USE OF THE DEAD
TO THE
LIVING.
FROM THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW.
ALBANY:
PRINTED BY WEBSTERS AND SKINNERS.
——
1827.
ADVERTISEMENT.
The following pages contain an article extracted from the WestminsterReview, an English periodical of considerable reputation. On itsappearance in Great Britain, it excited great attention; and, indeed,has been there reprinted in a cheap form for general distribution. Theauthor (Dr. Southwood Smith) deserves the thanks of the community forthe talents he has displayed, and the lucid and powerful manner in whichhe has investigated the important subject under consideration.
The editors believe that they are discharging a duty to the community inpresenting it to them for perusal and consideration. They will notconceal their wishes, that it may have a favorable effect on a bill nowpending before the Legislature. Both in a general point of view, as wellas with reference to the particular institution to be benefitted, thearguments are particularly applicable; nor will an enlightened body ofmen be deterred from doing what they may deem their duty by theunparalleled impudence of those who now cry out against monopoly, whenthey have risen into importance by monopoly, and have, always, while itsuited their views, been its most persecuting and vindictive advocates.
It is due to truth to state, that the suggestion of the republication ofthis article, originated with a member of the Senate of this state, andwho does not belong to the profession.
February, 1827.
USE OF THE DEAD TO THE LIVING.
FROM THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW.
An Appeal to the Public and to the Legislature, on the necessityof affording Dead Bodies to the Schools of Anatomy, by LegislativeEnactment. By William Mackenzie. Glasgow. 1824.
Every one desires to live as long as he can. Every one values health"above all gold and treasure." Every one knows that as far as his ownindividual good is concerned, protracted life and a frame of body soundand strong, free from the thousand pains that flesh is heir to, areunspeakably more important than all other objects, because life andhealth must be secured before any possible result of any possiblecircumstance can be of consequence to him. In the improvement of the artwhich has for its object the preservation of health and life, everyindividual is, therefore, deeply interested. An enlightened physicianand a skilful surgeon, are in the daily habit of administering to theirfellow men more real and unquestionable good, than is communicated, orcommunicable by any other class of human beings to another. Ignorantphysicians and surgeons are the most deadly enemies of the community:the plague itself is not so destructive; its ravages are at distantintervals, and are accompanied with open and alarming notice of itspurpose and power; theirs are constant, silent, secret; and it is whilethey are looked up to as saviours, with the