The History of Burke and Hare Part 14

"_Condemned Cell, January 21, 1829._"

CHAPTER x.x.xVI.

_The Fate of Hare--Mrs. Hare in Glasgow--Rescued from the Mob--Her Escape to Ireland, and Subsequent Career--Helen M'Dougal--Burke's Wife in Ireland._

In a previous chapter the escape of Hare from Scotland, and the stirring events that accompanied it, have been minutely described. What became of him after that is not really known--he dropped out of sight as rapidly as he had emerged into public ken. Long afterwards it was stated that an old white-haired blind man, led by a dog, was in the habit of frequenting one of the busiest corners in London, begging from the pa.s.sers-by, and this poor unfortunate was identified as Hare. The statement, however, was made on no definite authority. Again, some twenty years ago a London newspaper gave currency to a statement that Hare had died shortly before in Canada, whither he had found refuge; but whether the fact was as given to the public was never authoritatively known. If it were the case, he would at the time of death be a man of between sixty and seventy years of age. But while he thus escaped from the scene of his crimes to some land where he was unknown, the memory of his deeds impressed itself strongly on the minds of the people of Scotland, and there was a tendency to blame him and his wretched accomplices with offences of which it must be a.s.sumed they were innocent. Thus, in the _Edinburgh Evening Courant_ of the 14th of February, 1829, it was stated that an investigation was then going on in the city relative to a murder committed some time before in s.h.i.+elds, the manner being similar to that adopted by the West Port experts. The object of the inquiry was said to be to ascertain whether Hare or Burke were in or out of Edinburgh at the time the crime was committed. It was even rumoured that Hare had been apprehended in Newcastle on a charge of being concerned in the deed; but this was not the case, and it would seem as if nothing came of the inquiry in Edinburgh, for no further mention is made of it.

As for Mrs. Hare, we must go back a little, and trace her liberation and the adventures through which she had to go before she left the country.

She was detained in custody for some time after the trial, for, of course, it would have been unwise and unsafe for the authorities to have risked her life at the mercy of an excited and unreasoning mob. On Monday, the 26th of January, two days before the execution of Burke, she was liberated from Calton Hill Jail. Unfortunately for her, she was recognised while crossing the bridges, and an immense crowd gathered round her. The day was convenient for people showing their ill-feeling in a comparatively mild way, for the streets were under a thick covering of snow. Once the cry of recognition was raised, she was pelted by heavy volleys of s...o...b..a.l.l.s, and only a feeling of sympathy for the child the woman carried in her arms prevented the mob from proceeding to more extreme measures. The police interfered, and for safety took Mrs. Hare to the lock-up, where she remained until the evening. As twilight was coming over the city she slipped out of the office, and left Edinburgh.

What became of Mrs. Hare and her helpless infant during the next fortnight is not known, but nothing was heard of her until the _Glasgow Chronicle_ of Tuesday, 10th February, announced that on that day she had been rescued by the police from the fury of a Glasgow mob. She must have travelled on foot between the two cities, a weary, miserable pilgrimage, avoiding discovery, and often sleeping by roadsides and hayricks, with the inevitable feeling of a misspent, if not a criminal life. The _Chronicle_, speaking of her, spoke of her as "the celebrated Mrs. Hare," and stated that the Calton (Glasgow) police had to lodge her in a police cell to save her and her child from an infuriated populace. Her statement was that she had been lodging in the Calton for four nights, "with her infant and her bit duds," and that those with whom she resided were not aware of her ident.i.ty. She had managed so well thus far that she had hoped to be able to leave Glasgow without detection. In order to ensure this she had been in the habit of keeping the house during the day, and occasionally in the early morning, or in the twilight, she had ventured to the Broomielaw, to see when a vessel would be ready to sail for Ireland, whither she hoped to be taken. Hitherto she had been disappointed. She had gone out that morning with the same object, and while returning to her lodgings by way of Clyde Street, she was recognised by a drunken woman, who shouted out--"Hare's wife; burke her!" and set the example to the large crowd that rapidly gathered by throwing a large stone at the unfortunate woman. The people were not slow to set upon Mrs. Hare, and heaped upon her every indignity they could imagine. She escaped from her persecutors, and fled into the Calton, but she was pursued there, and was experiencing very rough treatment when the police rescued her. In the station-house she seemed to be completely overcome, and occasionally bursting into tears she bewailed her unhappy situation, which she declared had been brought about by Hare's profligacy. All she desired, she told her listeners, was to get across the channel to Ireland, where she hoped to end her days in some remote spot near her native place, where she would live in retirement and penitence. As for Hare, she would never live with him again.

