Chapter 333 The Duality of the Cholera Watchman

In the reception room, Arthur leaned back on the sofa, his expression complex and changeable, difficult to describe.

Whether it was the quarrels that occasionally came out of the corridor outside the reception room, or the memories that flashed in his mind, it was difficult for him to accept the fact of dissecting patients.

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

And this bill also almost effortlessly won the support of the two-party members with high votes, and after the approval of the House of Lords, it officially became one of the many medical management methods in Britain.

But even so, there are still many religious people and medical workers who oppose this bill to this day.

During the voting process, 26 regional bishops who held spiritual seats in the House of Lords voted unanimously against it, and the five highest-ranking bishops in the British Church - the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of London, the Bishop of Durham and the Bishop of Winchester issued a joint statement, denouncing the government for staging an outright farce.

The Anglican Church was like this, and the Catholic Church and the Jewish Church were not much better.

Both Jewish rabbis and Catholic priests were very disgusted with the Anatomy Act. Clergymen of all religions were unwilling to preside over the funeral of dissected bodies.

The attitude of religious leaders further deepened the distrust of ordinary believers towards dissection. Some even threatened that if they found any doctors dissecting bodies, they would be burned to death at the stake.

Not long after the Anatomy Act was issued, 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 was responsible for the security of the Greater London metropolitan area, assembled several times and arrested many participants in violent activities.

In order to calm the public anger, the cabinet had to revise the Anatomy Act for the second time, adding an anatomy committee to the House of Commons and appointing an autopsy inspector in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland respectively.

According to regulations, these inspectors need to pass the autopsy test and report the specific information of the autopsy to the Secretary of State. Their duties are to inspect places where autopsy activities may be carried out and ensure the legal operation of autopsy activities.

Prime Minister Earl Grey and Tory leader Sir Peel and other political figures also frequently visited the bishops who were important in the religious world, humbly asking them to consider the problem from a global perspective and use their influence to persuade their priests to agree to hold funerals for dissected bodies.

Fortunately or unfortunately, several cases of body theft were exposed in Lancaster County at this time.

The bishops finally decided to compromise with the government out of consideration for prohibiting this evil.

They agreed to bury the dissected bodies according to religious ceremonies, and accordingly, the government must also ensure that the law enforcement of those illegal use of bodies was strengthened.

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

Although the "Anatomy Act" included unclaimed bodies in the workhouse within the scope of dissection, it expanded the source of legal bodies and also cracked down on the rampant crime of body theft to a certain extent.

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

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

Many workhouse deacons would auction corpses as commodities, and major medical schools became bidders. Whoever offered a higher price would get more corpses first, and could provide better teaching quality, improve their social reputation and medical strength.

Due to Arthur's personal attention to the corpse trade, he deeply understood that this was a highly profitable business with no capital. A corpse could usually be sold for twelve to sixteen guineas. And the annual income of a worker in London was usually only thirty pounds, that is, only two corpses were needed to equal the annual income of a worker.

However, in the face of this kind of transaction that wandered on the edge of legality and illegality, Scotland Yard did not treat it as harshly as it treated corpse snatchers. Because from the standpoint of the public security department, at least they are now using money to solve the problem, rather than expanding the source by killing people.

This was also verified in the irregular inspections of various medical schools.

At this point, the source of their corpses has all turned to the workhouse, rather than some unclear places.

But although the bodies in the medical school have been cleared, it is absolutely impossible for a low-level doctor like Hardcastle to dissect the bodies with complete legal procedures.

First, he could not afford the high price of the body. Secondly, with the efficiency of the British government and the usual bureaucratic style, how could a small doctor with no qualifications and no background complete the cumbersome review procedures in such a short time?

On this point, Rosenberg's denunciation of Hardcastle is completely correct.

Even if this incident happened in the jurisdiction of Scotland Yard, Arthur could arrest the clinic doctor according to the Anatomy Act and hand him over to the Magistrates' Court on the charge of illegal possession of corpses.

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 that you want to let him go? Oh, or I should say more politely, I should say, you treat Hardcastle as I do. 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 down on Hardcastle."

