The New Orleans daily Democrat., 1878-11-24
GRAVE ROBBING.
WHERE OUR SUBJECTS COME FROSB
Mo Dissertation of Graves I'm the Crescent
aiav

I
City.
The late robbery of A. T. Stewarts grave
has given rise to so much comment In tht
Northern press that the feeling spread South
wards, and many who otherwise would have
had no superstitlous feeling in the mnttel
began a. close examination Of the graves o
| their friends and relatives. Fortunately there
| Is no necessity here for resurrectlonists
The Charity Hospital furnishes all the sub
iectg necessary for the students of medicine
and within the memory Of the oldest histori'
an. Judge Alexander Walker, no case like that
of StewaYts has ever occurred.
| The hospital supplies oil subjects for dis
section TO the medical college, and tho mum.
| Der so furnished amounts to between fifty
| and o hundred for the season. It the neces-
| sitv should arise, the hospital could supply
at least q thousand students with material
On mn average one student will dssect one
| body during tho winter. When q subject is
| to bo dissected it is customary for one stu
DENT to take the head, and four others to
take each an extremity. Two weeks is gen
orally long enough to disseCt limb.
The law has made wise provision Tor sup
plying medical colleges with subjects by ell
acting o statute that tho body OF q dead
pauper may be claimed by medical college
Tor tho purpose of dissection.
With regard to the way in which bodies are
selected to be sent to the college. 1t is the in
variable rule to send only such patients ns
have no friends and for whose corpse there
are no claimants. The plan adopted to de-
eide this question is to have the name and
history OF each case written in the record
book. The record book thus becomes of great
value. and not unYrequently it happens the
records are used to decide important legal
questions, such rs relate to claims to estates
and settling of SUGGESTIONS. The vast ma
jOrity Of those who come to the hospital arc
foreigners, or residents OF other parts Of the
Union, and the consequence Is when they dio
there Is no one to take charge Of their bodies
Such cases as those arc either sent to tho col
lego or else used in the hospital by the house
students for dissection.
Many subjects are unfit for dissection from
the peculiar nature OF the disease which
caused death; such diseases as yellow fCver
dropsy, etc. are included in this category.
When n case Is selected to ho scit to the col
lego it Is placed in q covered wagon ut night
fall, and then carried to its destination.
DR.. Pratt considers tho facilities afforded
by New Orleans for the attainment Of % motli-
cal education as being equal. if not superior,
to those offered by any other American city,
Certainly the5clincal experience derived by n
house student could not be surpassed in this
country. For instance houso, student who
staya two years in the hospital will come in
contact with ut least ten Thousand patients.
and this is more than ordinary phi ysicinnB
will encounter IN ten years.
The house students arc chosen from the
undergraduates of the Medical College by
competitive examination, and thirteen or so
selected annually. After Il student has passed
one year ut the hospital, he is allowed to re-
main O. second year by passing another COM
petitive examination satisfactorily.
In reply to q question Dr.. Pratt stated that
there were now some six hundred patients in
the various wards and very soon the number
would be increased to seven hundred. Or the
patients who have lately come in tho greatest
proportion are those suffering from plourisy,
pneumonia and chest diseases.
Dr. Pratt also remarked that there were
quite number Of paralytiCs in the hospital
who should be removed to the Almshouse,
and for this purpose he would make applica-
tion to the next Legislature to enact q law on
the subject.