Anatomical Museum - Edinburgh University

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Asian elephant skeleton

This elephant was most likely a female as suggested by the lack of tusks.

This skeleton was part of the museum's very extensive comparative anatomy gallery until mid-1950s when the museum was divided into 3 floors to accommodate the increasing need for teaching space. This elephant skeleton is now on display at the entrance on the museum.

William Burke (1792- 1829)

Skeleton of Burke, who was hanged in the Lawnmarket on 28 January 1829 for his role in the 'West Port Murders'. It is thought that he and William Hare were responsible for between 16 and 30 murders, but he was prosecuted for only one - a Mrs Docerty, newly arrived in Edinburgh from Ireland. Only Burke stood trial; Hare had turned King's evidence and testified against his partner. As ordered by the judge, Burke's body was publicly dissected by Professor Alexander Monro primus of the University of Edinburgh.

Burke was an Irish navvy who had come to Scotland to work on the New Union Canal. When that ended, he moved in with Hare, a fellow Ulsterman and navvy, in the West Port area of Edinburgh (near Tollcross). When a fellow lodger died of natural causes, the pair sold his body to Dr Robert Knox, a private anatomy teacher who had set up classes in competition with those run by the University. They then set about finding victims to murder whose disappearance would not be noticed, and whose bodies could be sold to Knox. They are said to have lured victims to their lodging house, where they plied their victims with drink before smothering them.

Life mask of William Hare (1792/1804 - unknown)

William Hare, like William Burke, was an Irish navvy who had come across to Scotland to work on the Union Canal. Born near Newry he was described as being uncouth, illiterate and quarrelsome, altogether a thoroughly unpleasant person by all accounts.

When his employment on the Union Canal ceased, Hare moved into Edinburgh and took up residence in a lodging house in Tanner's Close which was then in a congested, overcrowded area of the town, sandwiched between King Stables Road, the Grassmarket and West Port. Whilst in the lodging house he took a fancy to the wife of the owner of the lodging house, Margaret Laird, which resulted in him being thrown out of the house. However when the owner died shortly afterwards he moved back in and took over the running of the lodging house. It was at this time that William Burke, with his common law wife Helen MacDougall, moved in to the lodging house at the request of Hare which was the beginning of what was to become an unfortunate union between the two.

Shortly after Burke had moved in, an old soldier named Donald, died owing Hare rent money which angered him. Being aware of the demand for bodies by the anatomists in Edinburgh at the time, he decided to get the money he was owed by selling Donald's body on to the anatomists. It was readily received by Dr Robert Knox who is reputed to have said that he would be happy to see Burke and Hare 'under like circumstance in the future'! Thereafter rather than wait until their lodgers died of natural causes, they started to murder them.

When they were finally caught (through carelessness) and arrested, there was insufficient evidence to secure a conviction. As a result Hare was 'persuaded' to give evidence against his fellow murderer Burke which resulted in Burke being found guilty and subsequently hanged in the Lawnmarket on 28 January 1829.

What happened to Hare thereafter is unclear. Some believe that he made his way to London where he was thrown into a lime pit and blinded as a result. He was then said to have spent the rest of his life as a blind beggar on the streets of London. What evidence does exist of his departure from Edinburgh points however to him heading towards Dumfries after which he was believed to have been seen in Carlisle.

Muscles

Painted glazed model showing the muscles distribution throughout the body.

Blood vessels through the head and neck

Erosin cast where the blood vessels have been injected with a resin and where the soft tissues were removed to leave the blood vessels standing out in contrast with the rest of the head and neck.

George Buchanan's skull

Skull of George Buchanan (1506-1582) humanist, historian poet and scholar. In 1653 (or shortly after) the skull was transferred to a place of honour in the University library and thence to the Anatomy collections in 1817.

Abdominal area view from the back

Plaster model of a posterior view looking into the thorax and abdomen with the posterior walls having being removed.

