tuary, and then reported to the assistants, who were young medical students, without long experience. It was alleged that the bodies were brought fresh and warm, which was proof enough of the way they had been obtained. But this was by no means a necessary conclusion. Some of Burke's contributions were fresh, which created surprise; but he made no secret that he was in league with the relatives of the deceased or the owners of lodging-houses, for the prompt possession of bodies as soon as life was extinct. "When his attention was drawn to two apparently newly dead, his glib tongue and plausible statement served his purpose so well as to lull all doubts. One of these bodies was warm, on touching which the assistant expressed himself much horrified. Burke, being challenged in the strongest terms, admitted the warmth, for the person died only a few hours previously, and for secrecy the body had been in close contact with the fireplace. His open manner and ready excuse, when so boldly taken to task, told strongly in favor of the accuracy of his statement."
To illustrate the facility with which irregular practices might be carried on without public interference. Dr. Knox's biographer remarks: "There are no coroners' inquests in Scotland. Sudden death of either stranger or citizen does not concern the public authorities, unless suspicion is entertained and evidence can be offered to warrant the attention of the procurator-fiscal, who then makes a most thorough investigation in private, untrammeled by stupid juries and the comments of the press." He adds: "With the exception of Episcopalians and Roman Catholics, there is no burial service, either at the church or at the grave-side, in Scotland. In lieu of this, a minister attends the funeral, who offers a prayer or makes an address by the side of the bier at the house of the deceased." This gave rise to mock or sham ministers. Hypocritical wretches palmed off their services in many cases among the poor and ignorant to conduct funerals, and managed them so as to play into the hands of the body-snatchers.
The history is a peculiar one, and would require a volume to trace its complications. But the main fact about it is, that the doctors stood in peculiar relations, which exposed them to public animosity, and put them to every disadvantage, when the most extravagant and futile charges were made against them. A revolting and inhuman crime had certainly been committed, and the Medical School had the benefit of it. The conclusion that the head of the school had instigated it was easy to draw, especially if there was the slightest inclination of unfavorable feeling toward him.
Dr. Knox had therefore now to pay the penalty of his popularity. There was a vast mass of indignant and exasperated feeling in the university ready enough to be hostile, and easily turned in the direction of accusation and reprobation. The enemies of Dr. Knox, those who had been irritated by his comments, and those who were jealous of his influence, seized the opportunity to pay him off. It mattered
