Shadow of great britain

In the living room, Arthur was leaning on the sofa, with complex and unexplainable expressions on his face.

Whether it was the occasional quarrels in the corridor outside the reception room or the memories flashing in his mind, it was difficult for him to accept the fact of dissecting patients.

Although after the London body robbery last year, Sir Peel had already drafted an "Anatomy Bill" and formally submitted it to the House of Commons after the collapse of the Tory cabinet at the beginning of the year.

This bill almost effortlessly received high votes from members of both parties, and was approved by the House of Lords and officially became one of Britain's many medical management measures.

But even so, many religious figures and medical workers still oppose this bill to this day.

During the voting process, the 26 regional bishops who hold spiritual seats in the House of Lords voted unanimously against. The five most senior bishops in the British Church - the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of London, the Bishop of Durham and Wincher Bishop Sturt even issued a joint statement, lambasting the government for staging an out-and-out farce.

The Anglican Church is like this, and the Catholic Church and the Jewish Church are not much better.

Both Jewish rabbis and Catholic priests were very disgusted with the Anatomy Act. No cleric of any religion is willing to perform funeral rites for dissected corpses.

The attitude of the religious leader has further deepened the distrust of ordinary believers towards anatomy. Some even threatened that if he found any doctor dissecting a corpse, he would tie them to the stake and burn them to death.

Not long after the Anatomy Act was promulgated, all fourteen private anatomy schools in England were violently attacked.

In order to protect the safety of these medical students and teachers, Scotland Yard, which is responsible for the security of the greater London metropolitan area, assembled several times and arrested many participants in violent activities.

In order to quell public anger, the cabinet had to amend the Anatomy Act a second time, creating an anatomy committee in the House of Commons and appointing anatomy examiners in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

According to regulations, these inspectors need to pass autopsy tests and report specific information on autopsies to the Secretary of State. Their duty is to inspect places where autopsy activities are possible and ensure that autopsy activities are conducted legally.

Prime Minister Earl Gray and Tory leader Sir Peel and other political figures also frequently visited the important bishops in the religious world, asking them in a low voice to consider the problem from an overall perspective and use their influence to persuade their priests to agree to hold the autopsy. Funeral rites.

I don’t know whether it was luck or misfortune, but at this time, several more corpse theft cases were exposed in Lancaster County.

The bishops finally decided to compromise with the government out of concern to prohibit this evil.

They agreed to bury the dissected bodies in accordance with religious rites, and the government must also ensure increased enforcement against those who illegally use corpses.

Although the government agreed to their request, judging from what Arthur learned, the fulfillment of this promise was not ideal.

Although the Anatomy Act included unclaimed corpses in workhouses within the scope of autopsies, it expanded the sources of legal corpses and also combated rampant corpse theft crimes to a certain extent.

However, the Anatomical Committee established by the House of Commons did not actually perform their functions very well. It was too difficult for four people to monitor anatomical activities throughout Britain.

Even the promulgation of the "Anatomy Act" gave birth to another gray business.

Many workhouse deacons will auction corpses as commodities, and major medical schools have become bidders. Whoever pays the highest price can get more corpses first, and can provide better teaching quality. Improve one's social reputation and medical strength.

Due to Arthur's personal concern for the corpse trade, he deeply understood that this was a very profitable business without capital. A corpse could usually be sold for twelve to sixteen guineas. The annual income of a worker in London is usually only thirty pounds. In other words, only two corpses are needed to equal the annual income of a worker.

But in the face of this kind of trade that wanders on the edge of legality and illegality, Scotland Yard is not as harsh as it is against corpse dealers. Because from the perspective of the security department, at least they are now using money to solve the problem, rather than killing people to expand the sources.

This has also been verified during irregular inspections of various medical schools.

So far, the source of their corpses has all turned to the workhouse, not some unexplained place.

But although the corpses in medical schools have been able to be clarified, it is absolutely impossible for corpses dissected by low-level doctors like Hardcastle to have complete legal procedures.

First, there was no way he could afford the high price of the body. Secondly, with the operational efficiency and consistent bureaucracy of the British government, how could a junior doctor with no qualifications or background handle the cumbersome review procedures in such a short period of time?

At this point, Rosenberg has absolutely no problem lambasting Hardcastle.

Even if this incident had occurred within Scotland Yard's jurisdiction, Arthur could have arrested the clinic doctor under the Anatomy Act and handed him over to the Magistrates' Court for illegal possession of a corpse.

According to the provisions of the bill, he will pay a fine of 30 pounds for each illegal corpse, and due to the huge number of corpses, he may even spend a few more years in prison. And after he is released from prison, his sentence will not end. Since he will definitely not be able to pay the full amount of the fine to the court, he will be transferred to a debtor's prison as soon as he comes out of the criminal court.

