Anatomical Dissection in Enlightenment England and Beyond

199 Pages·2012·2.27 MB·English

by  Piers Mitchell (ed.)

Anatomical Dissection in
Enlightenment England and
Beyond
Autopsy, Pathology and Display
Piers Mitchell
AnAtomicAl Dissection in enlightenment
englAnD AnD BeyonD
the history of medicine in context
series editors: Andrew cunningham and ole Peter grell
Department of history and Philosophy of science
University of cambridge
Department of history
open University
titles in this series include
‘Regimental Practice’ by John Buchanan, M.D.:
An Eighteenth-Century Medical Diary and Manual
edited by Paul Kopperman
Healing, Performance and Ceremony in the Writings of Three Early Modern
Physicians: Hippolytus Guarinonius and the Brothers Felix and Thomas Platter
m.A. Katritzky
The Body Divided:
Human Beings and Human ‘Material’ in Modern Medical History
edited by sarah Ferber and sally Wilde
Medicine, Government and Public Health in Philip II’s Spain:
Shared Interests, Competing Authorities
michele l. clouse
Nursing before Nightingale, 1815–1899
carol helmstadter and Judith godden
Secrets and Knowledge in Medicine and Science, 1500–1800
edited by elaine leong and Alisha Rankin
Anatomical Dissection in
enlightenment england and
Beyond
Autopsy, Pathology and Display
Edited by
PieRs mitchell
University of Cambridge, UK
© Piers mitchell 2012
All rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Piers mitchell has asserted his right under the copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be
identified as the editor of this work.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Anatomical dissection in enlightenment england and beyond :
autopsy, pathology and display. -- (the history of medicine in context)
1. human dissection--england--history--18th century.
2. human dissection--england--history--19th century.
3. human anatomy--study and teaching--england--history--
18th century. 4. human anatomy--study and teaching--
england--history--19th century. 5. medical archaeology--
england. 6. Pathological museums--england--history.
i. series ii. mitchell, Piers D.
611'.0071042-dc23

