Who Really Owns Your Body?

Hello Bare Bones Blog Followers, I hope everyone had a very good New Year and have not missed me to much! This year’s resolution, I hope you’re all glad to hear, is that I tend on being a much more consistent blogger as over the last few months I have been a bit lax. (Sorry)

My Christmas Adventure really started on the 3rd December when Natasha Powers head Osteology and Research Co-ordinator of the Museum of London came to the Eastbourne Ancestors project, to look at the skeletal remains. This was exciting for everyone, as she is an important person in her field of work. As soon as she had seen us, it was as if, everything that I laid my hands on had something to do with Victorian London and more importantly and excitingly for me, the grisly tales, of the Victorian Resurrection Men. (Examples of Resurrection Men, although not from the London area, are the notorious Burke and Hare.) At the moment it may seem as though Natasha Powers and Victorian Resurrection Men have nothing in common, but in fact, as of the 19th October 2012, the Museum of London have an exhibition on called "Doctors, Dissection and Resurrection Men". And so my Adventure continued, because I just HAD to go. 

So on the 13th December, I headed off to the Museum, where I spent hours, just engrossed, by everything around me. The exhibition is clearly and cleverly laid out so you easily make you way through the history and development of the medical profession. You learnt that the medical profession once it started to become a popular career choice seriously lacked the corpses to allow its apprentices to practice on. However where there's a demand for a commodity there's always someone willing to meet it. This led to a huge increase in the trade in dead bodies and 'burking'. The exhibition tells the stories of Bishop, Williams and May, three infamous resurrection men who were caught and tried for the murder of an Italian Boy. You are transported through to the next room which shows you how through the use of these corpses the medical schools were able to get a much better understanding of the human body both inside and out, and therefore were a lot more able to treat their live patients. 

All skeletal remains shown in the exhibition where those found in 2006 when the Museum of London archaeologists excavated a burial ground at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel the skeletal remains found, showed clears signs of dissection such as drill holes, distinct cut and saw lines. There were also the remains of monkeys, and dogs, which suggest that animals were also dissected to see if there were any similarities between both human and animal bodies. The exhibition came to a close by showing where the medical profession is now, and how cultural attitudes towards donating your body after death still vary. 

I would highly recommend anyone to go and visit this exhibition even if it is just to get you wondering, who really owns your body?

Other exciting stuff:

To find out more about London's body snatchers there are two great articles in BBC History Magazine (Vol.13, no 13 - Christmas 2012) and Current Archaeology (January 2013 Edition.)

BBC History have also done a podcast on 'The Victorian trade in dead bodies' read by Elizabeth T Hurren, and can be found at www.historyextra.com/podcasts or on iTunes. 

To find out more about the exhibition and booking times, visit the Museum of London’s webpage by following the link -->  http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/London-Wall/Whats-on/Exhibitions-Displays/Doctors-Dissection-Resurrection-Men/

I hope you have all enjoyed this week’s blog, 

Until next time

Maisie