Mystery of Anatomy: Robert Knox

Abstract

Anatomy has been an integral part of medical education for thousands of years. From the past to the present, the corpses on the dissection tables have often been the bodies of people dismissed by the community, such as dead prisoners or the homeless. While dissection studies continued in a similar manner until the early nineteenth century, the works of Robert Knox, an anatomist from Edinburgh, played an important role in the emergence of the Anatomy Act, one of the most striking developments in the field of anatomy. Robert Knox was a scientist not only interested in anatomy but also art. His contributions to anatomy and his work in the field of art failed to attract sufficient and necessary attention due to murders of innocent people committed by William Hare and William Burke. They murdered these people in order to ensure the supply of cadavers to anatomists and physicians and compromised Robert Knox as a knowing participant. This study aims to bring Robert Knox’s contributions to anatomy and art to light by considering the period in which he lived, the Industrial Revolution.