When Arthur thought of this, he couldn't help but frown.

Seeing his appearance, the red devil holding the goblet just put his hand on his shoulder and taunted: "Arthur, what's wrong? Don't you always uphold the attitude of investigating cases like this strictly? Is it because It's in your interest, and you want to let him go? Oh, or I should say more politely, I should say, out of curiosity, you treat Hardcastle as I treat him you."

Arthur knocked on his pipe and knocked out the ashes. He smiled mockingly: "Agares, you don't need to be so arrogant. I have never been a messenger of justice. In most cases, I am just a lawyer." Lackey. I'm just thinking about going off on Hardcastle right now."

"Oh...my dear Arthur, why do you demean yourself so much?"

Agares smiled brightly: "You have to be a dog anyway, why don't you be a dog for me? Being a dog of the law is not as comfortable as being a dog of the devil."

"Really?" Arthur took a puff of cigarette: "As a dog for you, wouldn't I be worse than Elder? At least he wants to be the ladies' dog, and it is free-range."

Agares just curled his lips: "Come on, I was just joking. But you are indeed different from before, and you have become smarter, because I haven't heard you talk about the justice of that set of laws for a long time. It seems that studying at the University of London really helped you, and you finally started to understand that law and ethics are two different things."

"yes!"

Arthur puffed out a puff of smoke: "Professor Austin's "Lecture Notes on Jurisprudence" was of great help to me. Law is law, morality is morality. People who break the law are not necessarily immoral, and immoral people do not necessarily violate the law. I used to think that Professor Austin was talking nonsense, so when I was in college, I often argued with him in lectures.

But after working at Scotland Yard for so long, I looked back and realized that everything he said was right. The essence of law is coercion. As long as you can send someone to Australia, jail or hang on the gallows, then even if you stipulate that baldness is a crime, this nonsensical rule can still be a law.

Professor Austin studies the laws themselves. He does not consider morality or immorality. He only cares about these established facts. It is precisely because the professors at the University of London uphold a pragmatic utilitarian attitude that many people feel that they are cold and like uncivilized beasts.

But in fact, it’s not that they don’t understand things like morality and bottom line, and they even put forward many concepts that are in line with basic morality. However, from a scholarly perspective, in a society where bottom-line breakthroughs are everywhere, it is definitely not wise to continue to study things that do not exist. "

The Red Devil took a sip of wine: "Then do you think Hardcastle has broken through the bottom line?"

Arthur shrugged: "I don't know. The concept of the bottom line is different for everyone. But I know one thing. For most people in Britain at present, whether it is the high-standard religious circles or ordinary people, Or the British medical profession itself, Hardcastle really crossed the line.

If The Lancet knew that he used illegal corpses in this paper, they would still expose this matter, let alone publish the article. Mr. Thomas Weekley, the founder of The Lancet, personally led the Medical Commission's investigation into the London murder and body robbery case. He was deeply disgusted by this behavior that brought shame to all colleagues in the medical profession. "

The red devil just shook his head when he heard this. He held the wine glass and asked: "Arthur, what are you talking about? I'm not talking to the general public in Britain. I'm asking you, where is your bottom line? Professor Austin is right, the essence of law is coercion. And now, coercion is in your hands."

Arthur sat on the sofa in silence. He thought for a long time before getting up from the sofa and opening the door to the living room.

The servant guarding the door saw him coming out and quickly asked: "Mr. Hastings, you..."

Arthur raised his hand to signal him to stop: "Where is the apothecary apprentice who came with Mr. Hardcastle just now?"

"I'm here." Snow, who was standing in the corridor carrying a small satchel, raised his hand: "Sir, do you have anything to do with me?"

Arthur waved to him: "Come in, I have something to ask you."

Snow followed Arthur into the reception room tremblingly, and sat on the sofa uncomfortably. It could be seen from his expression that the young man was not very calm about what he had just witnessed.

Seeing this, Arthur just reassured: "Don't worry, no matter what the outcome is, this has nothing to do with you. Even if Hardcastle is revoked from practicing medicine because of this matter, it will not affect your future. As long as you tell the truth Just tell me what you saw and heard."

Although Arthur said this, young guys like Arthur who came out of the York countryside had never seen such a battle.

The members of the Liverpool Health Board, who were also the most prestigious doctors in the area, almost surrounded their teacher, pointing at his nose and yelling curses. Had it not been for someone nearby to persuade him, Hardcastle would have definitely not been able to escape a good beating today. .

Not only that, even the onlookers watching the show were all prominent local figures in Liverpool. Who knows what they will think of themselves as a tainted doctor's student in the future?

Snow's lips couldn't stop trembling when he thought that his future might be ruined as a result, and he might even lose the qualification to go to a medical school.

