Skip Navigation


Social History of Medicine Advance Access originally published online on February 20, 2006
Social History of Medicine 2006 19(1):19-35; doi:10.1093/shm/hkj001
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
19/1/19    most recent
hkj001v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by McMahon, V.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for the Social History of Medicine. All rights reserved

Reading the Body: Dissection and the ‘Murder’ of Sarah Stout, Hertfordshire, 1699

Vanessa McMahon*

* Richmond, The American International University in London, Queen's Road, Richmond-upon-Thames TW10 6JP, UK. E-mail: mcmahov{at}richmond.ac.uk

This article is concerned with forensic medical evidence and the several forms in which it was supplied to courts in early modern England. A specific trial is described and interpreted in detail, with particular attention being given to the kinds of information derived from the decomposed body of a young Quaker woman, believed either to have drowned or been murdered. The role of medical and lay evidence is evaluated and attention directed towards the ways in which the proceedings were recounted and recycled in post-trial publications. Major themes include popular attitudes towards dissection, the roles of lay and professional witnesses and the role of women as traditional sources of knowledge about the body.

Keywords: bodies; dissection; enlightenment; gender; homicide; murder; crime; legal medicine; knowledge


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.