The Study of Decay and Mortality

I became acquainted with the science of anatomy: but this was not sufficient; I must also observe

the natural decay and corruption of the human body. In my education my father had taken

the greatest precautions that my mind should be impressed with no supernatural horrors.

I do not ever remember to have trembled at a tale of superstition, or to have feared the apparition of

a spirit. Darkness had no effect upon my fancy; and a church-yard was to me merely

the receptacle of bodies deprived of life, which, from being the seat

of beauty and strength, had become food for the worm. Now I was led to examine the cause

and progress of this decay, and forced to spend days and nights in vaults and charnel