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
Murder in Samarkand Murder in Samarkand Murder in Samarkand (published in the US under the title Dirty Diplomacy) is a non-fiction book by British activist and former ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray. The book forms an account of his period as the British ambassador in Tashkent in 2002–2004. The work explains how Murray sacrificed his diplomatic career to speak out against the Karimov administration's suppression of human rights and British double standards over torture in Iraq. The book was originally published by Mainstream (Edinburgh) in 2006 but only after several battles. Before its publication, many potential readers had been contacted through Internet posts