THE HORRORS OF THE DISSECTING ROOM.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1821, 21 April 1888, Page 3

THE HORRORS OF THE DISSECTING ROOM.

, | ("Pall Mali Budget.") We published tha other d*y a lotler from "Medloal" deploring the dearth to tho dlsaoctlng room owing to the growing disinclination amongst tho poor to die m tho workhouse. Tho following s'.ateraenr, whioh la broid'y truo of a good many more boapitah than the ono oar correspondent vouches for, will hardly, we fear, do muoh to remove tho doar'.h, unloaa, indeed, the publication- of tho scandal induooa tho hospital authorities to preserve some little decency m the use they make of pauper oorpseß :— ••The public," writeß this correspondent, "is blissfully lguorant of the treatment paupers' bodies really receive m dissecting rooms. The Aot of Parliament, •which provldee that nobody be mutilated beyond a certain inevHß^tetttent, is systematically lgnoredj|^Mpui. The following la an outline of^r^fyaTem purauod m at !ea3 v . one great London hospital, and perhaps m many. A body la received (paupers who die and whose bndloß are unolaimed by friends are all sent to hospitals), and a euro, as muoh as £5 m some oases, allowed for it. All particulars relating to the body aro then entered m a book, and an identifying number, put upon the corpse, whloh iB then " put m plokle" until required. This m*y be In a wo3k, a month, or a year, according to the demand. ! When a call ia made for a body it la fiahod out of tho plokle and taken t) the dinseoting room. Here It is apportioned among the various applying students, nt certain fixed prlceß for different parts, One wants a forearm, another a foot, hand, &o. The whole body Is aold m this way, tho ptirta bolng dlßseoted oil as required. E*ch student has a looker m which he koopa hia portion, a heavy penalty attaohlng to removing any piece of human flesh from the preclnot3 of the hospital. During the cutting up of the. body and subsequent dissection of Its parts a good many plcoea are thrown upon the floor of tho room. A porter la employed who goes round at Intervals with a brush and p»n collecting thoaa raoraola, whloh are romovod to a cellar, la due time follow all tho other plcoea of fl-jsh bones, &o. Theao aro all thrown into ono hoap In tho cellar. It must be undoratood that perhaps half a dozou bodioo are going at ona Mmo m tho diaaeotlng room, and this haap la compooed of fragmontß "f a'l. In the collar Is a pair of aoaleß, and aoin ordinary workhonao • shell' coflinH. When not occupied In sweeping up tho bits, tho potter ia ongaged ia weighing up thoeo uneavoury morßola into a oortain qu m.ltj* Whtoh ia auppoaed to eqaal tho body. With thla mnas thrj coflin la fillo ! aid Borowed down, When burying dny co-iio3— porhaps there aro 10 or 12 coffins lull— round cornea tho he*r3o, and off go tha 'picoos' — raon, women, ohildroti, all mixjd up togethor In a glorious confusion — to tho oemotory, flora tho whole botvible bunlnosa ooncladoa with the Ohuroli of E-igland burial eorvloo! Tho coflim aro illimy affairß, and ono wonder j wiiot would happun if one broke at the graveside, and the olergyman caw, Bay, two mutilated heads, half-J-doz )n foot, and throi) logs, with a gory maua of acriipa, roll out ? But ' It's only a piupor whom nobody owns,' and, aaya ' Medical, 1 ' What dlfforenoa may X aak, can it make to a man, whatever use la made of hits body after death 1"