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History of Missing Things Part XXXVII
For some, "anatomy is
destiny", but not in the way the reach-y Sigmund Freud meant--their
anatomy quite literally was their destiny, their bodies resurrected (in the bad
way) from their coffins by chin hooks and sent to the local med school for
quick and dirty study. This night-time
version of ice fishing for cadavers was addressed in a sniffily conceited but
informative book by A.M. Lassek, Human Dissection: Its Drama and Struggle (1958). Lassek, professor of anatomy at Boston University ,
presides over all aspects of the history of anatomy, but I somehow found my way
instantly to the cadaver-catching mechanical operations end of it: specifically
the work of American specimen providers in
in the early part of the 19th century.
Listen: if I found my way back in time in the Boston area in 1835 and
was the night jobber and bad-'un for the local apothecaries hunting down the
lonesome freshly dead, I think--with praise to Lassek--that I'd be
able/equipped to do the job. I hadn't
really thought very deeply about the supply of cadervous specimen for the
thriving medical schools before, but there are many considerations to the
proper way of stealing a body. (And by "proper" I mean "not
being caught doing it".) First of all, there was a serious spike in the
creation of medical schools, the number of recognized institutions in America
increasing from seven in 1810 to 33 in 1840 (and 90 in 1870), with a huge new
population of data-thirsty students to go along with it. Human anatomy was an exceptionally difficult
subject to demonstrate with actual specimens (due to moral and legal
restraints), so the med schools (including the Harvards) had to resort to
creative solutions: the bodies had to be
"found". And finding bodies had more to do with stealing them than
arranging for the corpse of a condemned criminal to be purchased from the
sheriff.
The local townsfolk and neighbors of
medical schools knew this all too well.
There were a number of precautions that the bereaved could undertake to
prevent the resurrection of their departeds.
One simple way was to have a guard at the grave all night long--that
would certainly cause some pain and consideration for the grave robber, though
it has been the case where the guards were plied with money and alcohol to
effect a soft gaze on the grave. Since
the newly interred laid under six feet or so of newly churned earth, there was some
amount of extra stuff that was thrown into the pit. Stones, and rocks and tree limbs were added
to the hole to make a tougher and noisier go for the robbers; also, wide heavy
planks were placed width-wise across the coffin and then covered so that the
robbers would have to dig much wider in order to pull up the boards before
getting to the coffin. Another fantastic
bit that I had never thought of but which falls into the category of branding
cut lumber for the ride down the river:
intricate designs were placed on top of the grave with sticks and stone
and such so that the family members would be able to detect a defiled
grave site. All of this attention would be
heaped on the grave site for ten days or so--after that the body was deemed too
far deteriorated as to he of any use to the medical school.
"Detect?" Yes, indeed. The grave robber needed to be
stealthy, leaving no indication of the dark and stinking deed. Working in very low or no light, the robbers
would find their mark and lay at least two tarpaulins on the ground. they would
collect all of the dirt in these catch-alls so as to not excite any attention
that the grave had been disturbed. They
would dig a 3x4 foot hole towards the head of the casket, and, once reaching
their prize, would drill holes (quietly!) into the wood, break it, and then
attach a hook under the chin of the corpse and yank it out. Placed on another tarp, the body would be
stripped of all clothing, and then wrapped securely to prevent anything
incriminating falling from it during the trip across town. Once received by the medical school, the
hair, teeth and other distinguishing characteristics would be removed to
prevent detection and identification. I
imagine that the skin of the face would also have been peeled away, skillfully
removed with one cut and a careful pull.
All of this was precautionary, in case the relatives of the now-specimen
suspected foul play and came looking for their beloved. It would be a corpse among other
corpses. Or not. Lassek writes that the
bodies would be hidden, secreted in different and obscure places around the
campus, in "domes, belfries and observatories". Observatories? Well!
I'm not so sure about that aspect of Lassek's report on grave robbing,
but I was pretty impressed with his knowledge on the other aspects of the
business.
I am
indebted to Dr. Lassek for the image of the grave-marking anti-theft
artwork. I may have fabricate a grubby
1837 cemetery keeper's chapbook with drawings of their designs and make an
entry for it in my imaginary museum catalog for
things-that-don't-exist-but-should.
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