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Old 01-25-2013, 08:28 AM
 
Location: Columbus, Indiana
993 posts, read 2,281,227 times
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I found the link to this article in a genealogy newsletter I get. I thought it was very interesting. I think it was Dr. Hewson. What do you think?

http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com...ten_bodies.htm
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Old 01-25-2013, 12:18 PM
 
14,780 posts, read 43,493,224 times
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I think it doesn't surprise me at all. People often think that dissection was illegal in Europe do to the influence of the Church, but this is not true. If anything dissection became a reserach field again because of the Church and the Christian belief that bodies were just "shells" once the person had died and the soul had left them. It was the Roman's that surprisingly felt icky about dissection and had banned the practice even though it was quite widespread in ancient Greece.

Among the European nations England remained one of the few holdouts that entirely banned dissection until the 16th century. Even once it was overturned the practice was tightly regulated and only two specific groups of surgeons the Royal College of Physicians and the Company of Barber-Surgeons were allowed to perform them. These groups were limited to a total of 10 cadavers annually between them. Given the limited supply and the large numbers of surgeons and scientists that wanted to partake, body snatching and sales of the recently deceased became increasingly common ways for surgeons to get their bodies.

To combat this in 1752 England passed an Act allowing surgeons to dissect executed criminals, but this was still not enough to satiate the needs of the growing ranks of surgeons. Bodies were sourced primarily in three ways: stealing recently buried bodies from graveyards, buying recently deceased bodies from the family or buying recently deceased bodies from "brokers" who would often acquire them through nefarious means like murder.

So, given the date the bones are supposedly from and who resided there it doesn't surprise me in the least. Neither am I surprised that 6 of the 10 bodies are believed to be children given the high mortality rate among children in that era. I don't think Franklin or Dr. Hewston were going around robbing graves or murdering people, but I am sure they were buying their bodies from people who were engaged in such activities or exploiting poor families to buy the bodies of their deceased loved ones. Ultimately, we have much to owe to these people, both the surgeons and those whose bodies were used for helping to advance modern medicine and improve surgery techniques.
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Old 01-25-2013, 01:27 PM
 
Location: Parts Unknown, Northern California
48,564 posts, read 23,977,874 times
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Originally Posted by NJGOAT View Post

To combat this in 1752 England passed an Act allowing surgeons to dissect executed criminals, but this was still not enough to satiate the needs of the growing ranks of surgeons. Bodies were sourced primarily in three ways: stealing recently buried bodies from graveyards, buying recently deceased bodies from the family or buying recently deceased bodies from "brokers" who would often acquire them through nefarious means like murder.

. Ultimately, we have much to owe to these people, both the surgeons and those whose bodies were used for helping to advance modern medicine and improve surgery techniques.
Above you state that the sources of the bodies were executed criminals, those snatched by grave robbers or purchased from unethical dealers.

Then you say that we owe something to both the surgeons and the corpses. I'm trying to figure out what I owe to people who after they died, had their bodies involuntarily used. "Thank you for being unknowingly victimized against your wishes?"
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Old 01-25-2013, 02:23 PM
 
14,780 posts, read 43,493,224 times
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Originally Posted by Grandstander View Post
Above you state that the sources of the bodies were executed criminals, those snatched by grave robbers or purchased from unethical dealers.

Then you say that we owe something to both the surgeons and the corpses. I'm trying to figure out what I owe to people who after they died, had their bodies involuntarily used. "Thank you for being unknowingly victimized against your wishes?"
lol, I'm not really sure. I guess I thought it was just a nice sentiment. You know, sorry about that whole dismembering your body thing; but hey, future generations benefited from it.
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Old 01-25-2013, 02:46 PM
 
Location: Parts Unknown, Northern California
48,564 posts, read 23,977,874 times
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Originally Posted by NJGOAT View Post
lol, I'm not really sure. I guess I thought it was just a nice sentiment. You know, sorry about that whole dismembering your body thing; but hey, future generations benefited from it.
I think Hallmark has a card for such occasions.
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Old 01-29-2013, 09:10 PM
 
Location: North of Canada, but not the Arctic
20,896 posts, read 19,372,836 times
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Another Founding Father with skeletons in his closet.
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Old 01-31-2013, 06:56 PM
 
10,219 posts, read 19,105,710 times
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Originally Posted by Cindiana View Post
I found the link to this article in a genealogy newsletter I get. I thought it was very interesting. I think it was Dr. Hewson. What do you think?

http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com...ten_bodies.htm
Ben Franklin: Founding Father; Serial Killer.
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Old 02-01-2013, 10:32 PM
 
Location: Columbus, Indiana
993 posts, read 2,281,227 times
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I think it was Dr. Hewson, FWIW. I thought the story was very interesting.
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