STATUS OF Hl'MAN DISSECTION IN THE UNITED STATES 253 



competition became keener, there was connivance with resur- 

 rectionists, the cost increased, crimes of a grave nature occurred 

 and anatomical teachers came into disrepute. His statistics show 

 that of fifty-five medical schools reporting from thirty-six states, 

 forty-one had an adequate supply, five had barely enough, eight 

 had an insufficient number and only one had an excessive quantity; 

 thirty- four Avere receiving^ good material. 



Even though the anatomical laws, had been improved, Jen- 

 kins ('13) found a wide variation in their content. In general, 

 most cadavers were received from almshouses. A few states per- 

 mitted only the use of bodies of criminals dying in penal institu- 

 tions. In the others, the unclaimed dead were made available, 

 sometimes with reservations as follows: when they had to be 

 buried at public expense, when claimed by relatives or friends, 

 when they had served in a branch of the military services and 

 when requests had been made not to have their bodies assigned 

 to medical schools. 



Woodburne and Gardner ('54) have reviewed the status of 

 anatomical material and laws in the United States by taking a 

 poll of anatomists. Their study reveals that most schools now 

 meet teaching requirements but that the majority of departments 

 report that such a supply is minimally adequate. In some, an 

 unsatisfactory situation exists. The factors responsible for varia- 

 tions in distribution, according to these authors, are the follow- 

 ing: 



1 . Density of population. 



2. Prosperity of the economic condition. 



3. Increasing social welfare burials. 



4. Conflicting social welfare and old-age assistance legisla- 

 tion. 



5. Burial insurance. 



6. Increased post-mortem examinations by pathologists. 



7. Laws which are so free regarding claimants and exemp- 

 tions that they give low priority to anatomical teaching. 



The medical schools, which are located in areas of dense 

 population, in general, fare much better, even though several 

 of the largest are drawing from the same source. By contrast, those 



