The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-01-10

"Hesurrect1onlst,t
Did you ever behold young sawbones Ia all
his glory-when, with the scalpe In his bloody
hand, upon the rigid cadaver which lay stretched
upon the dissecting table before him, he traces
a shining nerve through all its ramifcations, or
separate one delicates tissue from another?
To those who have not enjoyed this
rare felicity, we purpose to describe him as he
appears each weekday night. Among the many
places in our city which to the great mass of
people are cloaked in an almost impenetrable
mystery are
THE DIssECTING- ROOMS.
OF these the general public have but vague
idea, to the particulars of their location; and
are far from possessing any definite knowledge
on the subject. From Dame Rumor they have
learned a little; but by reason of a natural
timidity, and powerful misgiving that If they
attempt to penetrate into these ddytd of medi-
cine and surgery they will be rewarded by a
harsh rebuke, or, what is very possible, an
ejectment vi et drnlis, they hesitate from any
effort at unveiling the mystery and remain per-
force no wiser.
MEDICAL STUDENTS
are accounted graceless set of scamps, ''prone
to wander into by and forbidden paths >" full of
evil schemes and wicked devices. Their immo-
rality is recognized; for rarely Sunday passes
but some divine announces discourse for their
particular benefit, aud to which, both from the
pulpit and through the medium of the press,
their earnest attention is invited-a distinction
which other classes of scholars are not COM
monty known to receive, and demonstrating
that the young medicos are in need of clerical
exhortation. While 1t has been pointedly OBJ
served by some philosophers that medicine and
morals go "hand in hand" it is in the main
quite certain that the medical student has dis
position to master the one and overrate the
importance and ignore the other; and too often
their Alma Mater stands aghast at the
dMPUDEET AUDACITY
and cool daring of her progeny When the
medical student matriculates, and enters upon
nd Of a human ha ia
with an ambition to prosecute his important
Investigations on the fresh subject. 1t is but
little satisfaction to him to dissect a manikin
made by some skilful Frenchman; to remove
layers of mock-fesh, strip off great clusters Of
muscles, and take off limb by limb until one
sees only hideous torso, by just removing
few pins, when he knows that in room over
head his brothers revelling over the freshly
embalmed subject just imported from the Aims
house or Potters field. Forthwith he acquaints
the demonstrator with his passion for livelier
work, s referred to the janitor, pays his money,
and in twenty-four hours is overwhelmed in the
contemplation of the body of cadaverous
pauper and its subsequent dsmemberment.
BODY sNATcHERs.
Before our State laws were framed to meet
the great want of medical colleges subjects
our readers will remember the many horrible
tales of body snatching, when at
-"the very witehing hour of night
When churchyards yawned"
the graves were robbed of their dead. Our city
by such horrible occurrences. But when
liberal law was enacted these excitements sub.
sided, from the belief every one had that the
supply from legitimate sources would be ample
for the wants of the colleges. The act which
governs this matter, passed in the session of
1867, reads thus:-
THE LAW OF 1861.
An act for the Promotion of Medical Science and 10
PTeUent the Traffic an Human Bodies IN the CITY of
Philadelphia aud County Of Allegheny
Section /. Be It enacted, etc, That any public
officer in the city OF Philadelphia and county OF
Allegheny having charge thereof or control over
the same, shall give permission to any physician or
surgeon of the same city and county, upon his re-
quest made therefor to take the bodies OF deceased
persons required to be buried at the public expense
TO be by him used within the state for the advance
ment OF medical science, preference being given to
medical schools, public and private, and said bodies
the number assigned to each being proportoned co
that OF its students Provided, however that If the
of his or her own accord shall request to be buried;
or If any person claiming to be and satisfying the
proper authorlties tat ne Is OF kndred 10 tne de;
be surrendered for interment; or if such deceased
person was stranger or traveller who died sud
denly, the body shall be buried and shall not be
Section 2. Every physician surgeon before re-
c9ying any such dead body, shall give TO the proper
authorities surrenderiDg the same to him sufficient
bond that each body shall be used only for the pro-
motion OF medical science within this state. Aud
whatsoever shall such body or bodies for any
other purpose shall remove the same beyond the
limits OF this State, and whosoever shall sell or buy
such body or bodies, or in any way traffic in the
same, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor
and SHALL on conviction, be imprisoned for term
exceeding five years at hard labor in the county
jail.
WHERE THE SUBJECTS COME FROM
The Almshouse and the Coroners Office are
the prolific sources whence comes the supply
of subjects for dissection. How they are re-
moved from these places, when and to what
particular institutions, is known to but few
persons, and they are very close mouthed.
After seventy-two hours, say the rules of the
Morgue, the unclaimed body shall be
buried; but as supplement to these rules was
but recently enacted, to the effect "that any
regular physician may embalm an unclaimed
body, with the permission of the Coroner"
it will at once clearly appear that instead of
being removed to the field for sepulture, they
will at once go to the college, where, as is
stipulated by the law they shall be used for the
advancement of medical science.
THEIR PRICE.
But while the law again says "The said
bodies shall be distributed among the medical
colleges equitably," therefore leaving one to
imagine that no expense (save that of transpor-
tation) would be involved to the students they
experience no such happy condition OF affairs.
Twenty dollars is the average price they pay
for cadaver, and the quotations fuctuate ac-
cording to the hygienic condition of the paupers
and the extremes of weather. 1t would be quite
an expensive venture tor one student to pur-
chase by and for himself; and to mitigate it,
four usually combine in the buying of a sub
iect, and take each limb, leaving the vital
parts to be dissected by the demonstrator, ac-
cOmpanied by an explanatory lecture.
HIDEoUs PLACE.
Let us look into the medical department of
one of our colleges. We descend into the cellar,
and into special apartment of it, An almost
oveTpowering nausea assails us. With every
breath we inhale a combination OF siekening
odors, arising from mouldering flesh and chemi-
calls. Here ia the place where the bodies are