Life in Newburgh on Ythan

By Talpa

Virtual body snatching

I have spent the day trying to transfer my website on the Scottish resurrection men to a new server. It should be easy, but it is proving otherwise. Ah well, it all helps keep the little grey cells active!

My photograph today is from the site and shows the opening page to the 1832 Anatomy Act which was designed to put an end for the need for grave robbing.

Should you perchance be interested in the history of Scottish body snatching then I can throughly recommend  that you take a few minutes to look at  Edinburgh: A Bodysnatcher's Tale an animation by Michael Marcynuk. It is designed to shed light on a dark period of British medical history. With a whimsical cartoon-style, modern animation techniques, beautiful antique engravings, and an unusual story told from a body snatcher’s perspective, the movie examines the ethics of dissecting human corpses for medical education. It investigates the odd economic relationship between anatomists and the body snatchers, and raises questions about the possibly horrific price for medical knowledge. Nineteenth century Edinburgh, like ancient Athens, once was a place of legend, where the champions of medical society once stood on the backs of grave diggers. Or was it the other way around? Science, medicine and a market for human corpses rock the very pillars of civilisation in this insightful animation.

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