Reijnier de Graaf

One of the really interesting tidbits I found in writing this manual was a statement that de Graaf did his dissections in "...a room over the meat market at Leyden." One has to wonder why. Was it the availability of cleavers, knives, and saws? Was it the availability of facilities for disposal of wastes? Was it so that the bodies he carved up could be easily disposed of?

Considering that in the 17th Century most human dissection specimens were obtained by robbing freshly dug graves, what happened to the bodies? Obviously they couldn't be put back. Why did de Graaf choose to work in the meat market? Some of the possibilities of exactly how one might "dispose" of 50 kilos or so of human "beef" (not to mention the easily recognizable offal) are more than a little nauseating.

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