John scott harrison body snatching 1800s

Body-Snatching, Jews, and Cincinnati

Rabbi Marcus Crystal, personal Scholar, Cincinnati Community Kollel

Ever since Andreas Vesalius began teaching anatomy through dissection at the University of Padua in the 16th century, the medical world has needed human bodies for this purpose. Where they procured them from has varied throughout the years. In the earliest days, students were expected to supply their own cadavers if they wanted to be taught. In England, a judge could sentence a criminal not only to die, but also that his body would be dissected. As fewer crimes received capital punishment in the early 1800s, universities turned to other methods of obtaining bodies. Body-snatching became a big business. Women were paid to scout out funerals for recently buried bodies, which were the easiest to take as the dirt was still soft, or to claim they were relatives of otherwise unclaimed deceased funnen in the city morgue. Many times, cemetery officials would be bribed to turn a blind eye t

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