In this life, there are not many opportunities to change one's destiny.

Seeing that the door from a miner's son to a middle-class doctor was about to close, he felt his heart cramping.

It is not difficult to guess what Snow is thinking about Arthur, who has had the same experience.

And his rich experience in handling cases also allowed him to understand how to relieve witnesses from their worries.

Arthur didn't say much nonsense, but took out the pen directly from his coat pocket, took the notebook on the table and started writing quickly.

Snow's face changed color when he saw this: "You...what are you writing? Could it be the arrest document for Mr. Hardcastle?"

Arthur wrote the letter without raising his head: "Young man, the arrest document cannot be written by just pulling out a page of paper, and I am not responsible for that business. What I wrote is a letter, a recommendation letter for admission."

"Recommendation letter for admission?"

"Yes, a letter of recommendation for admission to the University of London Medical School."

Arthur threw the notebook to Snow: "I am one of the first batch of graduates from the University of London, so I happen to have a bit of a reputation there. And the administrator of the London Free General Hospital, the designated internship hospital of the University of London Medical School, Professor William Marsden is also one of my friends.

With this letter of recommendation, I believe that the medical school will be very willing to accept you. As for tuition, you don’t have to worry at all. I can pay for your tuition. As for living expenses, if you study hard enough, the annual academic gold medal will be enough for you. "

"Lun, University of London... medical school? My... my God!"

Although Snow didn't know much about the University of London, a school that had just been awarded a Royal Teaching Charter, and the reputation of the University of London in the medical field was far less famous than that of Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland's two major medical schools, the word "university" alone was already It was enough to shock his nerves.

University represents a higher social evaluation than a medical college, and it also means that he will no longer start as a low-level doctor, but will start from the backbone of the medical field as soon as he graduates, and have the opportunity to enter a high-level hospital like St. Mary's Hospital. Serving at the Royal Hospital, you have the opportunity to become a member of Westminster, the inner circle of British medical academic circles.

Arthur put the pen back into his coat pocket and asked, "Okay, Mr. Snow, now you should be able to tell me the truth in detail, right? What happened to Mr. Hardcastle?" thing?"

Snow's mind was still a little dizzy. He just felt that the door that seemed to be about to close suddenly opened to him again, and walking out of the door that shimmered with golden light was the Arthur in front of him. Mr. Hastings.

He never expected that the thing Hardcastle was willing to take risks to obtain would actually hit him on the head in a daze.

Snow sniffed sharply, and he was so moved that he almost cried: "Mr. Hastings, I really don't know how to thank you."

"No need." Arthur smiled and said: "We are all from York, and we are all from the same hometown after all. After meeting you, I discovered that there are quite a lot of Yorkists in all walks of life. Maybe I should consider setting up a York club. , as long as you work hard and study hard, you might be able to become one of its founding members.”

The young man who had been working around Hardcastle in obscurity had never smelled such fragrant bait. He bit the hook without hesitation and wanted to show Arthur his heart.

"Black...Mr. Hastings, I assure you that what I say next is true. Mr. Hardcastle, how should I put it...although he is not a particularly decent person, he is It's definitely not as bad as Mr. Rosenberg said. He did dissect the patient's body, but it didn't go as far as an anatomy class. If you look at it from the perspective of legal procedures, he definitely broke the law, but He also discussed with the family members of the deceased before the autopsy. As long as they agree to the autopsy, the medical expenses will be waived, and it is precisely because of this that he was able to obtain so much data."

"Well..." When Arthur heard this, he felt relieved a little: "To put it this way, the nature is not particularly bad. But, are you sure he asked everyone's opinions?"

"Well...this..."

Snow stammered: "Of course, there are no inquiries. Sometimes he would go to the slums himself to look for cholera patients who fell on the roadside. The patient he said was cured was picked up by him in this way. . At this point, he lied to you.

What you may not know is that most family members of cholera patients do not trust the new treatment of intravenous injection, and most are unwilling to take this drastic treatment unless their family members are at the last moment.

Mr. Hardcastle wanted to make a comeback so badly that in order to find enough proven treatments for critical cases, he would go to ghettos to pick up patients whenever he had free time. It is precisely because of this that he has such detailed data..."

Arthur frowned and asked: "Don't the patients he picked up have family members? Has he consulted the opinions of the patients' families?"

Snow looked embarrassed and said: "Mr. Hastings, everyone is afraid of cholera. Especially the ordinary poor. Once a cholera patient appears in a poor family, the family will avoid him. In some extreme cases, they even kicked him out of the house. It is not that Mr. Hardcastle has not gone to see them, but one is that the patient is in critical condition and time is too tight, and the other is that the family may not be willing to see the patient, so... You understand, not all patients can get permission from their families..."