History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

History of Anatomy Laws in Illinois 367Here we have a clear statement that dissection was considered a posthumouspunishment and by implication a powerful deterrent to capital crime,hence, quite in keeping with the abhorrence in which dissection and autopsywere held for centuries almost till our day. Evidently the law inIllinois even without such a 'deterrent' had the desired effect, for in theStatutes of 1845, under "Duelling," the punishment meted out to allparticipating (aiders, seconds, etc.) in the high misdemeanor is far lessstringent, the punishment not exceeding 5 years, nor less than 1 year, byconfinement to labor in the penitentiary, while persons carrying the challengeshall pay fines.In March, 1819, decisive action was taken by the General Assembly toremove the seat of the state government from Kaskaskia to a site whichfive Commissioners were to select in accordance with the land appropriationmade by Congress for the purpose. The commissioners chose an areafarther up the Kaskaskia River about 75 miles "as the crow flies," northeastof Kaskaskia on the site of a settlement later known as Vandalia in FayetteCounty where a United States land office had existed as early as 1804, andwhere eleven years later Guy Beck and his wife were the first whites tosettle in the county. In 1819 a colony of about 20 to 30 families from Hanover,Germany, was brought over by a philanthropic compatriot,Ferdinand Ernst, and established at Vandalia; these people soon took anactive part in the organization of the county. The famed 'CumberlandRoad' then served as the chief inlet of emigrants from the south and eastof the country. After the commissioners had selected the site of the newstate capital, they "were sorely puzzled in their efforts to choose a namethat should be euphonious to attract the attention of the whole world."Governor Ford, in his 'History of Illinois' gives the following humorousaccount of the way it was done: "Tradition says that a wag, who waspresent, suggested to the Commissioners that the 'Vandals' were a powerfulnation of Indians, who once inhabited the banks of the Kaskaskia River,and that "Vandalia" derived from the name would perpetuate the memoryof that extinct but renowned people. The suggestion pleased the Commissioners,the name was adopted, and they thus proved that the cognomenof their new city— if they were fit representatives of their constituents—would better illustrate the character of the modern, than the ancientinhabitants of the country."A two-story frame building was erected at Vandalia to function as thecapitol, the archives at Kaskaskia were removed to it in December, 1820,and the 3rd General Assembly had their first session there two years later(Dec, 1822). Fire destroyed the building a few years later, and a largerbrick structure was built on the same ground.About this time—January 3, 1825— the state legislature approved "an