Surgeons' Hall demand for bodies for anatomical dissection exceeded supply. Two Irishmen living in Edinburgh, William Burke and William Hare, resorted to murdering victims to supply Knox's anatomy school. Hare turned King's evidence and Burke was tried, found guilty of murder and hanged. His body was dissected by Alexander Monro tertius, the University professor of anatomy, and the museum has on display two items from that notorious episode – Burke's death mask and a pocket book made from his skin. Joseph Bell (1837–1911) was an Edinburgh surgeon who was president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh between 1887–89. He was
Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women The Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women was founded by Dr Sophia Jex-Blake in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1886, with support from the National Association for Promoting the Medical Education of Women. It was ten years since the first UK women had been licensed to practise as doctors, and it would be another six years before Scottish universities would admit women students. Jex-Blake had friends in Edinburgh, as well as opponents, from her earlier unsuccessful campaign to persuade the University of Edinburgh to educate women in their medical school. Lectures took place in the School's