The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1884-03-06
THE DISSECTIEG ROOM.
A Peep Into tthe Place. Where the
Bodies of the Taylor FsaEni-
Iy Were Found

During the past few days an Enquirer
representative has made it his business 10
visit the dissecting room in which the
bodies of old man Taylor, his wife and
daughter were found and recognized by
Marshal Brown. A graphic description
of the manner in whith subjects are car
we'd by the young saw-bones was also OBJ
tanned, together with other interesting
points about the dissecting room. To
reach the apartment where thousands Of
bodies have been cut to pieces for the ben
eft of science one has to climb the stairs
to the top (ffth) floor of the college
building. Entering the door attention
is first attracted to long row of tables
on either side of the room. which iSabout
20 feet wide by 40 feet long. Here and
there a table contained point, IS the
medical profession term a body. In the
DAYTIME the.'points'' covered over from
head to toe with moist bandages to keep
them from drying up. The dissecting IS
done only at night, when the scene Is a
busy one and much more interesting.
The room contains forty tables in all, and
often in the midstof the college term each
one is brought into use The table con-
sists of a large slab formed somewhat on
the plan of woman's irOning-bOard0nly
it is little larger. Cutters are cut an inch
from the edge, and just deep enough to
allow the drippings to go into pan on
the floor at the foot of the board. The
slabs are set on horses about three and
a half feet in height, with the head a lit
tie highest. All of these are movable.
There is another smaller bench for the stu
dents who work on the head. Small
blocks Of wood are provided to place I'M
der different parts Of the body to put
them in position. A small room adjOin-
ing is for private classes, and contains
five or six tables. As there are over three
hundred students attending the Ohio col
lege at present it is necessary to have at
least forty cadavers for the course, which
lasts six months. Each student at the
commencement of term pays $40 for a
dissecting ticket This entities him to a
fifth portion of the first body he works
on. After that he days s. extra for his
share Of tho subject. Five students
work on one body, and pay s. each for
the privilege. They draw cuts as to the
choice of portions The new student
generally gets sick and does not take kind
ly to the work at first, He is careful in
dOnning a large gown before he goes
near the corpse, and particularly careful
as to where he puts his fingers for fear
of blood poison. When they finally get
broke in they lose all adherence and
sit and smoke and chat while they carve
and pelt each other with different p0r-
tions of the subjects. Thy play alsorts
Of jokes on each other For instnCe they
viii stick a classmates pipe ina cadavers
mouth and then tell him where he can
find it. Wo betide the unluclly professor
who is disliked by the students should he
appear in the dissecting room. They
will pay him sundry unpleasant atten-
tiOns and deposit in his pockets portions
Ofthe anatomy that are Of the least use
The dissection of the head is useful only
for the knowledge it gives of the muscles
of the neck and back. The studentmakes
an incision about on line with the
breast bone, and then such other incis-
ions that may assist him in dissecting
back the skin with the least possible dam
age to the tissues beneath These he inves-
gates separatly, locating the muscles.
his book before him, following the course
of the blood. vessels and nerves as thevap-
peal to his observation. He investigates
thoroughly to the windpipe, and the only
thing that escapes his knife is the back
bone going up to the neck One part Of
the head of Importance is the muscles ar
round the jaw, nose, eyes and forehead
The student has little use for the top of
the head. The brain, as a rule. is dissected
collectively. However. it is not often
in condition to dissect. After this there
Is little or nothing left but the skull.
Everything is removed. With the arm
much the same course is pursued. only
more attention is given to the muscles of
the hands and fingers. Every thingEis
utilized and the same may be said Of the
exremities. The chest and abdomen are
dissected collectively by the class. and
generally with the aid Of the demonstra-
tor of anatomy. After the work on a
body is completed nothing remains but
the bones. In the first case these 90 to
the college, and in the second to the stu
dent. A skeleton prepared is worth con
siderable money. Contrary to all expec-
tation the dissecting room is rather a
neat place, and although the odor isnot
familiar to every one, still it is not so
/ horrible as people might be led to sup
pose. 1t requires three hour work every
night for four weeks to complete the
dissection of body by five students,
The bodies Of people dying with con-