Owing to the threatening att.i.tude of the populace, the authorities saw they must themselves devise means for Mrs. Hare's safe removal to Ireland.

On the afternoon of her rescue an immense crowd surrounded the police office expecting to see her depart, but it was feared that the spirit of riot might again break forth with renewed vigour. She was detained in custody until Thursday, the 12th of February, when she sailed from the Broomielaw in the steamer _Fingal_, for Belfast, which port was not far from her native place. Like her husband, in his escape from Dumfries, she had to leave the country without her bundle of clothing, which had gone astray when the people attacked her on the streets. While the _Fingal_ lay at Greenock to take in cargo, Mrs. Hare was under the guardians.h.i.+p of the local police, and it was to but a few that she was known to have been in the town until after her departure.

Mrs. Hare thus arrived in Ireland, and all definite traces of her were lost. Leighton, however, obtained some information which probably relates to this unfortunate woman. Writing in 1861, the author of _The Court of Cacus_ says:--"Not long ago, we were told by a lady who was in Paris about the year 1850, that, having occasion for a nurse, she employed a woman, apparently between sixty and seventy years of age. She gave her name as Mrs. Hare, and upon being questioned whether she had been ever in Scotland, she denied it, stating that she came from Ireland. Yet she often sung Scotch songs; and what brings out the suspicion that she was the real Mrs. Hare the more is, that she had a daughter, whose age, over thirty, agrees perfectly with that of the infant she had in her arms when in court. In addition to all this, the woman's face was just that of the picture published at the time."

Helen M'Dougal was no more fortunate in her treatment by the populace.

Mention has already been made of the riot that followed her liberation, and it has also been stated that she was seen out of Edinburgh by the police. She returned and offered to supply the Lord Advocate with information that would hang Hare, and probably among her statements was the story that was said to have been told by her after Burke's execution.

Burke and Hare were one night drinking heavily, and in the course of a discussion on their prospects with the doctors, the former asked his companion--"What will we do when we can get no more bodies?" Hare coolly replied--"We can never be absolutely at a loss while our two wives remain, but that will only be when we are hard up." This was overheard by one of the women, and is another particle of evidence showing they were not so ignorant of the desperate nature of the enterprise engaged in by the men.

When M'Dougal finally left Edinburgh she went towards the home of her relatives in Stirlings.h.i.+re, but they would having nothing to do with her, and drove her away. She sought an asylum in the neighbourhood of Carnworth, but she was recognised and roughly treated; and again at Newbigging she had to run the gauntlet of an infuriated mob. Towards the end of January, 1829, a woman was severely abused in Lanark under the idea that she was M'Dougal, and the mistake was only discovered after she had been severely injured. The unfortunate person turned out to be a woman recently arrived from Fort-William. About the beginning of February, M'Dougal pa.s.sed through Newcastle, on her way south. The police ordered her out of the town, and escorted her to the Blue Stone, which stood on the centre of the Tyne Bridge, marking the boundary between the counties of Northumberland and Durham, and there she was saluted by execrations and showers of stones from the populace of Gateshead. What became of her after this is unknown, but long ere now she must have gone to her account.

But perhaps there is no more affecting part of the terrible story of the West Port murders than is discovered by a letter received by an Edinburgh gentleman from the Rev. Anthony Corcoran, Roman Catholic curate at Kilmore, May, near Ballina. This gentleman had written to Ireland requesting the clergyman to make inquiries regarding Burke's wife. Mr.

Corcoran sent the following reply, dated 26th January, 1829:--"I have minutely inquired into the conduct of the unfortunate Bourke, and I feel much pleasure in a.s.suring you that there was not a blot on his character for the time he lived in Ballina. After the receipt of your letter, I sent for Margaret Coleman, Bourke's wife, to whom I communicated the sad news of the awful death that awaited her ill-fated husband. She was prepared for the shock for some time. She was acquainted with her husband's criminal intercourse with the notorious M'Dougal. I fear that the companions of his travels from this country were his companions in blood in Scotland, and that every religious impression is blotted from their minds."

