The Study of Anatomy in Britain, 1700–1900 by Fiona Hutton

Author:Fiona Hutton [Hutton, Fiona]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General, Medical
ISBN: 9781317319320
Google: UIBECgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2015-10-06T16:10:51+00:00

Manchester Schools and the Anatomy Inspectorate

Joseph Jordan was the first to give a set of organized anatomy lectures and demonstrations in Manchester from 1812, and his school later became known as the Mount Street School. Thomas Turner began teaching in a more fully organized school at Pine Street in 1824, eventually taking over Jordan’s institution. In 1829 Thomas Fawdington (1795–1843),16 after serving four years as lecturer in pathology at Mount Street, founded the Marsden Street School along with Thomas Boutflower (1797–1889),17 which lasted for ten years. This school became uneconomic: in 1839 it had just fourteen students to Pine Street’s sixtyfive.18 Arthur Dumville (1813–71)19 and George Southam (1815–76)20 started the Chatham Street School in 1850, and this school ran successfully until 1856, when it amalgamated with Pine Street. These mergers will be examined in detail, particularly the takeover of Jordan’s school by Turner in 1836. It is apparent that this development was very probably a direct result of the Anatomy Act and sporadic shortages of bodies over the period. Turner’s dominance was assisted by his relationship with the office of the Anatomy Inspector.

A survey of Somerville’s London correspondence with parish officers ‘yields a wide use of name-dropping, influence and manipulation of power, which was quite frequently based on bluff’.21 This was echoed in the provinces, and the Inspectorate records are full of complaints from outraged and disappointed provincial anatomists. Somerville was concerned about this from the very start of the new office, and the problem followed successive inspectors. In a letter to Edward Wallis in Hull on 2 October 1832, Somerville wrote, ‘The difficulties that you apprehend are similar to those experienced in London and in several other places, but I cannot help thinking that by your perseverance you will ultimately succeed in overcoming the prejudices to which you allude’. On the same date he wrote to Mr Sands Cox in Birmingham: ‘I regret to hear that you are likely to meet with any opposition more especially from such a source but I trust the governors of the Hospital will be made fully sensible of your claims’.22

One of Somerville’s immediate tasks was to outline the extent of anatomy instruction available in the provincial towns, listing student numbers and bodies available for the previous session of study.23 Manchester had two recorded schools, but the return did not include Jordan’s school, which failed to submit any figures. Pine Street had sixty-four students dissecting thirty bodies, and Marsden Street had thirty pupils and seventeen bodies.24 These figures indicate that Manchester was by far the biggest centre for anatomy and dissection outside the metropolitan centre. Immediately after the passing of the Act, the two leading lights of medical teaching in Manchester, at a public dinner to celebrate the new theatre at Pine Street, expressed their optimism for the future and their belief in the importance of Manchester in medical education. One speech-maker

congratulated the members of the medical profession, in all branches, who were present and he congratulated society, that the time had now arrived

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.