Until 1832, when an Act of Parliament began to regulate the use of
bodies for anatomy in Britain, public dissection was regularly-and
legally-carried out on the bodies of murderers, and a shortage of
cadavers gave rise to the infamous murders committed by Burke and
Hare to supply dissection subjects to Dr. Robert Knox, the
anatomist. This book tells the scandalous story of how medical men
obtained the corpses upon which they worked before the use of human
remains was regulated. Helen MacDonald looks particularly at the
activities of British surgeons in nineteenth-century Van Diemen's
Land, a penal colony in which a ready supply of bodies was
available. Not only convicted murderers, but also Aborigines and
the unfortunate poor who died in hospitals were routinely turned
over to the surgeons. This sensitive but searing account shows how
abuses happen even within the conventions adopted by civilized
societies. It reveals how, from Burke and Hare to today's televised
dissections by German anatomist Dr. Gunther von Hagens, some
people's bodies become other people's entertainment.
General
Imprint: |
Yale University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
April 2011 |
First published: |
March 2011 |
Authors: |
Helen Macdonald
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 18mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - Trade
|
Pages: |
236 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-300-13636-4 |
Categories: |
Books >
Science & Mathematics >
Biology, life sciences >
General
|
LSN: |
0-300-13636-6 |
Barcode: |
9780300136364 |
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