Historic%20Yorkshire

YORKSHIRE RESURRECTION MEN. 163
Astley, says he has known him to send more than a
hundred miles to obtain a desirable subject which might
afford some new insight into the nature of a disease, or
the recuperative and compensatingforcesof nature. He
quotes a bill paid,after an expeditionof this description,
to obtain the possession of a subject upon whom Sir
Astley had performed an operation 24 years previously,
amounting to £13 12s., of which £7 7s. was for the
subject, the remainder being actual expenses incurred.
In addition to the expense of obtaining the bodies, the
surgeons also paidregularamounts to persons imprisoned
for carrying out their illegaland odiousinstructions. In
the work above mentioned are the copies of accounts in
which are items for such disbursements, for instance: —
"January 29th, 1828, paid Mr. to pay Mr. half
the expenses for bailing Vaughan from Yarmouth, and
going down, £14 7s. May6th, paidVaughan's wife, 6s.
May 29th, paid Vaughan for 26 weeks' confinement, at
10s. per week, £13 ;" and the next entry is in payment
for " four subjects,two male and two female (Murphy),at
twelve guineas each, £50 8s." Upon another occasion
it cost £160 to liberate the Murphy alluded to in the
account. Sir AstleyCooper gave evidence on this subject
before a committeeof the House of Commons, at the time
previous to the alteration of the law in 1832, and his
statements had great weight in the consideration and
forming of the enactments. The gist of his assertions
amounted to the following: — The previous state of the
law,though providingheavypunishments,didnot prevent
the surgeons from obtaining the body of any person they
desiredto have for purposes of dissection, from its peculiarity
of structure or other reason. The law didnot in the
slightest degree prevent the commission of the crime of
body-stealing, and protected not the highest personages,
its restrictions and penalties merely enhancing the prices
paid.
Having seen the importance of the subject from the
point of view ofthe surgeons, wewill consider the actual