The History of Burke and Hare, and of the Resurrectionist Times / A Fragment from the Criminal Annals of Scotland

The account reconstructs the resurrectionist movement and the chain of murders committed to supply cadavers for anatomical study, placing the crimes within their legal, medical, and social context. It surveys earlier prohibitions on dissection, the rise of body‑snatching, the methods by which bodies were obtained and sold, and the investigations, trial, execution, and public reaction that followed. Chapters interweave contemporary ballads, court and medical details, and anecdotal reports to illuminate procedural questions, popular fear and outrage, and the pressures that eventually prompted legislative change to curb grave‑robbing.