S6 HUNTERIAN ORATION. 



hospitals, poor-houses, and prisons, were 

 to establish it as a regulation, that the body 

 of any person dying in those institutions, 

 unclaimable by immediate relatives, should, 

 be given to the surgeon of the establish- 

 ment for dissection, upon his signing an 

 obligation so to dispose of it, as to give no 

 offence to decency or humanity, I am con- 

 vinced, that it would greatly tend to the 

 increase of anatomical knowledge amongst 

 the members of our profession in general, 

 and consequently to the public good. Or 

 indeed it might be established as a law, 

 that the body of any person of whatsoever 

 rank or fortune, unclaimable by immediate 

 relatives, should be subjected to dissection; 

 and thus a great public good might be ob- 

 tained, without any infringement on the 

 equality of rights. Other and better ex- 

 pedients may indeed be devised; and the 

 subject is so important as to deserve general 

 consideration. 



Yet, upon mentioning the foregoing 

 suggestions to various persons, I have been 

 uniformly answered, that the public would 



