242 HUMAN DISSECTION. ITS DRAMA AND STRUGGLE 



One of the first incidents of significance involved a Dr. Prince, 

 who taught anatomy at the Medical Department of Illinois Col- 

 lege, located in Jacksonville in the east-central part of the state, not 

 far from Springfield. This institution had only a five year ex- 

 istence principally because of difficulty in acquiring an adequate 

 supply of subjects. Dr. Prince refused to teach anatomy without 

 offering its practical aspects. Nightly excursions were made to 

 the cemeteries by the demonstrator and students. The professor 

 was blamed for certain unexplained developments. An irate mob 

 approached the school and accused him and his students of ex- 

 huming the body of George Joseph Duncan. With the help of 

 some influential persons, the wrath of the rioters was assuaged and 

 injury averted. This event, which took place in 1848, was instru- 

 mental in hastening the closing of the school. 



About this same time, 1849, Franklin Medical College, lo- 

 cated in St. Charles, about forty miles west of Chicago, became in- 

 volved in a more serious affair. This school also had a short 

 survival time. A discovery was made that a fresh grave in the 

 neighboring town of Sycamore had been robbed of its inhabitant. 

 The blame fell on the medical students of St. Charles. An armed 

 mob formed, proceeded to that city and stopped at the home of 

 Dr. George W. Richards, professor of anatomy, demanding that 

 the body in question be turned over to them. The teacher's family 

 fled by climbing the stone wall in the rear of the house, but he 

 held his ground. He did his best to convince the angry crowd that 

 the subject in question was not in his residence. When they in- 

 sisted on entrance, he closed the door, locked it and braced him- 

 self against it. One of the members of the gang shot through the 

 door and the bullet passed through the upper part of Richard's 

 arm, severing a part of his brachial plexus. Thereafter, he was 

 permanently paralyzed in this part of the body. In this fracas, 

 the student who was credited with securing the body, was injured 

 and died of his wounds (Anson, '56; Edwards, *51). 



After repeated outrages of this nature, in the year of 188.') 

 the state legislature passed an anatomical law for the protection 

 of the people (Weaver, '23-'25). 



At the turn of the century, there was little general oui 

 spoken opposition to human dissection, in Illinois, but a fanatical 



