How did all those bones end up in a pit at Fort Mason? The Anatomy Act, that’s how! In this episode, Courtney takes us through the history of using human cadavers to learn about medicine — whether people liked it or not. What started out as punishment for criminal acts turned into punishment for being poor. We’ll talk about how this practice evolved from England to the US, from the East Coast to the West, and how the bodies of the poor and marginalized fed the study of medicine and anatomy.

Links & References

Death, Dissection, and the Destitute by Ruth Richardson

The Butchering Art by Lindsay Fitzharris

Archaeology and Bioarchaeology of Anatomical Dissection at a Nineteenth-Century Army Hospital in San Francisco by Willey et al

On Penn’s dubious collection of human remains

China Turns Out Mummified Bodies for Display

Surgeon’s Hall Museum, Edinburgh - home of Burke’s death mask

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

Reuters Investigates: The Body Trade

Photo of a Mortsafe

A note from Courtney On Mathus:

The Malthusian theory - sometimes called the Malthusian trap - posits that if population growth outpaces agricultural production, famine will result, which will lead to more poverty and declining birth rates, leading to societal collapse. His work was used to justify eugenic forms of population control (Including the New Poor Acts) - and although Malthusianism has since come to be identified with the issue of general over-population, the original Malthusian concern was more specifically with the fear of over-population by the dependent poor. Still not a fan.

Workers clearing lead-contaminated soil at Fort Mason in 2010 got an unpleasant surprise when they uncovered a pit full of body parts dating back to the 19th century. Beth shares the research into who these early San Franciscans were, why they were buried in a Fort Mason courtyard, and the man most likely responsible: A U.S. Army surgeon named Edwin Bentley.

Sources:

“Archaeology and Bioarchaeology of Anatomical Dissection at a Nineteenth-Century Army Hospital in San Francisco,” edited by P. Willey, Peter Gavette, Eric J. Bartelink and Colleen F. Milligan: https://upf.com/book.asp?id=9781683402664

“Now and Then: Fort Mason,” National Park Service: https://www.nps.gov/goga/learn/photosmultimedia/now-and-then-foma.htm

Dr. Edwin Bentley. Image courtesy of the NIH’s National Library of Medicine: https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-101416384-img?qvq=q:bentley;lc:NLMNLM~1~1&mi=5&trs=8

Check out the books we are reading
https://bookshop.org/lists/dead-reckoning-sources

There’s an unmarked cemetery in the heart of San Francisco, where hundreds, possibly thousands, of graves rest beneath the popular destinations like the Main Library, the Asian Art Museum, and the United Nations Plaza. Beth takes us through the history of this place, once called Yerba Buena Cemetery, and touches on the history of SF burials before and during the Gold Rush.

Sources:

“San Francisco’s Forgotten Cemeteries: A Buried History” by Beth Winegarner: https://www.bethwinegarner.com/san-franciscos-forgotten-cemeteries

“Archaeological monitoring and architectural documentation : San Francisco Main Library project, site of the former City Hall completed in 1897,” City and County of San Francisco: http://sflib1.sfpl.org/record=b1554397~S1

From San Francisco Call, Volume 75, Number 69, 7 February 1894