Dying for Victorian Medicine: English Anatomy and Its Trade in the Dead Poor, C.1834 - 1929

by Elizabeth T. Hurren

In the nineteenth century the business of anatomy was very profitable. However, existing in a Victorian underworld, its shadowy details and potential links to the Jack-the-Ripper murders were seldom exposed. In this accessible and vibrant account, Elizabeth Hurren brings to life lost pauper stories recovered from the asylums, infirmaries, workhouses, body dealers, railway men and undertakers that supplied the medical profession with dissection subjects. The details of those trading networks, corpse sales, body parts fees, railway transportation costs and funeral expenses have never been documented before now, yet this economy of supply in the dead underpinned modern medicine. In Dying for Victorian Medicine, Hurren allows us to look for the first time into the human face of abject poverty, working back in the archives from death to touch the lives of those compelled by pauperism to give up a loved one's body for dissection.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

400 pages, ebook

First published December 2, 2011

Reviews

[Kasey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very interesting and very informative. Hurrent went very far in her research and it’s very impressive what she was able to discover. However, it’s a bit dry to read, especially when there are lists and lists of names and numbers. I know it’s important to the research, so no deduction for it—just made casual reading (which is clearly not the intended audience) a little harder.

[Cadie Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was well written and very informative.