Body Snatching: The Robbing of Graves for the Education of Physicians in Early Nineteenth Century America
"Also called "resurrectionists," body snatchers were careful not to take anything from the grave but the body - stealing only the corpse was not considered a felony since the courts had already said that a dead body had no owner. ("Burking" - i.e., murder - was the alternative method of supplying "stiffs" to medical schools; it is covered here as well)." This book recounts the practice of grave robbing for the medical education of American medical students and physicians during the late 1700s...
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Also called "resurrectionists," body snatchers, were careful not to take anything from the grave but the body-stealing only the corpse was not considered a felony since the courts had already said that a dead body had no owner. ("Burking"-i.e., murder-was the alternative method of supplying "stiffs" to medical schools; it is covered here as well). This book recounts the practice of grave robbing for the medical education of American medical students and physicians during the late 1700s and 1800s in the US, why body snatching came about and how disinterment was done, and presents information on: efforts to prevent the practice, a group of professional grave robbers, and the European experience. Reference & Research Book News "Explains why the practice existed, how disinterment of corpses was accomplished and who committed these acts"
The horrors of dissection1Post mortems and anatomies in the colonies9Dissection for education14Resurrection of the dead26American professionals59Murder!69The coming of the anatomy acts78The decline of the body snatchers90Popular literature95App. A"History of the Anatomy Act of Pennsylvania"111App. BReports of societies from the Cincinnati Lancet and Clinic, the Academy of Medicine on the Anatomy Act117
\ Reference & Research Book News"Explains why the practice existed, how disinterment of corpses was accomplished and who committed these acts"\ \ \ \ \ BooknewsAn account of the practice of grave robbing for the medical education of American medical students and physicians during the late 1700s and 1800s in the US, explaining why the practice existed, how disinterment of corpses was accomplished, and who committed these acts. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)\ \
