A lecture, introductory to a course of lectures, on anatomy, physiology, and surgery / delivered at the School of Medicine and Surgery, Gerrard Street, Soho, by G.D. Dermott.

Dermott, G. D. (George Darby), 1802-1847.

Date:: 1833

Credit: A lecture, introductory to a course of lectures, on anatomy, physiology, and surgery / delivered at the School of Medicine and Surgery, Gerrard Street, Soho, by G.D. Dermott. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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$Some of the alterations most required in the Anatomical Act are—that proper and distinct sources shall he legally nominated for the supply of Dissection—that it shall he legally imperative upon the Inspectoi-, as one of his principal Duties, to distrihutc equitably according to the number of Pupils in each School the disposable Bodies—That the books shall be open at certain stated times of the day, for the inspection of any person, upon leaving his card or address,—and that it shall be criminal to sell or j)ur- chasft dead human flesh. I would also have it so managed, if possible, that the Anatomical Bill should aft'ect the rich equally with the poor, and no feasible plan suggests itself to me but this, which will be a means of bene- fiting the poor Relatives of those who have been dissected, namely, that each Person possessing property shall pay a sum, or the Relatives of the said Person, to redeem his or her body from dissection ; the amount of the premium being in a ratio to the actual amount of property possessed by the Deceased during life, but that this sum of redemption, for a Person dying xoith- oiit property, shall not be more than sufficient to pay the ex- pences of burial; and ihe fund thus produced, shall be em- ployed for the puri^ose of meeting the necessities and alleviating the miseries of the indigent Relatives and Families of those who have been dissected. It is true this would be a tax, and that people have no great re- lish for taxes; but then it would be of the best sort, namely, a property tax. The best op])ortunities to see morbid specimens, occur of course in the Hospitals, and in the practice connected with the Dispensa- ries, when Lectures should always be delivered upon them in the recent state, and the symptoms connected witli the appearances; good plates are also much better than dried preparations, where the parts no longer retain their natural fonn. appearance, or posi- tion ; but a great inconvenience is that the Pupils are no longer supplied with bones, excepting those prepared in France, imported here, and sold at a price certainly too high : a complete set should be in the possession of every Student, in order that he might keep himself familiar with fractures and dislocations. Jt was proposed by a liberal Teacher, that if an equitable dis- tribution of Subjects were established, the private Lecturers should raise their fees to an equality with those at the Public Schools— Now these low fees are a great eye-sore to the Monopolists, be- cause they see it is the practical commencement of knocking down the golden bar o f exclusion, and they begin to fear that they do not stand on such a firm footing, upon their purchased ground as heretofore ; it has been said by them, that I wish to bring tinkers, and chimney-sweepers into the profession; that those who enter to$