The Sun.
London, England, 1832-03-13 00:00:00

Mr. WARBURTON'S' ANATOMY BILL.

The members of the Wurce.ter Political Union met on
the evening of Monday, Feb. 27, and unanimously agreed
to the following petition to the House of Commons against
the above Bill :
Humbly sheweth—That your petitioners have read a Bill now
before your Honourable House, called a " Bill for regulating
Schools of Anatomy," and from many objections to the provi.
sions of that Bill, feel themselves called upon to petition your
Honourable House upon the subject.
That your petitioners beg to avow their sincere pleasure at
every advancement made in the arts and sciences, which have
raised this country to such superior eminence ; that they rejoice
at every means which is calculated to ameliorat the condition of
society, and to detract from that sum of human misery, pain, and
affliction to which mankind are necessarily, or accidentally sub-
jec• ; but still the feelings of humanity and the voice of mercy
alike dictate that such benefits should only be sought to be pro-
moted by proper sad benevolent means.
That your petitioners have heard, with feelings of the deepest
regret and horror, of the inhuman and murderous manner in
which subjects for anatomy have lately been obtained ' • and
should consider that a wise and benevolent measure which should
abolish or prevent such base and perfidious practices; and,
although the aforenamed Bill professes that object, your peti-
tioners are of opinion that the operation of the Bill will be the
reverse ; and tend, by legalizing the sale of dead bodies, to ac-
celerate, in a most frightful degree, such crimes as those which
very recently filled the public mind with such abhorrence and
indignation. The most diabolical crimes might, and no doubt
will be perpetrated, should this Bill become a law, and the
agents of the dead seek protection from punishment in the pro-
visions of the Bill ; while at the same time it holds out strong
inductive motives, by allowing commerce in dead bodies, for the
commission of the most revolting atrocities. Your petitioners
beg to direct the attention of your Hon. House to the facility
afforded, and the prevention from detection given, to the prac-
tice above alluded to, by allowing persons having, as one of the
clauses stated, the;lawful possession of the body, to vend it; they
beg to refer to late occurrences in the metropolis, which have
proved that the most eminent medical men have been deceived
in the opinions they gave as to the cause of the death of one of
those unfortunate individuals who was murdered for the price
of the body.
That yonr petitioners are of opinion that that part of the Bill
contained in clause seven, relative to the disposal of unclaimed
bodies, is calculated to embitter the minds of the poorer classes
against the Legislature and the higher ranks ofsociety, inasmuch
as such as are unfortunate and compelled to seek refuge and sup-
port in a work-house, are in the almost certain prospect of having
their bodies given over for dissection, and thereby adding a ten-
fold pang to that misery already produced by poverty and mis-
fortune; which circumstances render them proper objects for
Legislative protection and sympathy, and not legal subjects for
the dissecting knife; an infliction of punishment which has
hitherto been reserved for the murderer, to stamp, it possible, a
greater dread and stigma up cn the mind of the culprit, as a
severer penalty for his offence ; and it has come under the
personal notice of some of your petitioners, who have been
attentive observers of the trial of murderers, that, while
that part of their sentence relative to the forfeiture of
their lives has been pronounced by the Judge has failed to
produce the least sensation or uneasiness, yet, when reminded
that their bodies were to be given up for dissection, have been
paralysed and deeply affected. It may be replied that ignorance
and prejudice arc the causes why the poor have such objections
to it; admitting this to be partially the case, your petitioners
beg to suggest, if, under snch circumstances, it would not be
better to remove this is norance and prejudice, which has been
engendered and fostered by bad legislation. With regard to the
bodies of unclaimed paupers and others (for that is the principal
class of persons meant, although much affection and disguise is
used in the wording of the Bill to hide that phrase) not being
legal subjects for the use of tke surgeons if they should at any
time previous to their death, before witnesses, have declared
their unwillingness for their bodies to undergo such a process, it
is easily discernible that any breach of this enactment may be
evaded by clausethirteen of the Bill.
That there is another point in the Bill to which your peti-
tioners beg respectfully to call the attention of your Honourable
House. Should this Bill become an Act of Parliament, the law
of the land will not only sanction and approve, at least towards
part of his Majesty's subjects, the practice of that which, at
present, is only enforced upon the most desperate and abandoned
characters, but bring into contempt the burial service of the
Established Church of this country, which she teaches us to be-
lieve is essentially necessary to a correct performance of our
Christian duty, and of the greatest importance ; and the natural
inference will be that if the law of the land authorises the dis.
lensing of that service with regard to part of his Majesty's sub-
jects, it cannot be of much consequence to any ; and then if that
ritual is not essential, neither are any of them, and thus even
religion itself may be brought into contempt thereby. We are

likewise taught from Scripture, in innumerable instances, as
well as by the practice of all nations in all ages of the world,
that the greatest respect always has been paid to the remains of

the dead. •
That your petitioners, after viewing the Bill in all its pro-
visions, in the most calm and impassionate manner, cannot
but consider it as cruel, inhuman, and unjust in the greatest
degree.
That while your petitioners deprecate the Bill against which
they now petition, they should feel, with the community at
large, very grateful to your Hon. House, it you would devise
some means whereby such atrocious crimes as have lately been
committed, might be prevented ; and it appears to your peti-
tioners, from documents which are published, that it lies within
the reach of the Legislature. Your petitioners are not insensibla
to the great importance of medical and surgical science, and of
the necessity there is that every practitioner should be well ac-
quainted with anatomy, and the symptoms of disease, in order
to a right application of medicine and proper treatment of his
patient, which can only be obtained by the use of bodies. If your
lion. House would direct your attention to a revision of the
public hospitals of this kingdom, there is no doubt but a vast
amount of medical and Surgical knowledge might be acquired by
making them accessible to any of the profession, and the conse-
quence would be that the temptation to commit those horrible
offences would cease, because a demand for subjects would no
longer exist, or, at least, not in any thing like the degree it now
does.
Your petitioners do most humbly pray and beseech your Hon.
House, that, at all events, you will not allow such a Bill as the
before-mentioned to disgrace the statute laws of this kingdom,
but to alter, amend, and improve it, or to -reject it altogether, as
in your wisdom you may deem proper.

We hear that Mr. Maule, solicitor to the
Treasury, will be in Bristol next week, for the purpose of
making the necessary arrangements preparatory to the judicial
inquiry about to be instituted into the conduct of the magis-
trates of that city during the late riots. A report, it is said,
will shortly appear from a Committee of merchants and bankers,
who have undertaken to investigate the means possessed by the
corporation towards liquidating the damages occasioned by the
late riots. The Board of Directors of the Chamber of Com-
merce, at their regular monthly meeting, held on Monday, re.
solved on addressing a memorial to the magistrates, praying
them to postpone making their intended rate until they had
first published their accounts. It is said that 1:9 actions have
been brought against Bristol, for damages, in one shape or
another, and the total amount sought to be recovered is stated
t• be about. ia0,0001,—.811/1 Affrold