Snow Day Work:1. Closely read and annotate the following article; be prepared to turn in annotations and to discuss the content of the article as we read Frankenstein.2. Watch the short video posted on my website and take notes (to be turned in!): www.hulseylanguagearts.wordpress.com under Snow Day Work.

Article Title: “Body Snatching was Gruesome, but it Revolutionized how we Understand Anatomy and Medicine, say Cambridge dons” By Anna Hodgekiss, The Daily Mail, October 30, 2012

The illegal snatching of corpses - a common practice 200 years ago - had a greater influence on medical science than advances made during World War One, Cambridge scientists claimed yesterday.

Body snatching gave medical students a vital insight into how organs of the body work and how a person is affected by disease and illness.

It also allowed doctors to dramatically improve amputation techniques.

Body snatching gave medical students a vital insight into how organs of the body work and allowed doctors to dramatically improve amputation techniques.Body snatching gave medical students a vital insight into how organs of the body work and allowed doctors to dramatically improve amputation techniques

Body snatchers would prowl the nation’s burial grounds looking for bodies, due to the shortage of cadavers available for medical students.

The latest research is published in a new book by experts who excavated human remains from the 1600s to the 1800s to analyse the influence of body snatching.

Archaeological evidence for what happened to the corpses, from autopsy to reburial, will be published for the

first time.

The findings show how medics would have prised open the skulls and chest of their black market corpses to learn how to operate and amputate.

Dr Piers Mitchell, from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, said: 'Thanks to the discoveries of the early anatomists, we have come to move towards our modern knowledge of how organs work and what normal anatomy is all about.

'The fact that different bodies were dissected by different medical students at different times means that the same parts of the same body weren’t always available to be recombined together.

SawTools of the trade: A 19th-century surgeon's saw

'The bodies were physically sewn up and divided, presumably so that different medical students could dissect different parts of the same body before it would have decomposed.

'So we may have a coffin of arms or a coffin of legs, or sometimes the upper part of the body would be present and the lower part of the body would be missing.

'They would put material in there such as dissected animal bones or even rocks to balance out the coffin.'

The remains were buried close to workhouses, prisons, private anatomy schools and medical schools in Newcastle, Worcester, Oxford and sites in London.

Body snatching became so prevalent that it was not unusual for relatives and friends of the recently deceased to watch over the body until burial - and then to continue keeping watch over the grave after burial.

Iron coffins, too, were used frequently, or the graves were protected by a framework of iron bars called mortsafes.

One method the body snatchers used was to dig at the head end of a recent burial, using a wooden spade.

When they reached the coffin, they broke open the coffin, put a rope around the corpse and dragged it out.

They were often careful not to steal anything such as jewellery or clothes as this would cause them to be liable to a felony charge.

Famously, Burke and Hare took the body snatching industry to the next level by murdering their victims to sell their corpses for dissection.

The shocking revelation changed the law making it legal for corpses of those who died in poorhouses and hospitals - who were not claimed by relatives - to be used for medical science.

Louise Walsh, a spokeswoman for the university, said: 'The body snatchers allowed medics the opportunity to practice amputations and study real-life human bodies.

'They could look at the cause of different disease and illness, as well as understanding the make up of vital organs.

'The Great War, though it came much later, is a good comparison to draw on. The body-snatching period, like World War One, had an influence on medicine, but it spanned such a long period of time so we could argue it had a greater influence on medical research and knowledge.

'The body snatchers, like the war, allowed scientists to have a greater understanding of general medicine and amputation due to the bodies they had to work with.

'For the first time medical students were able to not only practice, but work with real bodies - they could understand how the organs worked.

'They could look for themselves and learn how the person had died or how their body had operated when they had lived.'

The book, 'Anatomical Dissection in Enlightenment England and Beyond: autopsy, pathology and display', provides unprecedented evidence of dissection and autopsy practices - and the economical use of corpses’ is released on Wednesday.

A QUESTIONABLE CONTRIBUTION TO MEDICAL SCIENCE

Irish labourers William Burke and William Hare were two of the most famous proponents of illegally obtaining corpses for medical research by illegal means.

However, contrary to popular belief the two immigrants were not grave robbers - it was much worse

The pair instead killed and sold at last 16 victims for medical dissection before their reign of terror ended 180 years ago.

William Burke who along with William Hare committed a series of murders in Edinburgh in the 19th century. They sold the corpses to the Edinburgh Medical College for dissectionWilliam Hare along with William Burke committed a series of murders in Edinburgh in the 19th centuryKiller: William Burke (left) along with William Hare (right) committed a series of murders in Edinburgh in the 19th century. They sold the corpses to the Edinburgh Medical College for dissection.

They supplied bodies to the anatomist Dr Robert Knox, at the Edinburgh Medical College, for dissection.

Records show Burke was executed on January 28, 1828, after Hare was handed immunity from prosecution for agreeing to testify against his partner.

Prior to the Anatomy Act of 1832, the only legal supply of corpses for medical experiments and teaching were of people condemned to death by the courts.

However, as the need to train medical students increased the number of executed criminals fell so Dr Knox was only too glad to receive the fresh bodies from the Irish men without any questions.

It’s believed Burke and Hare murdered at least 16 people and possibly as many as 30 before their crimes were discovered.Hare turned escaped the hangman while Burke was publicly executed and his body exhibited before being skinned and dissected.His skeleton is still kept under lock and key at Edinburgh University.