Burke and Hare

 

Burke and Hare

 William Hare and William Burke

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Human dissection was practised in Greece and Egypt until around 280 B.C., but then fell out of favour for hundreds of years until Leonardo da Vinci awakened interest in the early 16^th century, with his anatomical drawings. As more people studied medicine, the demand for more cadavers increased, but relatives wanted their loved ones to be buried, rather than cut up. The answer was to use the bodies of felons not considered worthy of Christian burial.

To this end, a law was passed in 1505 giving the Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers in Edinburgh the body of one executed criminal a year. Thirty-five years later, a similar law allowed the Companies of Barbers and Surgeons in London four executed criminals per year.

This allowance was insufficient for the growing medical schools, so in Great Britain in 1751, the Murder Act was passed. A person found guilty of murder was to be executed two days after sentencing, unless that day was a Sunday, in which case the execution would be deferred to the following Monday. It stated that the body of a murderer was not to be buried, but rather hanged in chains or else subjected to public dissection. It said, ‘in no case whatsoever the body of any murderer shall be suffered to be buried; unless after such body shall have been dissected and anatomised.’ The aim of the Act was ‘for better preventing the horrid crime of murder.’

Even so, the number of cadavers was insufficient for ongoing research. In Scotland, numbers were low, though there were more crimes than murder that carried the death sentence. In England and Wales, two hundred crimes were punishable by death but a further act, in 1823, removed mandatory death sentences from a long list of crimes and the requirement for more bodies to dissect was ever growing. Medical schools were willing to pay for fresh supplies.

Thus, some enterprising people began exhuming recently buried corpses. Cadavers were not regarded as property so grave robbers were free from the threat of prosecution for theft and were able to sell their spoils to private doctors and medical establishments. The grave robbers became known, ghoulishly, as Resurrection men.

 Graveyard watchtower, Eckford Parish Church, Roxburghshire
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Mortsafes in Logierait Kirkyard, Perth and Kinross
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Families concerned for the safekeeping of their relatives’ remains watched over their graves, erecting watch towers in graveyards, or building a mortsafe of iron over the grave. After six weeks or so, the mortsafe might be removed, as the corpse beneath was no longer of any value for dissection.

Some men went further and were seduced into what was called ‘anatomy murder.’ Fresher bodies commanded higher prices and in Edinburgh, from 1827 to 1828, two Irishmen, William Burke and William Hare, murdered sixteen people and sold their bodies to the anatomist Robert Knox for use in his lectures.

They perfected a method of suffocation which left no damage or marks on the body. They enticed poor and needy citizens to their lodgings and dispatched them quickly, selling them for £7 to £10 each, the equivalent of £953 to £1360 in 2024.

Eventually, greed overwhelmed them, and they became careless, arousing much suspicion when they killed a well-known resident called ‘Daft Jamie,’ an 18-year-old street beggar. Students at Knox’s lecture recognised the body – Jamie had a deformed foot – but Knox quickly removed it and the boy’s head. He escaped conviction for complicity in the murders by pleading ignorance, but it was clear to the general populace that he had full knowledge that the bodies he bought had been murdered by Burke and Hare. His reputation suffered and he removed to London, where he had a medical practice in Hackney.

On Christmas Eve, 1828, Burke and Hare went on trial for the murder of Jamie Wilson. Burke was found guilty and condemned to death by hanging. Hare turned King’s evidence and was released and nothing more is known of him. Burke was hanged in public in Edinburgh on  28th January. 1829 and his body was used for dissection. His skeleton is on display in the Anatomy Museum, University of Edinburgh.

Edinburgh was a leader in anatomical study in Europe in the early 19^th century. Apart from murderers, the only other bodies permitted for dissection were from those who had died in prison, had committed suicide or were orphans.

The Murder Act of 1751 was repealed in 1828. The 1832Anatomy Act ended the practice of supplying bodies of executed murderers for dissection and authorised the use of cadavers from the workhouses which remained unclaimed after 48 hours.

In modern times, people may indicate that they wish to donate their bodies for medical research.

Farewell!

 

Farewell!

                                    Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The troublesome tooth, which is not at all troublesome, but might be so at an unspecified time in the future, must be extracted, following the two thirds root canal process.

I have four choices following the extraction – leave it and live with the gap, have a partial denture, fit a bridge or have a dental implant. It is a molar so not particularly noticeable when I smile. If I were 30, I would probably opt for an implant, but I’m not, so I won’t. A bridge would compromise the tooth to which it would be attached. I don’t like things in my mouth that don’t belong there, like a denture, however snugly it might fit, so I choose to have a space where no space was before.

Of course, I would have a replacement of some sort if the troublesome tooth were one of the ‘shop front’ teeth. I don’t think I’m especially vain, though others might disagree, but a yawning gap would be hard to ignore and although I am literally tight-lipped, even I would find talking and smiling difficult without opening my mouth.  

 Dentistry has come a long way since the yank ‘em out days, which is good, of course. There are many choices to be made and great and growing expertise among our dental surgeons. People now do not generally have all their teeth extracted as a 21^st birthday or wedding present, as was common in the early 20^th century. That was considered preferable to potentially suffering a lifetime of pain from infections.

Until the 19^th century, tooth extractions were performed by blacksmiths and barbers, but false teeth were made as far back as 2500 B.C. Then they were made from animal teeth, sometimes from wolves. Japan made wooden dentures in the 16^th century and such plates were used up to the 20^th century. The thought of wearing wood in my mouth makes me shudder. Naturally, my imagination has gone into overdrive and I’m viusalising rough bark and twigs, even leaves. Chewing would sound like the clattering of castanets or arpeggios on a xylophone.

From the 1780s, US President George Washington’s false teeth, of which he had at least four sets, were composed of human teeth, hippo and elephant ivory, gold and brass, and were held together with metal fasteners, bolts and rivets. Some of the human teeth were sourced from slaves.

Grave robbers could make a substantial living – some say the modern equivalent of £10,000 per night – by stealing teeth from corpses. These were then used to make dentures.

Tooth enamel is the hardest substance in the human body and is as hard as steel. It’s amazing that the human diet wears it away.

Did you know that our tooth and tongue prints are unique, just like our fingerprints? I didn’t, so I looked for more information about exclusivity. Iris and retina patterns are unique, and so is the shape and contour of ears. Earprints can be used for identification, though not as readily as fingerprints.  Footprints are individual and are often used to identify infants. How sad that process must be, whatever the circumstances.

There may be some scientific logic behind the ancient art of palmistry – the furrows and creases on our palms are distinctive, but, again, fingerprints are easier to process.

Finally, the distribution of veins in hands and fingers is exclusive to each individual. When I gaze at the contour map on the back of my hands, it’s rather pleasing to know that no-one else has hands exactly like mine. Others might look and think, ‘Thank goodness for small mercies.’