would find
them guilty of the latter part of the charge. The only bodies legally
liable to dissection in this country were those of persons executed for
murder. However necessary it might be, for the purposes of humanity and
science, that these things should be done, yet, as long as the law
remained as it was at present, the disinterment of bodies for dissection
was an offence liable to punishment. The jury found all the defendants not
guilty of the charge of conspiracy, but they pronounced Davies and
Blundell guilty of possession of the body, with knowledge of the illegal
disinterment. The defendants were brought up for judgment in London in
May, 1828. Mr. Justice Bayley, in passing sentence, said that "there were
degrees of guilt, and in this case the defendants were not the most
criminal parties." He sentenced Davies to a fine of L20, and Blundell to a
fine of L5.

It will be noted that in this trial there is no charge against anyone for
violating the grave, or stealing the body. The fines were inflicted on
Davies and Blundell for having the body in their possession, knowing it to
have been disinterred. This decision, therefore, as before stated, was of
the utmost importance to teachers of anatomy, as they were clearly liable
to punishment for all the subjects supplied to them by the
Resurrectionists. The teachers knew well the sources from which the bodies
were obtained, and were only driven to get them in the way they did
through there being no regular supply of subjects from a legitimate
source. The feeling that legislation on this subject was absolutely
necessary, was more keenly felt than ever, and the teachers did all they
could to get a change in the laws. Many pamphlets were issued from the
press, urging this duty upon Parliament; it was pointed out that if a
supply of bodies could be regularly obtained in a legal way, the trade of
the Resurrectionist would at once cease. There were many who doubted this,
but subsequent events proved the statement to be strictly accurate.

[Illustration: _Surgical Operations, or a New method of Obtaining
Subjects._]

It was very strongly urged that the Act of Geo. II., which ordered the
bodies of all murderers executed in London and Middlesex to be anatomized
by the Surgeons' Company, ought to be repealed. No doubt this provision
much increased the dislike of the poor to any regulations by which the
bodies of their friends might be given up for dissection after death.