to the House of Commons
that the establishment of a Board, such as that proposed by the Bill, was
virtually placing the whole profession of surgery under the control of
Commissioners, not one of whom need be a member of the profession, and the
majority of whom must not be so.

Another fault of the Bill was that it did not apply to Ireland. A large
supply of bodies was regularly sent from that country to England and
Scotland, and it was felt that to exclude Ireland from the provisions of
the Bill, was simply increasing the temptation for bodies to be still more
largely exported therefrom.

It was also argued that the Bill would tell hardly against the poor, as
they would refuse to go into workhouses or hospitals if they thought that
their bodies would be dissected after death. For this objection there was
no foundation, and Mr. Peel pointed out, in the debate on the third
reading, that "it was the poor who would really be benefited by the
measure. The rich could always command good advice, whilst the poor had a
strong interest in the general extension of anatomical science."

The Bill passed the Commons, but was lost in the Lords.

In 1830, Lord Calthorpe was to have again introduced the Bill into the
Upper House, but the intention was abandoned on account of the threatened
dissolution of Parliament. As the _Lancet_ expressed it, "Dissolution has
so many horrors, that a discussion on the _subject_ at the present time
would be by no means agreeable."

Public feeling was now very strong in favour of some law to prevent the
wholesale spoliation of graves, which was going on practically unchecked.
But, as has happened frequently in legislation, the absolute necessity for
a change in the law was brought within the range of practical politics by
a crime of a most diabolical character, one which, in this country,
created a sensation equal to that raised in Scotland by the atrocities of
Burke and Hare in Edinburgh.

On November 5th, 1831, two men, named Bishop and May, called at the
dissecting-room at King's College, and asked Hill, the porter, if he
"wanted anything." On being interrogated as to what they had to dispose
of, May replied, "A boy of fourteen." For this body they asked 12
guineas, but ultimately agreed to bring it in for 9 guineas. They went
off, and returned in the afternoon with another man named Williams,
_alias_ Head, and a porter named Shields, the latter of whom carried the
body in a hamper. The appear