Res Medica

Abstract

Those of us who saw Dylan Thomas's version of the Burke and Hare story at the festival “The doctor and the devils" would not only have been delighted at the play itself, which was outstanding, but might also have noticed something of interest to the Society. For there, to the left of the stage, was an eight foot tall reproduction of that print which the Society has used in its Christmas cards, showing side by side, Knox’s school of anatomy, and the Royal Medical Society’s first hall. This stimulated in us a curiosity as to the part our members may have played in the finding of anatomical material. It is to be hoped that they were not involved in murder; but certainly they knew of the “ resurrectionists": for in 1828 John Reid, a member of our Society wrote in a letter “I am busy dissecting, now the subjects are pretty plentyiful. People may watch us as they may, but we will have them in spite of then. There are rascals here who will do anything for money, and these are fit hands for such jobs."