Knox: The Anatomist [Robert]

v, 164 pp. Related to body snatching was murder for the purpose of obtaining bodies to sell to medical schools. A person murdered for this purpose was said to have been 'burked,' after William Burke, an Irish cobbler who was hanged and dissected in 1829 for his role in murdering and selling the bodies of at least 16 people in Edinburgh. Burke's accomplices cooperated with the authorities and avoided punishment. Robert Knox, the anatomist who bought the bodies of the victims, also went unpunished, although his reputation and career were damaged. Murders for anatomical specimens are documented elsewhere in Britain and in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States. Such murders were not common, but they always brought public outrage and played a role in the introduction of legislation that normalized and regulated the procurement of cadavers. - Britannica