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The Knife Man: Blood, Body Snatching, and the Birth of Modern Surgery

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Wendy Moore's history of John Hunter, the almost cult figure who was, quite simply, a full advocate of the scientific method and thus not only the grandfather of modern surgical techniques but also an early proponent of evolution, almost a hundred years before Darwin, is a fascinating and enlightening read.

I picked up this book because I have an almost obsessive fixation with the ways of ancient medicine--bloodletting and such. Moore's book fully explores the techniques of the time that John Hunter worked against, not so much out of pure rebelliousness but through a simple desire to provide his patients the best care he could manage and take the time to study the human body and related organisms to find how anatomy worked. The methodology of the 18th century was almost empericial in nature--doctors studied their patients from afar and usually prescribed treatment to barbers, who did all the nasty work. In fact, doctors weren't even expected to know anatomy and sometimes followed texts written by ancient Greeks when it came to medical knowledge. Moore is fair not to paint EVERY practitioner that way (for others, like John Hunter's own brother William seemed to have a vested interest in exploring the mysteries of the human body), for John Hunter did not have to work totally alone and in the dark, but this book details well the lengths John Hunter went through to learn about human anatomy and how nature works--endless hours of study dissecting human and animal subjects to form himself a menagerie of preserved anatomies and thorough documentation of his findings, which kept him busy almost seventeen hours a day easily.

And, Moore of course details the lengths John Hunter went through to get his case studies. Hunter did nothing short of grave robbing and human experimentation in his studies, receiving cadavers through a back door of his lab like some Dr. Frankenstein, or paying the poor for their use in experiments of his own. It is even related in one chapter that Hunter even possibly experimented on himself when trying to determine whether syphilis and gonorrhea were the same virus or two different diseases altogether.

Hunter's conclusions were not always accurate (or correct), and though he had found many techniques that became the basis for a lot of modern surgical practice, he didn't know all that much about sterilization, so many of his ideas were hindered by poor practice.

But this book is a wonderful study of a scientific mind, one that worked off of evidence and study rather than accepting knowledge without criticism from up on high. He proposed that monkey skulls and human skulls were quite similar and most likely formed from the same stem. Of course, Hunter had his critics in his time and his naysayers, but Moore gets quite deeply into the life and studies of this genius to whom we owe great debts. The book is also a great reminder that ideas don't come out of nowhere but are often developed over time--centuries, even. Was Hunter the true author of evolution and natural selection? No, for Darwin was the one who found the mechanism of evolution, so this book makes a great case for the evolution of ideas as well as the evolution of surgery. And along the way, many notables of history step in to make stage appearances--certainly, following the life of John Hunter is also following the story of 18th century thought and art.

Moore is a little too thrilled at times with the depth of her research, and some chapters become a little distracting for its weight of detail, but overall this is a great read, full of surprising and weighty information, and most of all the presentation of a thoughtful, rational mind--something that we don't really praise nowadays.

We take so much of our medical care for granted these days, and forget that we have only actually had such choices for lives without pain or crippling illnesses within the last 150 years. In other medical history books, most of them deal with the changes in public health, the use of microscopy to find bacteria and later viruses, the slow and serendipitous findings of antibiotics. This was the first book I've come across that dealt with surgery. It caught my eye because I had read about the use of 'body snatchers', men who either dug up freshly buried bodies or would never bury them in the first place, and sell them to physicians and others who were trying to understand more about the human body. This particular 'horror' was one of the first major bioethical problems, as universities needed to train physicians, but experimenting on human beings was forbidden (and rightfully so), but at the same time, they needed to have someway of understanding how the human body works. Many men before Hunter used animals in experimentation, and even that was frowned upon, but to those like Hunter and Leonardo da Vinci, there was no way to elucidate how to help people when their bodies were so different from those of other animals. Until the late 1700's physicians were still relying on archaic medical practices that had no basis in reality, and much of what was done to patients just made things worse (such as the use of bleeding to purge the body of humours).

Hunter obviously was an immensely intelligent man who used 'resurrection men' to get him the bodies he needed not only to teach himself the best way to operate on things like aneurysms, but also to teach anatomy to his students. It's amazing the amount of good science he did manage to do under such bad conditions, and it is also amazing that he managed to get away with everything he did (stealing bodies) and never getting lynched by crowds. The stuff he did was necessary to make strides forward in using surgery to relieve pain and prolong lives, and unfortunately, he couldn't have done it without being able to carefully study the human body.

