History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

378 History of Medical Practice in IllinoisBecause of the motives behind grave-robbing and the means employedin it, there is little wonder that a considerable popular literature has accumulatedabout it. The best known tales in English literature are "TheHonest Tradesman" by Charles Dickens, "The Body Snatcher" by RobertLouis Stevenson, and "The Diary of a Resurrectionist" by J. B. Bailey,published respectively in 1859, 1884 and 1896. Though cleverly writtenand fascinating, these accounts are not as accurate, authentic or welldocumentedas the book "Sack 'Em Up Men," published in 1928 byJames M. Ball, a physician in St. Louis, whose interest in medical historyled him to study extensively the records in both Europe and the UnitedStates and to write one of the best illustrated accounts available.The general public associated grave-robbing wholly with dissection inmedical schools. It little suspected that preceptors in their private instructionof students and that practicing physicians, wishing to improve theirsurgical skill,especially when preparing for a new or difficult operation,were just as guilty—if the term guilty is to be applied— as medical schoolsin the utilization of resurrected bodies. Though it is true that these institutionswere the biggest users of such material, popular opinion was in errorwhen it held that grave-robbing was done chiefly by medical students. Theauthorities of medical colleges periodically published in catalogues and innewspapers their regulations forbidding students on penalty of dismissalto disinter bodies. This prohibition was not announced to mislead thepublic, but sprang from self-interest since they knew that the inexperiencedmedical students would bungle the job of grave-robbing, and consequentlylead to detection and embarrassment for the school. It was the duty of thedemonstrator to procure material for dissection; he got his position as muchfor his art in 'body-snatching' as for his knowledge of anatomy. He eitherparticipated personally in disinterments, or he selected, trained, directedand paid well a few able-bodied laymen, as agents, to do such work forhim. Though medical students sometimes assisted, they not often attempteda grave-robbing independently.On the night of January 10, 1818, during a snowstorm, an episode occurredin the hillside graveyard of Chebacco Parish, 27 a part of the townof Ipswich, Massachusetts, which eventually led to important promotionsin medical education in the United States. The gleam of a lantern had beenseen there shortly after the burial of a young woman. When the snowmelted a hair-comb of peculiar design, known to have ornamented the27Crowell, R.: Interment of the Dead, a Dictate of Natural Affection, Sanctioned by theWord of God, and the Examples of the Good in Every Age. A sermon delivered in IpswichSecond Parish, July 23, 1818, on the occasion of the reinterring of the coffins which hadbeen robbed of their contents. Preached and published at the particular request of theinhabitants of the place. 40 pp. Andover: Flagg and Gould, 1818.