Before the 1832 Anatomy Act the only legal source of cadavers for medical use was the bodies of executed murderers. As anatomy became the dominant medical discipline of the nineteenth century, the need for bodies as a teaching tool increased exponentially. Hutton looks at Manchester and Oxford to provide a comparative history of anatomical study. Using the Anatomy Act as a focal point, she examines how these two cities dealt with the need for bodies over two centuries. The Appendix provides data relating to numbers of medical students and availability of bodies compiled directly from contemporary records.

"'a welcome addition to the literature of human dissection in England... based on excellent research, and provides an admirable analysis of corpse procurement and the place of anatomy in medical education.'"