By this time the newspapers had ceased to pay much attention to the West Port tragedies--the Catholic emanc.i.p.ation question beginning to agitate the country, while Parliamentary reform was being strongly pushed to the front--but they gave circulation to occasional pieces of gossip. It was stated that when old Abigail Simpson from Gilmerton was lying intoxicated in the house in Tanner's Close, Burke and Hare sat carousing by the fireside. "Do you hear that," remarked Hare to his companion, as he listened to the woman's heavy breathing, "it would not be difficult to take her where we took Donald." This was the suggestion for the first murder.

CHAPTER x.x.xVII.

_Dr. Knox's Connection with Burke and Hare--His Egotism--Knox's Criticism of Liston and his a.s.sistants--Hanging Knox's Effigy--Popular Tumults--Demand that he should be Put on Trial._

As yet Dr. Knox had done nothing to allay the irritation which existed towards him in the public mind. In the eyes of many he seemed a greater criminal than even Burke and Hare, and outspoken and unthinking people went the length of declaring that these misguided men were but instruments in his hands, obeying his behests, and receiving pay for what their master knew to be murderous work. This was certainly much too harsh a judgment, but the doctor was, unfortunately, a man of such peculiar temperament, that a large section of the people was willing to give credence to any kind of story, however serious, regarding him. And it must be confessed that this dislike towards him was shared in by not a few of his professional brethren, who had suffered from his overweening self-conceit and pride, and who felt that the exposure of the resurrectionist system, with which they were all more or less forced, through the scarcity of subjects, to be connected, could not have happened in relation to a more suitable man. Even while Knox was alive, spending the last years of his life in London, Leighton writes of him in terms far from complimentary.

Having referred to the professional, and even personal, jealousy that existed between the rival teachers of anatomy in Edinburgh, and their students, Leighton says:--"Unfortunately the characters of the leaders, with the exception of Monro, were not calculated to temper this zeal with discretion, or throw a veil of decency over the transactions of low men, which, however justified, as many said, by the necessities of science, were hostile to the instincts of nature, and fearfully resented by the feelings of relatives. Liston was accused, whether justly or not, of wiling patients from the Infirmary, to set off by his brilliant operations the imperfections of the regular surgeons of that inst.i.tution; and great as he was in his profession, it is certain that he wanted that simplicity and dignity of character necessary to secure to him respect in proportion to the admiration due to his powers. But Knox was a man of a far more complex organisation, if it was indeed possible to a.n.a.lyse him. A despair to the physiognomist who contemplated his rough irregular countenance, with a blind eye resembling a grape, he was not less a difficulty to the psychologist. There seemed to be no principle whereby you could think of binding him down to a line of duty, and a universal sneer, not limited to mundane powers, formed that contrast to an imputed self-perfection, not without the evidence of very great scientific accomplishments." Having told of an unscrupulous practical joke played by Knox on Prof. Jameson, Leighton proceeds:--"Even the bitterness of soul towards compet.i.tors was not sufficiently gratified by the pouring forth of the toffana-spirit of his sarcasm. He behoved to hold the phial with refined fingers, and rub the liquid into the 'raw' with the soft touch of love. The affected attenuation of voice and forced _retinu_ of feeling, sometimes degenerating into a puppy's simper, bore such a contrast to the acerbity of the matter, that the effect, though often ludicrous, was increased tenfold."

Here are two samples of Knox's egotism, taken from his lectures to the students:--"Gentlemen, I may mention that I have already taught the science of anatomy to about 5,000 medical men, now spread over the surface of the earth, and some of these have turned out most remarkable for their knowledge, genius, and originality, for they now occupy some of the most conspicuous and trying positions in Europe." Again:--"Before commencing to-day's lecture, I am compelled by the sacred calls of duty to notice an extraordinary surgical operation which has this morning been performed in a neighbouring building, by a gentleman [Mr. Liston] who, I believe, regards himself as the first surgeon in Europe. A country labourer, from the neighbourhood of Tranent, came to the Infirmary a few days ago with an aneurism of considerable extent, connected with one of the large arteries of the neck; and, notwithstanding of its being obvious to the merest tyro that it was an aneurism, the most distinguished surgeon in Europe, after an apparently searching examination, p.r.o.nounced it to be an abscess.

