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
_______________________________ 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
_____________________________ 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
___________________________ 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