Resurrectionists (depicted in action) were commonly employed by
anatomists in the United Kingdom during the 18th and 19th centuries to
disinter the bodies of the recently deceased for anatomical research.
Between 1506 and 1752 only a very few cadavers were available each year.
The supply was increased when, in an attempt to intensify the deterrent
effect of the death penalty, the Murder Act 1752 allowed executed
criminals to be dissected—a fate generally viewed with horror—in
place of gibbeting. The change was insufficient to meet the needs of
hospitals and teaching centres. Corpses and their component parts became
a commodity, but although the practice of disinterment was hated by the
general public, bodies were not legally anyone's property.
Resurrectionists caught plying their trade ran the risk of attack.
Measures taken to stop them included increased security at graveyards,
secure coffins, and physical barriers. Matters came to a head following
the Burke and Hare murders of 1828. Although it did not make body
snatching illegal, the Anatomy Act 1832 effectively put an end to the
work of the resurrectionists by allowing anatomists access to the
workhouse dead.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resurrectionists_in_the_United_Kingdom>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
475:
Romulus Augustulus took the throne as the last ruling emperor of
the Western Roman Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulus_Augustulus>
1517:
According to traditional accounts, Martin Luther first posted
his Ninety-Five Theses onto the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg,
present-day Germany, marking the beginning of the Protestant
Reformation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ninety-Five_Theses>
1822:
Emperor Agustín de Iturbide of the First Mexican Empire
dissolved the Mexican Congress and replaced it with a military junta
answerable only to him.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agust%C3%ADn_de_Iturbide>
1984:
Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of
her own Sikh bodyguards, sparking anti-Sikh riots throughout the
country.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_anti-Sikh_riots>
1999:
All 217 people on board EgyptAir Flight 990 were killed when
the aircraft suddenly plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of
Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EgyptAir_Flight_990>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
cauldron:
A large bowl-shaped pot used for boiling over an open flame.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cauldron>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
On Halloween night, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin
patch, then flies through the air to bring toys to all the good little
children everywhere. Wouldn't you like to sit with me in the pumpkin
patch on Halloween night and wait for the Great Pumpkin?
--It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/It%27s_the_Great_Pumpkin,_Charlie_Brown>