Hunter had a wide body of friends and admirers, as well as enemies. Many of these men like Benjamin Franklin were like him in trying to extend scientific inquiry. What made Hunter different from say the awful scientists in Germany during World War II, is that he never did anything to hurt a living person, and used what knowledge he gained from all this to benefit mankind. The worst thing he probably did was grab the body of the man known to be the tallest of that time period after the man died of alcoholism along with his body problems. This type of collecting was very much the rage back then, when curiosities were displayed in private homes, and later were bequeathed to museums. This is how many museums in England and the U.S. got their start, and there are still medically driven museums like one in Philadelphia (Mutter, I think), that consisted of oddities and mutations in human development. I am sure Hunter probably did some things that would definitely not pass muster nowdays ethically, but because men like him did this stuff, we no longer have to.

The research for this book was outstanding, and so was the writing. This type of book makes me thankful for living in a time period where we can get decent medical care...now if we could just extend it to all, and do so ethically, it would make me happier. One thing about guys like Hunter, is they were not afraid to experiment on themselves, which was not always the smart thing to do, but they could not have foreseen the outcomes of what they did to themselves.

Karen Sadler

John Hunter was a blunt, irascible sort who was not disposed to accept established opinions on health and the functionings of the human body. Living in London during the 18th century, he quickly developed a reputation as an iconoclast who rejected tradition and sought to learn as much as he could about human anatomy. This necessitated a strong stomach and a willingness to flout the law. Since dissecting a human body was against the law, Hunter and others who wished to do so had to be willing to deal with unsavory body snatchers who haunted cemeteries and execution sites.

This fascinating biography is divided into chapters with headings similar to those found in hard boiled detective stories. Each describes one of Hunter's famous human or animal dissections and traces the expansion of knowledge that resulted. The descriptions are colorful and vivid and do an excellent job of depicting the full sight, sound, and smell of London in the 1700s. The stories of Hunter's dissections and his surgeries, many surprisingly complex and invasive despite the lack of anesthesia and antiseptics, fill the reader with awe and admiration.

As a retired surgeon I found this biography of anatomist-surgeon John Hunter fascinating. It has a readable style that both informs and entertains as we are led through the dark medical universe of 18th century London, where the average life expectancy was 35 years due to the abysmal public health conditions of the day and a medical system based on blood-letting and other mythologies, and learn of the achievements of this towering figure in the advance of medicine and surgery who is not well known or recognized beyond establishment circles today.

In our modern world of miraculous medical achievements we too often take for granted the scientific approach initially promulgated by John Hunter. Living in London in the mid-1700s this Scottish-born, brilliant yet eccentric surgeon, who was both an ardent naturalist and an innovator of medical practice, was a voice in the wilderness of his day. His common sense approach has been responsible for our emergence from a world of superstition and quackery into today's era of rational science that has increased longevity and relief from so many debilitating maladies.

A man of intense curiosity and self-confidence, Hunter bucked the medical establishment in demanding that objective criteria be the basis of determining the efficacy of medical intervention. Over several decades of intense study and research on human and animal bodies, made possible by the controversial practice of obtaining "material" for his dissection laboratory of fresh corpses from the grave yards of London, he catalogued the gross and minute anatomic principles of the living body and opened the door to a logical understanding of the normal and the pathological features of health and disease. Along the way his work convinced him that the biblical account of history was wrong, and being unafraid to challenge the popular wisdom of his era he did not hesitate to publish his subversive opinions about evolution that preceded Darwin by more than half a century.

As his reputation grew Hunter attracted hundreds of students and disciples to his laboratory, out of whom came many of the most notable medical leaders of the next generation, both in Europe and in America. One of his favorites was Edward Jenner, the discoverer of vaccination, which ultimately eliminated the scourge of smallpox from the face of the earth. Jenner acknowledged his master when he put forth his basic principles for the practice of medicine. These he summarized thusly: first is the priority to look after the patient; next the importance of a continuous quest for knowledge, that is, to read; third is the value of research, not to merely assume, but to "do the experiment"; and finally the responsibility to teach those that follow.

In his successful effort to convince the world of the efficacy of vaccination against smallpox Jenner followed the Hunterian formula of exposition. It begins with the statement of a thesis, then a review of existing knowledge on the subject (in current parlance, a review of the literature), a presentation of an hypothesis, a description of the experiment with "materials and methods", a disclosure of the results with a discussion, and finally a conclusion. This is the scientific method introduced by John Hunter that is used today that has produced the advances in medicine that have so benefitted mankind.