Anthropological measuring devices

Measuring instruments used to identify the skull landscape across various fixed bony points in order to build up a database so a skull could be identified and characterised accordingly. Methods of measurement are now being replaced by laser scanning.

Dermatomes

Glazed papier mache model showing the distribution of dermatomes.

A dermatome is an area of skin innervated by one single spinal nerve. Symptoms that follow a dermatome (e.g. like pain, rash or sensory loss) may indicate a pathology that involves the related sensory nerve.

Juvenile Chimpanzee

Skeleton of a juvenile chimpanzee from early 1920s.

Provenance: Maison Tramond, France

Phrenology bust

Glazed bust of phrenology head showing the key skull areas that were believed to reflect the underlying brain functions. From the shape of the head it was believed that someone's personality characteristics could be identified.

Life mask of George Combe (1788- 1858)

George Combe was born in Edinburgh in 1788. Educated as a lawyer , he founded the 'Edinburgh Phrenological Society' in 1820 and the 'Phrenological journal' in 1823.

John Howison (c. 1788-1832)

 The Curious Case of the Cramond Murderer<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> The skelteon of the eerily nicknamed “Cramond Murderer” was kept at the museum due to its particular historical significance: it was the last cadaver to be given over for dissection after execution before the Anatomy Act of 1832 put an end to the tradition. <o:p></o:p>             But this is not the only point of interest surrounding John Howison. His crime was a gruesome one; accused of entering a ladies home, where once inside, without any obvious motive, proceeded to force a spade down and across her face laying it fully open, resulting in her death. The defence had urged a plea of insanity which was subsequently rejected for lack of adequate medical evidence. His case however, was used by James Simpson, a Scottish advocate who believed the British judicial system needed urgent revision in its treatment of the insane. An account of the extent of Howison’s insanity can be found in the Necessity of Popular Education as a National Object, 1834. It was Simpson’s belief that due to his mental state he was no longer a responsible agent and should therefore have received the Royal mercy.<o:p></o:p> It seems clear that Howison was showing serious signs of mental illness before his crime. According to Simpson, he was a “solitary, silent, wandering individual”, frequenting only the company of a cat and child.  He had become miserably superstitious, fearing supernatural enemies, and had resorted to ceremonies to protect himself such as salting his bed and head, wearing a bible around his neck or wrist and habitually wounded himself by pricking both his hands and feet. He was afflicted by hallucinations, often sitting brushing away flies off his hands for hours where no such could be found. It would seem that Howison had undergone a rapid and profound change of personality. According to his landlady,  he had once been no different from any other man, until one evening, months before his crime, he had returned to his house so dramatically altered in manner and appearance (incredibly filthy and unkept whilst silent and moody) that she almost didn’t recognise him.  He had also developed an excessive appetite; strangely he would often eat two pounds of bullocks liver almost raw and filthy never allowing his food to be cleaned, after which he would gauge himself on bread. During eating he was known to suckle out his own blood from either his wrists or hands between mouthfuls.<o:p></o:p> John Howison was probably suffering from severe paranoid schizophrenia. Today, his symptoms when compared with The ICD-10 and DSM-IV-TR criteria’s for diagnosis look almost a textbook case, but in 1832, schizophrenia had yet to be recognised as an illness. The doctors who testified that he was legally sane, did so on the grounds that he denied his guilt: according to Drs Watson and Spens , this was a sufficient sign of sanity. Thus John Howison was sentenced to be executed by hanging and his body to be given to Dr Munro, of the University, for dissection. On the night of his execution, Howison admitted to eight murderers in total; but, upon investigation, apart from the case of the elderly lady, no other murders had in fact taken place  <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>“If it be true, that there is none of the phenomena of yet imperfectly understood human nature, over which hangs a thicker veil, to the general eye, that the phenomena of mental aberration, what are we to think of making distinctions as if all were clear, between partial and total insanity, and drawing the line of responsibility with perfect confidence” – James Simpson, 1834.

Asian elephant skeleton

This elephant was most likely a female as suggested by the lack of tusks.