# What trade in human organs?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 28, 2005, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-trade-in-human-organs/310123 "2005-06-28T00:54:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rabbit)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-trade-in-human-organs/310123/1 "2005-06-28T00:54:06Z")
[This](http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2005-06-27T130832Z_01_L02511216_RTRIDST_0_ODD-ARTS-RIPPER-DC.XML) article in Reuters about Jack the Ripper makes a brief comment about an exisiting trade in human organs during that time period (its in the second page, about halfway down). It only mentions it in passing, but what the heck is he talking about? What sort of trade could there be in human organs in the 1890s? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-trade-in-human-organs/310123/2 "2005-06-28T00:56:50Z")
That would have been for dissection by students of anatomy. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-trade-in-human-organs/310123/3 "2005-06-28T01:20:11Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > That would have been for dissection by students of anatomy. Speaking on anatomy, did you know that 3 planets are aligning themselves in the Heavens? Wait. That’s aquatics. Or astrominity. Bye. P.S. Can I ask you what your user name means? ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-trade-in-human-organs/310123/4 "2005-06-28T05:07:34Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > P.S. Can I ask you what your user name means? “Man, get out!” “Mange tout.” It’s the eternal mystery. I’m pretty sure it’s the second, actually. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-trade-in-human-organs/310123/5 "2005-06-28T11:35:10Z")
> [@rabbit](#): > > What sort of trade could there be in human organs in the 1890s? It appears that Marriott is simply assuming that there was. From [this interview](http://www.casebook.org/authors/interviews/int-tm.html) with him: > [@](#): > > _Have you found similar cases of such post-mortem organ theft in Victorian police records?_ > > **M:** I have not searched to be fair. However it is widely accepted that organs and bodies were in great demand for medical research at that time and I am sure the removal or organs etc for medical research was common practice at post mortems in any event. To put this in some context, it’s important not to get misled by thoughts of Burke and Hare carting their victims off to Dr. Knox, etc. The crucial shift in the supply of bodies and body parts for medical training and research in the UK had been the 1832 Anatomy Act, which clearly established the legalities of dissection and allowed the authorities to requisition the corpses of unfortunates dying in workhouses. Now while the act can - and often is - criticised for the way it stigmitised the poor, it did at least largely solve the supply problem. Though bodysnatching did continue at some reduced level for a couple of decades. But by the time of the Ripper case there were on average over 600 bodies being made available under the Act every year in London alone. Since demand has that tendency to grow as the supply does, there were always complaints that more bodies were needed (as there continue to be under today’s arrangements), but late-Victorian London surgeons weren’t desperately short of corpses.