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
mitchell, Piers D.
Anatomical dissection in enlightenment england and beyond : autopsy,
pathology, and display / Piers mitchell.
p. cm. -- (the history of medicine in context)
includes bibliographical references and index.
isBn 978-1-4094-1886-3 (hardcover) -- isBn 978-1-4094-1887-0 (ebook)
1. human dissection--great Britain--history--18th century. 2. human dissection--great
Britain--history--19th century. 3. Autopsy--great Britain--history--18th century.
4. Autopsy--great Britain--history--19th century. 5. medical education--great Britain--
history--18th century. 6. medical education--great Britain--history--19th century. i. title.
Qm33.4.m58 2012
614'.1071'41--dc23
2011045935
isBn 9781409418863 (hbk)
isBn 9781409418870 (ebk) II
Printed and bound in great Britain by the
mPg Books group, UK.
Contents
List of Figures vii
List of Tables ix
List of Contributors xi
1 There’s More to Dissection than Burke and Hare:
Unknowns in the Teaching of Anatomy and Pathology from the
Enlightenment to the Early Twentieth Century in England 1
Piers D. Mitchell
2 Morbid Osteology: Evidence for Autopsies, Dissection and Surgical
Training from the Newcastle Infirmary Burial Ground (1753–1845) 11
Andrew T. Chamberlain
3 A Star of the First Magnitude: Osteological and Historical Evidence
for the Challenge of Provincial Medicine at the Worcester Royal
Infirmary in the Nineteenth Century 23
A. Gaynor Western
4 Early Medical Training and Treatment in Oxford:
A Consideration of the Archaeological and Historical Evidence 43
Ceridwen Boston and Helen Webb
5 William Hewson and the Craven Street Anatomy School 69
Tania Kausmally
6 Patients, Anatomists and Resurrection Men: Archaeological
Evidence for Anatomy Teaching at the London Hospital in the
Early Nineteenth Century 77
Louise Fowler and Natasha Powers
7 Dissection and Display in Eighteenth-Century London 95
Simon Chaplin
8 Barts and the London’s Medical Museum Collections 115
Jonathan Evans
vi ANAToMiCAL DiSSECTioN iN ENLiGHTENMENT BriTAiN AND BEyoND
9 Understanding the Contents of the Westminster Hospital Pathology
Museum in the 1800s 139
Piers D. Mitchell and Vin Chauhan
10 A Doorway to an Invaded Mind: Using Pathology Museum
Specimens to Understand the Effects of Neurosyphilis in
1930s London 155
Kenneth Lo and Piers D. Mitchell
Bibliography 165
index 183
List of Figures
2.1 Craniotomy cuts from Newcastle Infirmary (CFL 96 SK 66) 17
2.2 Left and right clavicles transected with a saw, consistent with
thoracotomy during an autopsy (CFL 96 SK 117) 18
2.3 Ribs and vertebra transected with a saw, from a body with three
practice amputations (CFL 96 SK 86) 18
2.4 Transverse saw cut through fourth lumbar vertebra, suggesting
division of the torso at this level (CFL 96 SK 66) 19
2.5 Saw cuts to expose the right orbit during prosection (CFL 96 2408) 19
2.6 Sacrum sawn through in the sagittal plane suggesting prosection
(CFL96 (51) 2209) 20
2.7 Cut surface of tibia showing saw marks at varying angles,
indicating changes in saw position during the amputation
(CFL 96 1012) 21
3.1 The distribution of evidence of peri-mortem modifications
present in the long bones in the assemblage from the
Worcester Royal Infirmary 28
3.2 An example of the ‘Carden amputation’ (transcondylar bisection
through femoral condyles) from the skeletal assemblage. The dotted
line indicates where this fragment of bone would have originated on
the distal femur prior to the surgery 29
3.3 A child’s cranial bones with oblique and transverse cutmarks 31
3.4 Serial cut marks adjacent to an area of new woven bone formed in
response to local inflammation. This would be compatible with the
investigation by anatomists of soft-tissue pathology active at the
time of death. Note the lack of craniotomy cut across the squamous
temporal bone 37
4.1 Evidence of anatomisation on the skull of skeleton 6444, a late
adolescent executed and buried at Oxford Castle (17th–18th century).
A horizontal saucer craniotomy removed the skull vault, whilst
bilateral vertical incisions of the temporal bones were probably
undertaken to reveal the structure of the ear and base of skull 57
4.2 Incomplete trepanation on an isolated adult skull fragment excavated
from a domestic pit to the rear of University College buildings. The
size and shape of the incision, and the central depression is typical of
an incision made by a trepan commonly in use in the 18th century 62
viii AnAtomicAl Dissection in enlightenment BritAin AnD BeyonD
4.3 Trepanation of the right parietal bone adjacent to a large fracture
on the skull of a possible female adult (superior view) recovered
from St Peter-le-Bailey churchyard 65
5.1 William Hewson, by R. Stewart, 1780 70
5.2 Percentage of sub-adults in traditional post-medieval (1–5),
hospital anatomy school cemeteries (6–8) and Craven Street (9) 74
5.3 Diamond-shaped cut on parietal and frontal bones of skull
(Craven Street anatomy school specimen 559) 75
6.1 Plan showing the extent of the recorded burials in relation to
Mount Field and the location of the official hospital burial ground,
c.1830–1854 81
6.2 Tightly packed burials in the southeastern corner of the
Area A cemetery 82
6.3 A coffin containing dissected remains under excavation 83
6.4 Burial 124 in situ showing unhealed right femoral fracture 86
7.1 Exterior of Joshua Brookes’s school in Blenheim Street, 1817 111
7.2 Interior of the anatomical museum of John Heaviside (1748–1828) 112
8.1 The skeleton of Joseph Merrick, the ‘Elephant Man’ c.1920,
prior to articulation into a life-like pose 133
8.2 Museum of the London Hospital Medical College in 1899 135
9.1 Two defleshed skeletal examples of sabre tibia in the Westminster
Hospital pathology museum, caused by syphilis 144
9.2 A defleshed skeletal example of gout in the Westminster Hospital
pathology museum, with accumulation of uric acid crystals in joints
of the hand 145
10.1 Horizontal-section brain slice at level of the interventricular septum.
Treponemal gummata are present causing distortion to the normally
symmetric architecture of the brain 157
10.2 Two letters taped together, demonstrating examples of paraphasia
and perseveration 159
List of Tables
2.1 Per-individual prevalence of dental and skeletal pathological
conditions at the Newcastle Infirmary (data calculated from
articulated skeletons only) 15
2.2 Evidence for medical intervention at Newcastle Infirmary
(adults, disarticulated assemblage) 16
4.1 Oxford executions between 1587 and 1863 known to have been
followed by anatomisation 49
7.1 Case histories and post-mortem reports in London medical journals,
1757–1800 103
9.1 Comparison of conditions in defleshed bone specimens added to the
collection of the Westminster pathology museum during the 1800s
and 1900s 143
9.2 Comparison of conditions in defleshed bone specimens at
Westminster and Royal College of Surgeons pathology museums
during the 1800s 150