HUNTERIAN ORATION. 15 



def^rees, other nations acquired " that useful 

 boldness." The zeal of the great painters, 

 who began to flourish towards the close of 

 the next century, and the patronage afforded 

 to them, greatly contributed to the sup- 

 pression of the public prejudice against dis- 

 section in Italy. Michael Angelo, Raphael, 

 Leonardo da Vinci, and Albert Durer, were 

 all either frequent dissectors, or draftsmen 

 of dissected bodies. It is curious to ob- 

 serve, how speedily in general we reconcile 

 our minds to that which custom has rendered 

 familiar. The dissection of the bodies of 

 persons who die in the hospitals of Paris, 

 produces at present no indignation, no sen- 

 sation in the public mind. Yet even in the 

 time of Haller, the laws and prejudices 

 against purloining a dead body, were so 

 strong, that he left France with all possible 

 speed, lest the receiver should be considered 

 as bad as the thief. 



It was not, however, until the sixteenth 

 century, that anatomy made any consider- 

 able advances, when some great anatomists 

 distinguished themselves, particularly Eus- 

 tachius and Fallopius in Italy, Sylvius and 