Accordingly, this professional celebrity--who, among other things, plumes himself upon the wonderful strength of his hands and arms, without pretension to head, and is an amateur member of the ring,--plunged his knife into what he thus foolishly imagined to be an abscess; and the blood, bursting forth from the deep gash in the aneurismal sac, the patient was dead in a few seconds. This notable member of the profession is actually an extra-academical lecturer on surgery in this great metropolis; and on this occasion was a.s.sisted by a gentleman similarly const.i.tuted, both intellectually and physically, who had been trained up under the fostering care of a learned professor [Monro?] in a certain University, who inherited his anatomatical genius from his ancestors, and who has recently published a work on the anatomy of the human body, in which, among other notabilities, no notice is taken of the pericardium.

Tracing the a.s.sistant of our distinguished operator further back, I have discovered that he had been originally apprenticed to a butcher of this city, but that he had been dismissed from this service for stealing a sheep's head and trotters from his employer's shambles. It is surely unnecessary for me to add that a knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pathology, and surgery, is neither connected with nor dependant upon brute force, ignorance and presumption; nor has it anything to do with an utter dest.i.tution of honour and common honesty." This extraordinary speech was listened to with interest and applauded by the great body of the students, though a few of them by hisses gave expression to their opinion that Dr.

Knox had himself overstepped the bounds of prudence, and had shown "an utter dest.i.tution of honour and common honesty."

It was little wonder, then, that Dr. Knox was so universally detested, and that the great body of the people, agitated by the disclosures at the trial of Burke and M'Dougal, should show their dislike to him, in a manner they might not have adopted had he been a man who had hitherto received the respect of his fellows. On Thursday, the 12th of February, 1829, the inhabitants of Edinburgh made an extraordinary demonstration against him.

On that day, a large crowd a.s.sembled in the Calton district of the city, and, having formed in marching order, they proceeded up Leith Street, and over the Bridges to the Old Town, while in the front was borne what one of the contemporary newspapers described as "an effigy of a certain doctor who has been rendered very obnoxious to the public by recent events." "The figure," the chronicler continued, "was pretty well decked out in a suit of clothes, and the face and head bore a tolerable resemblance to the person intended to be represented. On the back was a label bearing the words--'Knox, the a.s.sociate of the infamous Hare.'" While the mob was crossing the South Bridge, a strong resolute policeman attempted, single-handed, to disperse them, as he saw a riot would inevitably occur if they were allowed to parade the streets much longer, if that, indeed, were not the main purpose of the gathering. But his zeal was not tempered by discretion, otherwise he would not have attempted such a foolhardy task. The people easily drove him back, and he was in the struggle injured by the many blows aimed at him. As the crowd pa.s.sed on towards Newington it increased in size. When they arrived in the district where Dr. Knox resided, the effigy was hanged by the neck to the branch of a tree. Fire, also, was put under it, but that soon went out, and the figure was torn to pieces amid the huzzas of the a.s.sembled thousands. Up to this period the crowd had behaved in a sort of good-natured fas.h.i.+on, and had resorted to no actual violence, though at times its playfulness had a dash of horseplay about it. But now matters a.s.sumed a threatening aspect, and a movement was made towards Dr. Knox's house, which it seemed to be intended to attack. The city authorities had become alarmed at the appearance of affairs, and having collected all their forces, the city watchmen, under Capt. Stewart, the superintendent, and a superior officer in another department of the munic.i.p.al service, marched quickly towards Newington to suppress the tumult, and prevent, if possible, further popular excesses.

The superintendent and another officer, in advance of their force, entered Knox's house by the rear, and from the front door they made a determined charge upon the crowd who had a.s.sembled there. The people instantly retreated to the other side of the road, and commenced throwing stones, from the first volley of which Captain Stewart and his colleague were severely injured. No further rioting took place at this time, and no property was destroyed beyond some panes of gla.s.s in the windows of Knox's and the adjoining houses. After a time the crowd--which consisted for the most part of boys and young lads, among whom eight or ten bakers were the most active--quietly dispersed, but large groups a.s.sembled in various parts of the city.

Another crowd, also composed mostly of boys, gathered later in the day, and, armed with sticks, they marched towards the High Street, which they paraded for some time. Before they could do any mischief a strong body of police met them opposite the Tron Church, and after a short interval they dispersed. In the vicinity of the West Port another mob had collected and marched down the Gra.s.smarket along the Cowgate to the Horse Wynd, breaking the gla.s.s in the windows of the south and west sides of the College.

Several of the ringleaders of another crowd which took up its quarters in the Cowgate were apprehended by the police.

