254 HUMAN DISSECTION. ITS DRAMA AND STRUGGLE 



situated in less crowded regions, have encountered more serious 

 problems. Some of the institutions in the latter category, may 

 be placed close to thickly populated centers in an adjacent state, 

 but are precluded from taking advantage of it by the terms of 

 their own state laws. 



In respect to anatomical statutes, Woodburne and Gardner 

 ('54) found little uniformity in the state laws. They suggest fed- 

 eral reforms as follows: the right to will ones body to a profes- 

 sional school regardless of difficulties with the rest of the will; 

 provisions should be made in all states, for the disposal of dis- 

 sected remains; anatomical boards should be given the authority 

 to control autopsies; a reconsideration should be given to the im- 

 portance of geographical limits and state lines and the costs should 

 be shared among the schools which utilize bodies. 



In a special feature article in the Bulletin of Medical Re- 

 search ('55) the question of body shortages has been further dis- 

 cussed. According to it, there is a national concern about the 

 future supply. There are eight schools where a 4:1 student- 

 cavader ratio can no longer be maintained. One school was as- 

 signing eight students to a subject. There is a real problem in 

 Washington, D.C. The article stated that about 5,000 bodies are 

 needed per year in the United States, about one-third of one 

 per cent of those dying annually. 



It further reported that in thirty-one schools there has been 

 a decrease in the number obtained; in thirty-five, it is the same 

 as before and in eleven it has increased. Florida, which has re- 

 cently established two new schools, has encountered no difficulties 

 in its cadaver supply. In twenty-eight months, it had obtained 

 138 and had 75 willed bequests on file. The writer suggests that 

 sound policies be formulated for getting material: improving the 

 laws, which are not always obeyed to the letter; enlisting the help 

 of civic and religious groups; promoting good public relations; 

 establishing a unified program; and bringing the question into 

 public view. 



Overholser ('56) states that cadaver supply has become a 

 serious problem in the Missouri medical schools, although the 

 state has an anatomical board and it is necessary for pathologists 

 to obtain permission from it to perform autopsies. The law, how 