This book deserves wide circulation. It is not only profoundly informative but also produces repeated literary pleasures with each turn of the page for both the expert and lay person alike. We are indebted to Wendy Moore for this fascinating review of the life and achievements

When I began reading this book, I wasn't expecting a page turner. How wrong I was! Whether your interest is the biography of an uncoventional man, the history of medicine, insight into the stratified society of Edwardian England, or you are simply fascinated by eccentric bits of information, this is a book you'll have trouble putting down. Wendy Moore's prose is crisp and clear, and she makes it easy (and enjoyable) for her reader to discover the implications of John Hunter's obessions and his ground-breaking work.

Although it is never deliberately torrid or sensational, this *is* a book about the beginnings of modern surgery. It is not for the squeamish. The book's quirky and intriging chapter titles only begin to suggest the broad range of Hunter's scientific interests--The Chimney Sweep's Teeth, The Surgeon's Penis, The Lizard's Tail, The Pregnant Woman's Womb, The Debutante's Spots. Hunter's insatiable curiousity about the workings of nature and, especially, the human body were unfettered by modern (or even conventional Edwardian) sensibilities or ethics. His brilliant techniques for dissecting corpses and preparing specimens are descibed in graphic detail, as are the revolutionary medical procedures he pioneered while treating living patients. As with many scientists of his era, Hunter had few scruples about animal experimentation--despite the author's understated language, Hunter's enquiries into the workings of the lymphatic system, cryogenics, and organ transplantation were particularly difficult to stomach.

I used to regard 18th Century England with as much abhorrence as 20th Century English cooking. It represented all that was stuffy, gaudy but bland, artificial but not artful. I think I'd been prejudiced by the experience of reading Alexander Pope in high school. I was dreadfully wrong. Georgian England was an amazingly creative, dynamic, convivial society, though the hazards of life might still make retro-reincarnation a hard sell. What has changed my mind is a series of wonderful books about the growth of a scientific community, chiefly outside the universities and the upper classes, in Scotland and England in the 1700s.

The current book, The Knife Man, is my most recent "discovery". As another reviewer has said, it's a model biography of John Hunter, a pioneer surgeon and anatomist, but it's also a thoughtful dissection of the culture within which he flourished, and a quick tour of medical history from ancient Greece to 1800 or so. It is certainly a work of scholarship, well researched and documented, but it's also a "novel of facts" in readability.

Other books on the same era that I've enjoyed are: The Man Who Found Time; The Lunar Men; A World on Fire. See my listmania: Science as History

The amazing story of John Hunter is as much a reflection of his times and the leap from blind faith in ancient practices to medical practice based on experiment and observation. Wendy Moore is occasionally repetitive. For example, she frequently emphasizes (in nearly identical language) Hunter's popularity with his students. It is an important point, as it lead to popularizing the idea of scientific surgery and disciplined inquiry but, like some other themes, perhaps mentioned a bit often. She often mentions Hunter as witty, but there are no examples (and maybe none exist in the historic record). I often read while eating: not recommended with sections of this book which describe in vivid and effective detail some of the procedures -- including vivisection in this era before anesthetics. Queasy or not, the descriptions are clear and help the reader understand Hunter's approach and huge range of inquiries. These are all small complaints. This is a fascinating book, illustrating not just the beginnings of scientific inquiry but the stubborn, idealistic and iconoclastic character of the sort of person who can change history. Hunter advanced not simply surgery but came within a hairsbreadth of espousing evolution a generation before Darwin, geologic change affecting physiology, and predicting genetic and environmental impact on organisms...all in the face of a unyielding and vindictive medical establishment. A very worthy read -- just not at dinnertime.

This is a fine book that nicely weighs the character assets and liabilities of pioneer surgeon John Hunter. "The Knife Man," like Hunter's work on the human body, can be appreciated by the medical technician as well as the curious layman. You may even consider leaving your body to science after finishing this volume.

Hunter should be placed among the luminaries of the Scottish Enlightenment along side David Hume (related through marriage) and Adam Smith, both patients of Hunter. Author Wendy Moore nicely draws the doggedness of the surgeon from his early experiments on dogs until his death at London's St. George's Hospital engaged in a Kierkegaard-esqe final flourish against the establishment of his day.