Edinburgh was now in a fairly riotous state, excited mobs pacing the city in all directions. The police found themselves little more than able to cope with the tumultuous spirit that was abroad, for no sooner had a threatened or active disturbance been quelled in one district than matters had a.s.sumed a serious aspect in another some distance off. They were thus kept at most fatiguing duty. In spite of all their efforts, they were unable to prevent another attack on Dr. Knox's house. About seven o'clock in the evening an immense concourse of people marched to Newington, and, surrounding the Doctor's residence, they threw stones at it until not a pane of gla.s.s in the windows of it or the one adjoining was whole. An attempt was also made to force Knox's premises in Surgeon's Square, but a strong party of police completely repelled the attack. At last, as the night advanced, the excited populace returned to their homes, and the city was again quiet. In the course of the day the police had been able to apprehend some twenty persons who had been conspicuous in the rioting in the various parts of Edinburgh.

It is an interesting and curious fact that some of the newspapers supported the people in their riotous proceedings. Speaking of the disturbances already noted, the _Edinburgh Weekly Chronicle_ said:--"Since the grand spectacle of the execution of Dr. Knox in effigy was exhibited, about twenty-three of those concerned in it have been fined in sums of from five to forty s.h.i.+llings. We understand that all these have been defrayed out of a stock purse previously collected. Some of the rioters had large quant.i.ties of gunpowder upon them. Another _auto-da-fe_ is meditated; on which occasion the cavalcade will move in the direction of Portobello, where, it is supposed, the Doctor burrows at night. As we have said before, the agitation of public feeling will never subside till the city be released of this man's presence, or until his innocence be manifested. In justice to himself, if he is innocent, in justice to the public, if he is guilty, he ought to be put upon his trial. The police have a duty to perform, and it gives us pleasure to hear that they discharged it with prompt.i.tude; but the feelings of nature, when outraged as they have been in an immeasurable degree, will soar superior to all dignities. It scarcely ever was known that a populace entered upon acts of irregular justice when there was not extreme official apathy."

CHAPTER x.x.xVIII.

_Inquiry into Dr. Knox's Relations with Burke and Hare--Report of Investigating Committee._

The violent outbreak of public feeling described in the last chapter against Dr. Knox seems at last to have moved him to take some means to clear himself from the imputations cast upon him for his connection with Burke and Hare, and to attempt to set himself right with the people, who were likely to proceed to even more extreme measures than any to which they had yet resorted. Accordingly, it was intimated in the _Courant_ of Thursday, 12th February, that at the desire of Dr. Knox and his friends, ten gentlemen, with the Marquis of Queensberry at their head, had agreed to make a full and fair investigation into all Dr. Knox's dealings with the West Port criminals, and make a report to the public. In the same newspaper on Monday, the 23rd of February, it was stated simply that the n.o.ble marquis had withdrawn from the committee of investigation. No reason for this withdrawal is given.

The committee of investigation certainly took plenty of time to inquire into the matter they had undertaken, and to prepare their report, for it was not until Sat.u.r.day, the 21st of March, 1829, that the result of their labours was published in the _Courant_. This report, certainly by no means the least important doc.u.ment in connection with the West Port tragedies in their relations.h.i.+p to medical science, was as follows:--

"The committee who, at the request of Dr. Knox, undertook to investigate the truth or falsehood of the rumours in circulation regarding him, have gone into an extensive examination of evidence, in the course of which they have courted information from every quarter. They have been readily furnished with all which they required from Dr. Knox himself; and though they have failed in some attempts to procure evidence, they have in most quarters succeeded in obtaining it, and especially from those persons who have been represented to them as having spoken the most confidently in support of those rumours; and they have unanimously agreed on the following report:--

"1. The committee have seen no evidence that Dr. Knox or his a.s.sistants knew that murder was committed in procuring any of the subjects brought to his rooms, and the committee firmly believe that they did not.

"2. On the question whether any suspicion of murder at any time existed in Dr. Knox's mind, the committee would observe that there were certainly several circ.u.mstances (already known to the public) regarding some of the subjects brought by Burke and Hare, which now that the truth has come out, appear calculated to excite their suspicion, particularly the very early period after death at which they were brought to the rooms, and the absence of external marks of disease, together with the opinion previously expressed by Dr. Knox, in common with most other anatomists, of the generally abandoned character of persons engaged in this traffic. But on the other hand, the committee, after most anxious enquiry, have found no evidence of their actually having excited it in the mind of Dr. Knox or of any other of the individuals who saw the bodies of these unfortunate persons prior to the apprehension of Burke.

