History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

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374 History of Medical Practice in Illinoisany or all of these to be imposed at the discretion of the court. The Stateof Vermont whose border lay but one mile from Dartmouth Collegepassed a like law in1804. Soon, during subsequent years, other states ofNew England enacted statutes of the same kind, imposing greater or lesserpenalties for grave-robbing, the severity of the punishment increasing asmore medical schools sprang up and the number of their students grew.These laws not only defined the punishment for illegal disinterment, butalso the same penalties for the transportation, the concealment or thepresence of the dead body on the premises of the accused.As the succeeding years showed, the laws against grave-robbing weredifficult to enforce. Among the several reasons that come to mind, the leastobvious is a legal one. To apply the term "theft" to taking a dead humanbody is not strictly correct, for "it is a well-recognized, and almost universalrule of law that a dead human body is not property, and that thereis no true proprietary interest or right of property therein." 20 This is notmere pedantry, for "if a dead body were property in the true sense, itwould follow that one might gain title thereto." Briefly stated, ownershipis the right to the exclusive possession, use and enjoyment of the property.Thus, according to English Law, which governed the American colonies,and which was adopted by the United States and has been affirmed innumerous court decisions, a dead person is not property. "A corollary ofthis legal principle is that a person while living, cannot legally devise bywill nor convey by gift or contract what will later be his dead body." SirWilliam Blackstone stated in his "Commentaries" that "the heir has aproperty in the monuments and escutcheons of his ancestors, yet he hasnone in their bodies or ashes." In 1869 the State of Maine tried to supercedethis general principle with the enactment of a statute which said:"If any person requests during his life that his body be delivered to aregular physician or surgeon for the advancement of anatomical sciencesafter his death, it may be used for the purpose unless some kindred orfriend asks within three days, that it be buried." More recently the statesof New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota have specificallyprovided by statute that the decedent has the right to dispose of hisbody, or parts thereof, by will. 21 Most recently (1947), the state of Californiahas enacted a like decree on the testamentary disposition of thebody; 22 it may be that other states have proceeded similarly. From these20Weinmann, George H.: A survey of the law concerning dead human bodies. (Issuedunder the auspices of the Committee on Medicolegal Problems), Bulletin of the NationalResearch Council. No. 73. Dec. 1929.21 Cf. Weinmann, ibid.22In the autumn of 1953, soon after assuming the headship in Anatomy in the School ofMedicine of the College of Medical Evangelists at Loma Linda, California, the writer,while perusing the filed records and documents regarding the human bodies received,
aHistory of Anatomy Laws in Illinois 375modern decrees we gather that the ideas concerning the designation of adead body as property are undergoing change. But certainly during the19th century, a strict interpretation of the concept that there is no ownershipin a dead human body could not render a culprit, who has exhumedsuch, liable in a civil suit for damages. It was necessary to find that someact, recognized by the law as tortious, had been committed. For example,if an individual went on the land of another to disinter a body buriedthere, the owner of the land could sue for trespassing, or the person whofurnished the coffin or the wearing apparel of the corpse could bring actionfor damage done to such accoutrements, but nothing more. The onlyremedy lay in an indictment on such grounds.Mention has already been made of the law passed in New York in 1789which was designed to prevent grave-robbing by providing that felonssentenced to death shall be delivered to surgeons for dissection. Doubtlesslythis law in New York influenced the enactment of laws pertaining tothe same problem in neighboring states. In Connecticut the law of 1824made legal the dissection of bodies of convicts, dying in prison, suchdisposition being subject to the judgment of the prison commissionersand depending, among other considerations, on the nature of the crimecommitted by the convict. We have seen that only a year later (1825),the state of Illinois in its "Act to prevent the disinterment of the dead"included a provision whereby the body of any criminal shallbe directedto be delivered up for dissection by competent authority. All these laws,it is evident, not only reflected but reinforced the popular conception ofdissection as an additional posthumous punishment. Such penalty, in theopinion of the laity, made even the subject of Anatomy odious; dissectionof the body of a friend or of one who was merely poor, or unknown, wouldstigmatize his memory, that is, make him by implication a criminal—sentiment w r hich inhibited for a long time the securing of laws to designatebodies, buried at public expense, for the training of medical students.Human society has never resolved fully the paradox of its deep-rootedaversion to dissection and its insistent demand of anatomical familiarityand proficiency for its physicians in the treatment of its bodily ills.It is evident that the anatomical material obtained legally was whollyinsufficient in amount for the requirements of instruction. Fatal duelswere few; nor was the supply of bodies of dead criminals much greater."A statistical compilation made in Massachusetts in 1830 showed that fordissected or to be dissected, was astonished to learn that 1 1 bodies had been willed inthe short period of three years— all of them without any effort on the part of the schoolto influence the public toward such an enlightened policy. One wonders how abundantwould be the donations of anatomical material if it were to discreetly publicize such aimsand aid to science.
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HISTORY OFMEDICAL PRACTICEIN ILLINO
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PREFACEVARIOUS members of the Illin
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Prefaceixall of its local health de
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PrefacexiDr. E. A. Piszczek, Chicag
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THEEDITOR'S FOREWORDperiod 1850 to
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Editor's Forewordxvand 650 he comme
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xviiiXVIII.XIX.Medical Bacteriology
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CHAPTER IINTRODUCTIONBy DAVID J.DAV
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Introduction 5Smillie 3 wrote on ep
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CHAPTER IIMEDICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ILLI
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Medical Geography of Illinois 9geol
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12 History of Medical Practice in I
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Medical Geography of Illinois 15had
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Medical Geography of Illinois 17of
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Fig. i. Places and regions in Illin
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Medical Geography of Illinois 21ref
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Medical Geography of Illinois 23Cha
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i„r»-l ll'urlnllli• A i!.n»Ut
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CHAPTER IIITHE HARDY PIONEER:HOW HE
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CHAPTER IVORGANIZATION OF THE ILLIN
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CHAPTER VIIINTERNAL MEDICINEBy GEOR
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114 History of Jiledical Practice i
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History of Medical Practice in Illi
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CHAPTER XIIIOTOLARYNGOLOGYBy ALFRED
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CHAPTER XIVDERMATOLOGYBy B.BARKER B
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CHAPTER XVNEUROPSYCHIATRYBy OSCAR H
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CHAPTER XXIVMEDICAL JOURNALISM IN I
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APPENDIXMISCELLANEOUS NOTESAddition
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5ioIndexAntifebrin, 138, 139Antipyr
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5 1 * Index159, 163, 190, 284; Amer
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5HCollege of Medicine, University o
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516 IndexEpidemics, 5, 507Epileptic
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15 i8 IndexHarris, Dr. J. O., 115Ha
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5 2 ° IndexJacobson, Dr. Daniel Si
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522Index456, 457; Privately Endowed
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524IndexParkes, Dr. Charles T., 181
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3526IndexReed, Dr. Carlos I., 403Re
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5 s8 IndexStrong, Dr. R. M., Histor
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