is good. No one but a fool wouh 

 pretend he doesn't know when he has done a good thing." 



Besides holding the professorship of anatomy at Harvan 

 Holmes was dean of the medical school (1847-1853); he wj 

 selected to present the University Lecture (1863-1864) and w; 

 overseer of Harvard (1876-1882). 



During his tenure as a professor, there had been some agita| 

 tion concerning supposed abuses in dissection. This had occurre< 

 in spite of the fact that the Anatomy Act of 1831 had been ii 

 use for a half-century. After his retirement. Holmes was selectee 

 as one of the speakers in dedicating a new medical building oi 

 Boylston Street. The faculty had taken every precaution to pr< 

 vent the public from inspecting the dissection-room. To theil 

 consternation, Holmes concluded his remarks by inviting hi 

 audience to visit the quarters in question. This shows that h< 

 was open and broad-minded on the subject of anatomizing. 