"These bodies do not appear in any instance to have borne external marks by which it could have been known, whether they had died by violence, or suddenly from natural causes, or from disease of short duration; and the mode of protracted anatomical dissection practised in this and other similar establishments, is such as would have made it very difficult to ascertain the cause of death, even if special inquiry had been inst.i.tuted with that intention.

"No evidence whatever has come before the committee that any suspicion of murder was expressed to Dr. Knox by any one either of his a.s.sistants, or of his very numerous cla.s.s (amounting to upwards of 400 students), or other persons who were in the practice of frequently visiting his rooms; and there are several circ.u.mstances in his conduct, particularly the complete publicity with which his establishment was managed, and his anxiety to lay each subject before the students as soon as possible after its reception, which seem to the committee to indicate that he had no suspicion of the atrocious means by which they had been procured.

"It has also been proved to the satisfaction of the committee that no mutilation or disfigurement of any kind was ever practised with a view to conceal the features, or abstract unreasonably any part of the body, the presence of which would have facilitated detection; and it appears clearly that the subjects brought by Burke and Hare were dissected in the same protracted manner as those procured from any other quarter.

"3. The committee have thought it proper to inquire further, whether there was anything faulty or negligent in the regulations under which subjects were received into Dr. Knox's rooms, which gave or might give a peculiar facility to the disposal of the bodies obtained by these crimes, and on this point they think it their duty to state their opinion fully.

"It appears in evidence that Dr. Knox had formed and expressed the opinion (long prior to any dealing with Burke and Hare) that a considerable supply of subjects for anatomical purposes might be procured by purchase, and without any crime, from the relatives or connections of deceased persons of the lowest ranks of society.

"In forming this opinion, whether mistaken or not, the committee cannot consider Dr. Knox to have been culpable. They believe that there is nothing contrary to the law of the land in procuring subjects for dissection in that way, and they know that the opinion which Dr. Knox had formed on this point, though never acted on to any extent in this country, has been avowed by others of the highest character in the profession. But they think that Dr. Knox acted on this opinion in a very incautious manner.

"This preconceived opinion seems to have led him to give a ready ear to the plausible stories of Burke, who appears, from all the evidence before the committee, to have conducted himself with great address and appearance of honesty, as well in his connections with Dr. Knox, as in his more frequent intercourse with his a.s.sistants, and always to have represented himself as engaged in negotiations of that description, and occasionally to have asked and obtained money in advance to enable him and his a.s.sociate to conclude bargains.

"Unfortunately, also, Dr. Knox has been led, apparently in consequence of the extent and variety of his avocations, to intrust the dealings with persons supplying subjects, and the reception of the subjects bought, to his a.s.sistants (seven in number) and to his door-keeper indiscriminately.

It appears also that he directed or allowed these dealings to be conducted on the understanding (common to him, with some other anatomists), that it would only tend to diminish or divert the supply of subjects to make any particular inquiry of the persons bringing them.

"In these respects the committee consider the practice which was then adopted in Dr. Knox's rooms (whatever be the usage in this or other establishments in regard to subjects obtained in the ordinary way) to have been very improper in the case of persons bringing bodies which had not been interred. They think that the notoriously bad character of persons who generally engage in such traffic, in addition to the novelty and particular nature of the system, on which these men professed to be acting, undoubtedly demanded greater vigilance.

"The extent, therefore, to which (judging from the evidence which they have been able to procure) the committee think Dr. Knox can be blamed, on account of transactions with Burke and Hare, is, that by this laxity of the regulations under which bodies were received into his rooms, he unintentionally gave a degree of facility to the disposal of the victims of their crimes, which, under better regulation, would not have existed, and which is doubtless matter of deep and lasting regret, not only to himself, but to all who have reflected on the importance, and are therefore interested in the prosecution of the study of anatomy. But while they point out this circ.u.mstance as the only ground of censure which they can discover in the conduct of Dr. Knox, it is fair to observe that perhaps the recent disclosures have made it appear reprehensible to many who would not otherwise have adverted to its possible consequences."

This report was signed by John Robison, chairman; James Russell, Thomas Allan, W. P. Alison, George Ballingall, George Sinclair, W. Hamilton, John Robison, for M. P. Brown, Esq.; and John Shaw Stewart. The intention of the committee evidently was by it to clear Dr. Knox from the aspersions cast upon him; and this was a result far from satisfactory to a very large section of the community. The feeling was that Paterson, the "door-keeper"