1. Committee Appointed to Present the View of the College to the Legislature of the State Urging the Passage of a Law Sanctioning the Dissecting of Dead Human Bodies report, 03 April 1867

File — Box: 1

Scope and Contents

From the Collection: The committee reports in this collection are part of the records of the Office of the Secretary of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. The reports span the tenures of six secretaries of the College of Physicians: John H. Packard (1862-1877), William G, Porter (1877-1879), Richard A, Cleemann (1879-1885), Isaac Norris, Jr. (1885-1890), Charles W, Dulles (1890-1896), and Thomas R. Neilson (1896- 1914), The reports, spanning 1867 to 1911, were produced by various ad-hoc committees appointed by the Fellows of the College of Physicians to address issues affecting the College and the medical profession during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Many of these committees existed for only one or two months, their purpose being to prepare a public statement containing recommendations about a particular issue;in many cases, the committees prepared only one report before being discharged. The topics addressed in the reports include legislation affecting the medical profession, public health issues, the invasion of communicable diseases, and the selection of suitable memorials for deceased Fellows. Three of the reports (the Report of the Sub-committee of the Committee on Tablets [1885], the Report of the Committee appointed to Collect and Distribute Funds for the Relief of the Members of the Medical Profession who sustained losses by reason of the Floods at Johnstown [1889], and the Report of the Committee to prepare a memorial of the Late Dr. Samuel Lewis [1891]) were originally contained in the same envelope.

Dates

03 April 1867

Extent

From the Collection: .2 Linear feet (1 half document box)

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Additional Description

Overview

This committee, consisting of William S. Forbes, Samuel D, Gross, and D, Hayes Agnew, was appointed on 6 February 1867. The committee travelled to Harrisburg to express its support of Senator Worthington's "Act for the promotion of Medical Science and to prevent the traffic in dead bodies". This act made legal the distribution of dead bodies buried at public expense to physicians or surgeons in the same city for the promotion of medical science; the act also forbade the transport of bodies from the state. On 18 March 1867, the act was made law. The committee gave its final report and was discharged on 3 April 1867.