Anatomy on trial: Itinerant anatomy museums in mid nineteenth-century England

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn the mid nineteenth century there were several travelling collections of anatomical waxworks in England. Their stated aim was to educate the public, especially women, about health, particularly reproductive health, to which end their proprietors gave demonstrations, sold pamphlets, and in some cases practised medicine. Most large population centres on the railway network played host to a museum and the total number of visitors is estimated at over a million. Despite a lack of complaints from the public, there was opposition from the magistrates which resulted in a series of prosecutions on charges of obscenity. Owing to their impermanence and their reputation as indecent exhibitions, these itinerant anatomy museums all but disappeared from cultural histories of nineteenth-century England. They were, however, sufficiently successful in engaging with audiences that they briefly challenged the monopoly that the medical profession — newly unified under the Medical Act — exercised over the study of anatomy.