Dissection appears to have been no modern innovation at Cambridge, for queen Elizabeth granted two bodies for anatomical purposes to the medical students of Gonville and Caius. By a grace of Nov. 27, 1646, the three dissections required by the University Statutes (capp. 15, 17) as a qualification for M.D., and the two required from students aspiring to M.B., were revived, this exercise having fallen into disuse. Five years later ‘vividissections of dogs and such-like creatures’ were popular.

James Keill (younger brother of John Keill the Newtonian, see in the index), 1673—1719, having studied medicine at Edinburgh and Leyden, read anatomical lectures at Oxford, and also at Cambridge, where he also took the degree of M.D. in 1705.

In 1723 Parliament considered and rejected a clause facilitating the acquisition of the corpses of felons of Cambs. and Hunts, for dissection by the Cambridge faculty.

In the spring of 1732, when John Morgan of Trinity (B.A. 1721) was professor of Anatomy, a body was dug up in a village near Cambridge, and carried to Emmanuel College. A riot arose, and a warrant was issued to search the College, but in vain.