ABSTRACT
One measure of the political, as well as practical, value of the anatomical museum is the degree to which, from the end of the eighteenth-century onwards it became seen as the sine qua non for medical institutions. As dissection whether for teaching, research or post-mortem shifted from private premises to hospitals and universities, so too did anatomists collections. Although less is known of the museums of the Hunter's contemporaries, the correlation between the display of collections and the practice of dissection appears to be true for a number of other prominent anatomists. The acquisition of Hunter's collection had provided a vital fillip to the moribund corporation at the close of the eighteenth century. As London's anatomical museums prove, even when anatomy was conducted behind closed doors, preparations provided a highly effective mechanism for putting dissection on display. Anatomical lectures also took place in hospitals and other extra-mural locations from at least the early eighteenth century and possibly before.
