The Story of 18th Century England’s Booming Graverobbing Industry, and the Man Who Inspired ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ ‹ CrimeReads

What finally broke the equilibrium was one man's obsession. John Hunter was the William Dampier of anatomy, revered for his discoveries and reviled for his methods. Coarse and foul-mouthed, with hair so red you could light a cigar with it, Hunter was the tenth of ten children in his Scottish family, and he went into medicine in part because six of his siblings died young from disease. He also had a role model in his brother William, an obstetrician in London who was highly praised (and highly paid) for discreetly delivering the children of Important Men's mistresses. William also taught anatomy on the side, but didn't want to sully himself carving up bodies. So in 1748, at age twenty, Hunter moved to London to become his brother's assistant dissector. He'd never cut into a body before that, but after the rush of that first incision, he basically never stopped.