The Anatomy Act of 1832

(Instrumental) “Burke and Hare... it is said, are the real authors of the measure. It would have been well if this fear had been manifested and acted upon before sixteen human beings had fallen victims to the supineness of the Government and the Legislature. It required no extraordinary sagacity, to foresee that the worst consequences must inevitably result from the system of traffic between resurrectionists and anatomists, which the executive government has so long suffered to exist.” - ​The​ ​Lancet​ Newspaper, 1832 “The inducement of this species of murder is the value of a dead body... [which] arrives from the scarcity of them in proportion to the demand... The scarcity of dead bodies for the purposes of dissection arises from a violent prejudice against dissection in the vulgar mind... This prejudice, against the conversion of inanimate flesh to the only useful purpose of which it is susceptible is fostered... in particular by the law, which directs that the bodies of murderers shall be 'anatomised'... for the express purpose, one might almost think, of strengthening the vulgar prejudice against dissection.” - Edward Gibbon Wakefield, 1831 1s​t​ and 2n​d​ Solos – Michael Burke 3r​d​ and 4t​h ​Solos – Matthew Harvey