|
|
Medical history book reviews and notices from British Society for the History of Medicine |
BSHM Home Page - Affiliated Societies - Congresses
by AW Bates.
Sussex Academic Press,
2010. Hardback. 228 + ix pages. ISBN 978-1-84519-381-2
Ordering (UK) Gazelle book services,
for other countries see
Sussex Academic Press ordering page.
We received two copies, one from Gazelle book services and one from the author, and have two reviews.
Review by Dr Ann Ferguson:
This very fully researched book by A W Bates give a very full description of the life of Robert Knox, and the times
in which he lived. It has a comprehensive bibliography, a detailed index and is well annotated. It will be of
immense use to the serious student of medical history. It is not an easy narrative read, however, and needs to be
studied sitting at a desk rather than in an armchair.
Review by Dr Barbara Hawgood:
The book gives a detailed, thoughtful account of the life of Robert Knox from his birth in 1791 until his death in 1862,
a period in which new, radical ideas were in the air. Anatomists interested in the higher, philosophical or
transcendental level of their subject were grappling with the problem of the formation of new species independent
of design or providence and from an early stage Knox was attracted to the subject. During his military service as
a hospital assistant he was posted to Waterloo then the Cape of Good Hope where he developed a lifelong interest
in comparative anatomy and the races of man. Later Knox studied anatomy in Paris where he was influenced by the
theories of Geoffroy and Cuvier. In Edinburgh Knox began to teach and write and, eventually, took over an anatomy
school. He was a brilliant lecturer. He taught the theory of a common vertebrate plan to medical students and
interspersed his talk and demonstration of descriptive anatomy with a discussion of comparative anatomy,
embryology and the transcendental (a kind of nature mysticism). Dissection was anticipated to give information
on the origins and inter-relationships of animals and man, and interest became overwhelming. Much later Knox was
portrayed as a doctor who whipped up such enthusiasm for anatomy that it became "a science run mad". Certainly
between 1826 and1834 the average number of students in Knox’s class was 335; students paid an additional fee to
be guaranteed "subjects" to dissect. Inevitably Burke and Hare became a supplier of bodies to the school. The scandal
of the Westport murders of 1828-9 and his delight in witty but scathing comments on the work of his contemporaries
contributed to the failure of Knox to obtain a University appointment. The passing of the 1832 Anatomy Act and
Knox’s opposition to its implementation led eventually to the decline of his anatomy school. The centre of anatomy
teaching moved from Edinburgh to London. Knox moved too and in London he turned to public lecturing and writing,
including major works on the races of man, on art and anatomy, the history of transcendental anatomy and a manual
of human anatomy.
Throughout the book Alan Bates sets the scene of contemporary life. The reader is introduced to life in Edinburgh, to the leading anatomists of the day, French, Scottish and English, to current theories of the formation of new species and, finally, to Darwin. Although Knox, now near the end of his life, never accepted Darwin’s evolutionary theory he stopped writing about transcendental anatomy. A sense of the complex personality of Knox develops, ambitious, gifted and flawed - capable of deep love for his wife and children and zeal for his subject, anatomy, but also of hiding his ‘socially inferior’ family and of ignoring the mathematics of the supply of bodies. Alan Bates draws on numerous sources, 59 publications by Knox are included in the bibliography, in describing the contribution of Robert Knox to anatomy, both descriptive and philosophical, as his reputation as a leading surgical anatomist is being restored. Those interested in the history of human anatomy, in social history and in anthropology will find a wealth of information within.
Copyright 2010 David Hawgood and the British Society for the History of Medicine
This page by David Hawgood
was amended 30 April 2010