The Impact of the 1832 Anatomy Act in Ireland

The Anatomy Act provided a legal supply of cadavers for medical research and education, in reaction to public fear and revulsion of the illegal trade in corpses. The act gave the anatomists legal access to bodies that were unclaimed after death, in particular those who died in workhouses or asylums and other charitable institutions. This paper will explore the relationship between the state and the medical profession, exploring how the system operated at a micro level, when workhouses and medical schools cooperated in the supply and use of cadavers. Within the context of wider British and European trends in medical education, the case of Ireland highlights the importance of wider social concerns when examining developments in the medical profession. Struggles within the medical profession in Ireland often reflected religious and social tensions, not evident in other states, and the process of medical professionalization in Ireland proceeded along a trajectory determined by a complex interplay of socio-religious and political factors. Focusing on a key event within that process, the introduction and operation of the Anatomy Act, illuminates not only a central aspect of Irish medical history, but also the importance of the socio-cultural environment in determining the development of the profession following region-wide state-driven legislation. In the Irish context, for example, religious sensitivities regarding the treatment of dead bodies could only be heightened by the fact that the majority of anatomical training was provided by Protestants, but the majority of pauper bodies were Catholic. As well as exploring the interplay between state and profession, this paper will examine the disjunction between disjuncture between professional and lay views of anatomy.