Rights of Cadaver Thieves

By citrineplus
  • 275

    Museum of Alexandria

    Museum of Alexandria
    275 BC: As a supporter of Hippocrates, Herophilus of Chalcedon founded the first anatomical school at the Museum of Alexandria and encouraged his pupils to rid themselves of their negative thoughts towards human dissection.
  • 476

    Romulus Augustus

    Romulus Augustus
    476 AD: On September 4th, Romulus Augustus, the last of the Roman emperors, was forced to resign from his throne to Odoacer, which marked the fall of the Roman Empire. After this event, the Church banned human cadaver dissection and replaced it with animal dissection and the teaching of ancient texts.
  • Jan 1, 1315

    University of Bologna

    University of Bologna
    1315-1318: The renowned professor in the University of Bologna, Mundinus, or Mondino de Luzzi, restored the study of anatomy by introducing human cadaver dissection and performing public dissections on bodies of guilty criminals.
  • Apr 1, 1319

    First Scandal

    First Scandal
    1319: First known scandal of body-snatching committed by four medical students in Bologna, Italy, who were later arrested. The bodies may have been stolen for a medical school, where dissection and anatomy lessons took place.

  • Mortsafe

    Mortsafe
    Early 19th Century: The mortsafe, one of many theft prevention developments, was invented to help keep thieves from stealing bodies from graves. It was fitted and then fastened using a padlock over the grave.

  • Anatomy Act

    Anatomy Act
    1832: The Anatomy Act of 1832 was passed in the United Kingdom as an attempt to contain the issue of body-snatching by making the procedure a criminal offence. It formed a free stock of corpses that were taken legally from gallows.

  • Andreas Vesvaluis

    Andreas Vesvaluis
    1543: Andreas Vesalius, a contributor to the founding of anatomy in modern society, published his masterpiece, De corporis humani fabrica, which was the first source of accurate sketches of human anatomy.