Social and Political Issues
The growth of medical science and medical practice created an increased demand for human cadavers for use in medical colleges, particularly for anatomy demonstrations. Before the 19th century, most were bodies of executed criminals or, more rarely, corpses donated by relatives. However, as demand began to outstrip supply, shortage of corpses often discouraged medical schools from scrutinising their suppliers too closely. Criminal elements were attracted to the lucrative trade and body snatchers (known also as 'resurrectionists') resorted to grave robbing to supply the market. The scale of the problem can be seen from the 1831 confessions of the London Burkers, who admitted to stealing 500–1000 bodies for anatomists, over a twelve year career. They received 8–10 guineas for each cadaver accepted.
The practices of the body snatchers caused widespread fear and revulsion as the indignities and humiliation of exhumation were compounded by the horror of being the subject of dissection. The criminal temptations ultimately led to the 1827–1828 West Port murders in Edinburgh, UK, where likely candidates were killed and sold for cash.
In the UK, the murders led to the passing of the Anatomy Act 1832 that finally provided for an adequate and legitimate supply of corpses.
Read more about this topic: History Of Anatomy In The 19th Century
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