as
only right that after death those bodies should be handed over to be
dissected for the public good. Another correspondent proposed that all
bodies of suicides should be used for dissection, and that all those
persons who came to their death by duelling, prize-fighting, or
drunkenness, should be handed over to the surgeons for a similar purpose.

Mr. Dermott, the proprietor of the Gerrard Street, or Little Windmill
Street, School of Medicine, proposed a scheme by which a fund was to be
raised by grants from Government, and from the College of Surgeons, and by
voluntary contributions from the nobility and gentry. This fund was to be
invested in the names of "opulent and respectable men," not more than
one-third of whom were to be members of the medical profession. It was
proposed to expend the interest on this fund in paying a sum not exceeding
seven pounds to those persons who were willing to contract for the sale of
their bodies for dissection. Registers were to be kept of all such
persons, and the Committee were to have the power of claiming the body six
hours after death. Mr. Dermott also suggested that all medical men should
leave their own bodies to be used for anatomical teaching. It is hardly
necessary to point out the absurdity of the first part of this scheme; the
Committee, after paying their seven pounds, would have had no control over
the subsequent movements of the persons whose bodies they had thus
purchased, and it was hardly to be expected that friends of the deceased
would send notice to the Committee that the body was ready for them. Both
parts of the scheme would have required an Act of Parliament, as executors
were not bound to give up a corpse, even though instructions had been left
that it was a person's wish that his body should be used for anatomical
purposes. Many such bequests have been made, and in some instances the
desire of the testator has been carried into effect. To try to do away
with some of the prejudices against dissection, Jeremy Bentham left his
body for this purpose; the dissection was duly carried out at the Webb
Street School, and at the request of Dr. Southwood Smith, Mr. Grainger
delivered the following oration over the body on June 9th, 1832:

"Gentlemen,--In presenting myself before you this day, at the request of
my friend and colleague, Dr. Southwood Smith, I can assure you I do so
strongly impressed with the high importance of the duty I have undertaken,
and the respons