§ Mr. Warburton moved the second reading of the Anatomy Bill. He said he would not detain the House by entering into details, as the subject had been already fully discussed, and as he considered that the objections which had been made against the measure would be more properly stated in the Committee, when the separate clauses were discussed. His wish was, if the Bill should be read a second time, to be allowed to go into the Committee pro formâ, and to introduce several amendments which had been suggested.
§ Mr. Huntthought, that the bodies of all persons executed according to the sentence of the law, or even of persons dying after a conviction for felony. He would go further, and say, although it might not be popular, that he would appropriate the bodies of those who committed suicide to the dissecting knife. It would have a very salutary effect, and check its commission. His objections to the present Bill, in other respects, were very strong. It would lead to crime; and if it should not lead to murder, at least it would hold out a. great 703 temptation to those among the lower classes who had the care of their aged and infirm relatives, to neglect and ill-treat them. It was not his wish to impede any measure that it might be proper to bring before this House with a view to its undergoing full discussion. One of the objections he had to the Bill arose from a statement made by the hon. Gentleman. The hon. Gentleman stated the other night, that a surgeon never performed an operation until he had practised on a dead body. That was a most alarming fact. For if a medical man had a capital operation to perform, he must send Jack to kill Tom, in order that he might cure Will. He must, in order to procure a 'subject, send out a person to "Burke" another, or else to rob the grave. There was another part of the Bill to which he had an objection. It proposed to give to the Secretary of State a power to appoint three inspectors, one for the metropolis, one for Edinburgh, and one for Glasgow. To do any good, many more inspectors ought to be appointed. A much better plan to extend the knowledge of surgery would be, to open the hospitals in the country, instead of keeping them, as now, in a state of close monopoly. He had received a letter from Worcester, stating that no surgeon is allowed to go into the county hospital, unless some favourite, without paying 52l. In several parts of the country—Exeter for instance—there had been a partial opening of the hospitals; but only think of these gentlemen, who talked so much about the science of anatomy, and yet said nothing of the gross monopoly that excluded the students from nearly all the hospitals in the country. It was a remarkable circumstance, that while, in this country, exertions were making to extend the science of anatomy by practising on the human body, in France they were endeavouring to abolish the dissecting system altogether. A letter had been published in the newspapers, from Dr. Payne, of Nottingham, to the hon. member for Bridport, which shews this to be the case. It was this:
Dear Friend—I take the liberty of sending you the following lines which I have translated from the Paris Paper, the Constitutionnel of the first of December:—'"The Minister of Public Works, charged also with the superintendence of the Arts and Sciences, has addressed to the Councils-General of the different departments throughout France, the report of the Royal Academy of Medicine upon the artificial corpse of Dr. Auzoux. We have been among the first to 704 make known the importance of this discovery; we have said how the study of anatomy might be facilitated and shortened by means of these preparations, the necessity of dissection of bodies superseded, and a great assistance afforded to practitioners. Since that period Dr. Auzoux has been constantly engaged in his discovery, and now he has brought it to complete perfection. The hospital of Marine, of War, of the Colonies, and a great number of public establishments, both abroad and in France, are now taking advantage of this happy discovery. Let us hope, for the sake of humanity, that the departments will not be long without this resource, and that at a period when it becomes indispensably necessary that everything loathsome should be put aside and removed, the Councils-General will comprehend the wishes of the Institute, and the intentions of the Academy of Medicine, by voting the necessary funds, that at least one model of artificial anatomy may be at the disposal of each principal town in the departments.'
§ He was not in error when he stated that they were endeavouring to abolish dissection in France. When the Bill went into Committee, he would propose that no surgeon whatsoever should be allowed to enter a dissecting-room, or use a dissecting-knife, till he had registered his name, and given an undertaking to allow his body, when he died, to be dissected. He should certainly oppose this Bill with all his powers. In consequence of the opposition which he had already offered to it, he had been attacked by the public press. A surgeon had threatened to dissect him; but let him take care, at least, that he did not Burke him first. He venerated the practice of surgery. He believed that the members of that profession were in general very benevolent persons; but he observed that they never neglected to receive their fees. He would again recommend that surgeons should set the example of giving up their own bodies for dissection; but he had no objection that those surgeons should be exempted who did not receive fees.
§ Bill read a second time.