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Untitled Article
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Untitled Article
" Here all are equal ; now thy case is mine ; This is my rotting place , and that is thine . " Under these apparently insurmountable difficulties , there appears to me one , and only one , mode of proceeding which would effectually obviate them , and that is , to encourage in all classes , and without any invidious distinction , the voluntary surrender of each individual , as a personal request or injunction to
his family or executors , consigning his remains for dissection on such conditions as he himself may dictate . I have long entertained this opinion , and the late perusal of the Memoirs of Major Cartwright has removed all my hesitation on the subject . A paper in his own hand-writing was found , but not till after his interment , directing that his body should be given to some
responsible person for dissection , and then returned to his family for inter * ment . I have passed the book from my hands and cannot recollect his expressions , but his ideas are plainly these—that as his mind had been occu- > pied during his long-continued life in endeavouring to serve and benefit mankind , so it was his wish that his body to the last moment should be rendered subservient to the same end . The more I reflect on this determination
the more I feel convinced of its propriety , and see no sufficient reason why the sentiment may not become general and even popular . And why should it not ? The horror so generally entertained in former times at having bodies opened before interment for the advancement of science , has been slowly but progressively subsiding , so that now families or individuals of the most
exquisite sensibilities can consent to and even approve the practice . Where , then , is the agonizing difference between opening a corpse and a partial dissection ? The friends of the deceased may easily stipulate how far the operation shall proceed , and , the practice becoming general , the operators would be satisfied with a limited authority , because of the facility of obtaining other subjects .
Two modes present themselves for consideration—first , that the body be placed under the responsibility of a respectable practitioner , to be removed , say on the second evening after the decease , to some public rooms appointed for the purpose , and returned on the evening of the third day for interment , with as little parade or bustle as possible , and all entirely at the cost and trouble of the operators ; or , second , that the operation should take place in the house where the death occurred ; and the latter appears decidedly , on
due consideration , to have the preference . To the first , the serious objections present themselves of the unavoidable display in moving the bodies to and fro—the reluctance at surrendering them into other hands , whatever conditions may be stipulated—and the insecurity there would be for the identity of the body returned , when so disfigured as not to be recognized by its relatives or friends . These objections would be entirely obviated on the second plan ,
and pleasanter arrangements made without any difficulty . Suppose the number of operators to be limited to two persons of established reputation and practice , and four pupils , with admission to any other persons the family might think well to appoint ; and any conditions would be willingly accepted to prevent the body being mutilated or the limbs dissevered so as to excite any unnecessary pain or disgust in the minds of the relatives .
It is almost needless to mention the necessity of avoiding , in every possible degree , any cause of annoyance to the feelings or comforts of the family . Every attention to decorum and quietness should be scrupulously given , and all implements provided by the operators , with the exception perhaps of a few basins with warm or cold water , and all flutter removed without any dependence on the inmates of the scene of action . With such precautions .
Untitled Article
86 Voluntary Dissection .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1827, page 86, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1793/page/6/
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