"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 his cigarette: "As a dog for you, wouldn't I be worse than Elder? At least he wants to be the lady's 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 others 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 nearby were all well-known figures in Liverpool. Who knows how they will look upon this student of a tainted doctor in the future?

When Snow thought that his future might be ruined and he might even lose the qualification to study in a medical school, his lips couldn't stop trembling.

In one's lifetime, there are not many opportunities to change one's fate.

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

For Arthur, who had the same experience, it was not difficult to guess what Snow was thinking.

And his rich experience in handling cases also made him understand how to relieve the witness's worries.

Arthur didn't say much nonsense, but directly took out a pen from his jacket pocket, took the notebook on the table and buried his head in writing.

Snow was so frightened that his face turned pale: "You...what are you writing? It's not the arrest warrant for Mr. Hardcastle, is it?"

Arthur wrote the letter without raising his head: "Young man, you can't just write an arrest warrant by tearing a page of paper, and I'm not responsible for that business. I'm writing a letter, a recommendation letter for admission."

"Recommendation letter for admission?"

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

Arthur threw the book to Snow: "I am one of the first graduates of the University of London, so I happen to have some face there. And Professor William Marsden, the manager of the London Free General Hospital, the designated internship hospital of the University of London Medical School, also One of my friends.

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

"London, London University... Medical School? Oh... My God!"

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

University represents a higher social evaluation than medical colleges, and it also means that his starting point is no longer a grassroots doctor, but he can start from the backbone circle of the medical community as soon as he graduates, and have the opportunity to work in high-level royal hospitals such as St. Mary's Hospital, and have the opportunity to become a member of the core circle of British medical academics in Westminster.

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

Snow's head was still a little dizzy. He only felt that the door that seemed to be about to close suddenly opened to him again, and the person who walked out of the door with golden light was Mr. Arthur Hastings in front of him.

He never thought that the thing that Hardcastle took the risk to get would actually hit him on the head.

Snow sniffed hard, 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 Yorkers, after all, we are from the same hometown. After meeting you, I found that there are still many Yorkers in all walks of life. Maybe I should consider setting up a York club. As long as you work hard and study hard, you may become one of the founding members."

The young man who has been doing odd jobs around Hardcastle in obscurity has never smelled such a fragrant bait. He bit the hook without hesitation, and he almost wanted to take out his heart to show Arthur.

"Mr. Hastings, I assure you that what I'm going to say next is true. Mr. Hardcastle... how should I put it... although he can't be considered a particularly decent person, he is definitely not as bad as Mr. Rosenberg said. He did dissect the patient's body, but he didn't go as far as an anatomy class. If you are talking from the perspective of legal procedures, he definitely violated the law, but he also discussed with the family of the deceased before the autopsy. As long as they agree to the autopsy, they can waive the medical expenses, and that's why he can get so much data."

"Well..." Arthur's heart was a little relieved when he heard this: "In that case, the nature is not particularly bad. But are you sure he asked everyone's opinions?"

"Well... this..."

Snow stammered, "Of course, there are also those who didn't ask. Sometimes he would go to the slums to look for cholera patients who fell on the roadside. The cured patient he mentioned was picked up by him in this way. He lied to you about this.

You may not know that most of the families of cholera patients do not trust the new treatment of intravenous injection. Unless their family members are at the last moment, most of them are unwilling to take this radical treatment.

Mr. Hardcastle wanted to turn things around so much that in order to find enough critical cases to verify the treatment, he would go to the slums to pick up patients whenever he was free. It is because of this that he has such detailed data..."

Arthur frowned and asked, "Don't those patients he picked up have families? Did he ask for the opinions of the patients' families?"

Snow said with difficulty: "Mr. Hastings, everyone is very afraid of cholera. Especially ordinary poor people. Once a cholera patient appears in a poor family, the family will avoid him. In some extreme cases, they will even drive him out of the house. Mr. Hardcastle has also looked for them, but one reason is that the patient is in a critical condition and time is too short, and the other is that the family may not be willing to see the patient, so... you know, not all patients can get the permission of their families..."