Anatomy and Dissection in Nineteenth-Century Britain

This three-volume set of primary sources on anatomy and dissection will trace the development of the practice of anatomy in Britain from the very beginning of the nineteenth-century. It brings together and contextualizes sources (both full length and abridged) related to the rise of anatomy in medical education and practice, foregrounding contemporary public debates around human dissections, the exhibition of human remains and the commodification of the human corpse. Modern anatomy dates back to the early modern period, and, dissection was essential to the formation of medical knowledge. Anatomy, as a discipline, emerged, moreover, in the long eighteenth century and towards the end of the eighteenth century, the foundation of the great museum collections of anatomy and comparative anatomy epitomized the broader Enlightenment project. The period also saw the growth of medical schools, both public and private, in need of human bodies for dissection, which highlighted the extent to which medical knowledge was inextricably bound up with anatomical practice. Anatomy and dissection came to play a central role in medical education in the course of the century, and medical knowledge was inextricably bound up with knowledge about death, which implied not only examining but also managing, dissecting and preserving corpses. Volume 2 shows how the practice of anatomy in the nineteenth century, marked by the shortage of corpses for dissection, radically changed the status of the human corpse.