Charles Darwin's theory of evolution gave fresh legs to Hunter's after life but it's the scientific method's application to surgery and the human body and teaching hospitals and research centers worldwide that is Doctor Hunter's true legacy.

Like Hume, Hunter is what we might call a crusading conservative. The doctor showed this through the high value he placed on the natural healing powers of earthly systems, especially the human body (evidence: his conservative approach to treating gunshot wounds). Moore also informs us that Hunter was a political royalist, indicating that he knew (as Hume did) that the social world is held together by sentiment and tradition (not rationalism). Hume also taught that passion, not reason, is the greatest creative force. Hunter lived that ethic fully. That passion would cause him to challenge the status quo, making him much like Ron Paul (who also happens be a doctor/surgeon) - the most loved and also the most hated. As Moore nicely surmises on page 139 (paperback edition, 2005) - "Few people were indifferent to John Hunter."

Genius brings frustration and sometimes tragedy. Again, Moore steps back nicely to scan the breadth of history - "Quite simply, the language to explain some of Hunter's doctrines did not yet exist." (p.174). Hunter and fellow anatomists received brickbats from several elevated souls - Robert Louis Stevenson in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and William Blake's "Island in the Moon." These shots were justified and efficacious in using fiction and poetry to get at a gnawing moral dilemma. One can detect how the march of anatomy and surgery left the door open for Jack The Ripper. Yet the drives of Hunter and his critics ultimately lead to Great Britain's Anatomy Act (1832), which ended body snatching and helped create today's autopsy environment in which respect is a central value.

Hunter's ethos was/is decidedly pro-life right down to the inconvenient truth he uncovered in showing that blood systems of mother and fetus are not connected (p. 60). The abortionists probably won't recognize this in their drive to maintain the fiction that the baby is "part of the woman's body."

The only way in which Moore disappoints is in the considerable space she gives to attacking religious doctrine. She contrasts John Hunter's unorthodox religious perspective with the more traditional views of Hunter's brother and medical partner, William (p.195). Did the fact that William Hunter was a regular church-goer make him a worse doctor? Did believing in the Book of Genesis cause William to accidentally kill some of his patients? Moore doesn't write that but, in employing John Hunter as an evolutionist sock puppet, she is trying to discredit religion among physicians.

Our able author is wasting valuable energy fueling the false argument between biblicalists and evolutionists. The Soncino Chumash commentary "Jewish Views on Evolution" (p. 194, edited by Rabbi J.H. Hertz) settles the issue - There is evolution but that doesn't mean it's out of G-d's control. Some evolutionists might feel better positing "nature" is out of G-d's control but it's something they can never prove. And they'll always be haunted by the grand fact that Hume pointed out - "The whole frame of nature bespeaks an intelligent author."

From where I'm standing it looks like there's evolution going on around man but the integrity of the human body remains constant. Where are the men being born with tails? Where are the monkeys who can talk? No other species are infringing the integrity of the human body or becoming more human. That was true in John Hunter's day and it's just as true today. Despite her desperate evolutionist absolutism, Wendy Moore's biography of Dr. Hunter is a cut above.

I chose this book initially because of my interest in resurrection men. The Knife Man gives the reader ample insight into the quest for medical knowledge and how it brought surgeons in league with the criminal element of Georgian London.

However, The Knife Man provides so much more than the topic that sparked my interest. It's a fascinating portrait of John Hunter, the innovative, uncompromising anatomist / surgeon / naturalist... Really, his work was of such astonishing breadth and depth, one would have a difficult time trying to pin a single label on him.

Moore's book is eminently readable. She does a marvelous job of explaining anatomical and surgical concepts so they are accessible to the lay reader. Further, she details absolutely mind boggling insight into the work of a man who arrived at the concept of evolution (though he never used that word) nearly a century before Darwin published On the Origin of Species.

If you are interested in history, surgery, science, nature, or just well written biographies, you will enjoy The Knife Man.

The Knife Man is an exciting biography about John Hunter, one of the most important men contributing to modern medicine. Moore paints a vivid picture of the man who above all else stayed true to experimentations and loyal in his pursuit and dedication to discovery. Although Hunter's task seemed gruesome and invasive, his methods were pivotal in advancing surgical techniques, anatomy and understanding the spreading of disease. While learning about the man, Moore also exposes the dirty underground of body snatching, corruption and exploitation of the poor. Even though this is a biography, Moore weaves details with facts into a dark setting that remains cast in the shadows.