Grave-Robbing for Science & the Betterment of Mankind
 

Once upon a time, Medicine and Physicians were not the *friends to man* they are today.

The Hypocratic Oath swears doctors to the preservation of life. But there is a little-known history of the profession, that may shed light on the current global healthcare malaise.

Doctors *repair* the body. To acquire that ability, it stands to reason, a doctor-in-training should spend some time getting acquainted with the Body. But, lo... back in mid 1800s in America there was a time when doctors were treated like Ghouls... because they gathered together in secret places to pick dead bodies apart...

"Grave robbery is a part of the history of medicine and the study of human anatomy at a time when dissection of the body remained virtually illegal. Cemeteries of the rich were guarded. Family members would use cast iron or stone slabs to cover the burial site. Mortsafes were used to protect the graves and its bodily contents. An illicit import of bodies into Scotland from Ireland also helped to meet the medical school demand for corpses. Though not officially sanctioned by the schools, there is reason to believe that medical students were given special considerations, a prized free ticket into the dissection lab, if they assisted in the effort to procure specimens. Pattison, who later acquired the Burns Museum was an acknowledged leader of the student ressurectionists in Glasgow, and later as a senior lecture, like John Burns was indicted for body snatching. Though unlike Burns, Pattison was found innocent... http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?pid=...rttext&tlng=en

I find that SO fascinating... that a *saving* evolution of Man's understanding of himself should have been so demonized, at first - :1orglaugh






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