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Give Your Right Mummified Arm!

What could a pioneering Irish boxer, grave robbers and RCSI have in common?? Remember it is Halloween..... A 200 year old preserved right arm of course!! Dan Donnelly's right arm  He's pointing at you! Dan Donnelly was born in Townsend Street, Dublin in March 1788. He was one of 17 children growing up in the harsh living condition faced by the majority of Dubliners in the late 18th century. Donnelly was a carpenter by trade but was known in Dublin for being a hard drinker and an even harder hitter! Donnelly was known by RCSI surgeons from an incident in his youth. He rescued a lady from being attacked by two sailors down by the docks but in the fight his arm was badly mangled. Donnelly was brought to Abraham Colles  who operated and saved Donnelly's arm from amputation. Colles described Donnelly as a 'pocket Hercules' to his surgical friends. Dan Donnelly (1788-1820) George Cooper  Donnelly's...

'Secrets of the Body Snatchers'

The other night there was a very interesting programme on how medical schools in the 1800s acquired cadavers to aid in the teaching and study of anatomy. Body snatching was a very lucrative business back then with some 'Resurrection Men' earning up to a months wages from one grisly transaction! Resurrection men at work! Courtesy of  Autodidact in the Attic The programme is entitled  Secrets of the Body Snatchers and was a Time Team Special on Channel 4 with Sir Tony Robinson as the presenter. Watch it here   Secrets of the Body Snatchers  I do, sometimes, find it hard to take what Baldrick from Blackadder  says seriously though. - Researched and written by Meadhbh Murphy