Robert Knox (medic)

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Lithograph by Robert Knox

Robert Knox (born September 4, 1791 in Edinburgh , † December 20, 1862 in London ) was a Scottish doctor , scientist and traveler who was involved in the West Port murders .

Life

Knox was the eighth child of a natural philosophy teacher . He attended the Royal High School in Edinburgh . In 1810 he began in Edinburgh with the medical school . Apart from the fact that he once failed his anatomy exam, nothing is known from his university days. After graduating in 1814 and after serving a year at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, he served as an assistant surgeon in the Army. In April 1817 he joined the 72nd Regiment of Foot , was immediately embarked with this to the Cape of Good Hope and stayed there until April 1820. Christmas 1820 he returned to Great Britain. The following October he went to France to study anatomy for a little longer than a year. During this time he met Georges Cuvier and Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire , both of whom he admired throughout his life. At Christmas 1822 he returned to Edinburgh. In 1823 he was elected a member ( Fellow ) of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . Soon after his election, he submitted a plan for an anatomy museum to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh . This plan was accepted and Knox was the curator of the new museum eight months later.

From 1826 to 1840 he ran a private anatomy school in Surgeon's Square in Edinburgh. Knox, considered extravagant, used his ingenuity to attack the city's elders and clergy, and to mock the faith of his fellow citizens, to the delight of his students. He had more students than any other private tutor combined. His lectures were not suitable for the sensitive. He led John James Audubon through his dissecting room with bloody fingers, who later reported:

“The sights were extremely disgusting, some more shocking than I ever thought possible. I was happy to leave this morgue and breathe the healthy air of the street again. "

Knox taught anatomy according to the "French method", although cutting human corpses was still illegal. One corpse per student was required. The supplies delivered traditionally corpse thieves by selling the remains of poor and homeless to the anatomists. Among other things, Knox also bought corpses from the murderers William Burke and William Hare . After these were arrested on November 2, 1828, public opinion turned against their buyer. In June 1831 he lost the office of curator for the museum he founded. The income from his teaching activities also fell sharply.

In the following years he earned his living mainly with various publications of medical, but also other content. His book on fishing sold best. In 1856 he was appointed to the London Cancer Hospital in Brompton and worked there until his death. He is buried in Brookwood Cemetery , Surrey .

rating

According to Jürgen Osterhammel , “race-based universal theories or, from a critical point of view, closed delusional systems emerged after the revolution of 1848/49 . [...] With his lecture collection The Races of Men (1850), Robert Knox wanted to draw his contemporaries' attention to what he believed to be the racial background of the political conflicts in contemporary Europe. Knox's influence, which was considerable, was only surpassed by [...] Arthur de Gobineau ”.

Trivia

Knox served as a template for the character of Thomas Rock in Dylan Thomas The Doctor and the Devils and for that of Thomas Potter in Matthew Kneales English Passengers .

Web links

Commons : Robert Knox  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Robert Knox in the database of Find a Grave (English)
  2. ↑ Jürgen Osterhammel: The transformation of the world. A story of the 19th century. Munich 2009, p. 1219 f.
personal data
SURNAME Knox, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish doctor, scientist and traveler
DATE OF BIRTH September 4, 1791
PLACE OF BIRTH Edinburgh
DATE OF DEATH December 20, 1862
Place of death London