in his school knox ran up against the problem from the start, since – after 1815 – the royal colleges had increased the study of anatomy in the medical curriculum. if he taught according to what was known as ‘french method’ the ratio would have had to approach one corpse per pupil. as a consequence, body-snatching became so common that it was not unusual for relatives and friends of someone who had just died to watch over the body before and after burial, to stop it being taken.