Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 31.djvu/337

  

KNOX, ROBERT (1791–1862), anatomist and ethnologist, descended from a family of Kirkcudbright farmers, was the eighth child and fifth son of Robert Knox (d. 1812), mathematical master at Heriot's Hospital, Edinburgh, and Mary Sherer or Schrerer, daughter of a farmer of German extraction. Knox was born on 4 Sept. 1791 at Edinburgh, and early lost the sight of his left eye through a virulent attack of small-pox. At the Edinburgh High School he rapidly rose to the head of every class, and was dux and gold medallist of the school in 1810. In November of that year he began medical study at Edinburgh University, and was twice president of the Royal Medical Society before his graduation. Failing once in his examination in anatomy, he entered as a pupil of John Barclay (1758–1826) [q. v.], and gained a masterly knowledge of the subject. He graduated M.D. in 1814. His thesis, ‘On the Effects of Stimulants and Narcotics on the Healthy Body,’ was followed in January 1815 by an important paper on ‘The Diurnal Variations of the Pulse and other Functions,’ especially as affected by muscular exertion (Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ. xi. 52–65, 164–167). In 1815 he obtained a commission as assistant-surgeon in the army, and was sent to Brussels, where he gained much surgical experience after Waterloo. In April 1817 he was sent to the Cape with the 72nd Highlanders, and made ethnological, zoological, geographical, meteorological, and medical researches, becoming at the same time a practised shot and keen collector. He returned to England on half-pay on Christmas-day, 1820, and remained in Edinburgh, contributing papers to the Wernerian Society. In the autumn of 1821 he obtained permission to study for a year on the continent, and spent the time in Paris under Cuvier, Geoffroy St.-Hilaire, De Blainville, and Larrey. At the end of 1822 he returned to Edinburgh. He remained on army half-pay till 1832, when he received 100l. as a commutation payment. During the next few years he contributed to the Wernerian and Royal Societies of Edinburgh zoological and anatomical papers, some of which contained important discoveries on the structure and physiology of the eye. He succeeded in persuading the Edinburgh College of Surgeons to form an adequate museum of comparative anatomy and pathology, and was appointed its conservator in 1825, becoming also a fellow of the college. He advised the purchase and arranged for the transfer of the collection of Sir Charles Bell from London, and worked actively in the museum until 1831. In 1824 he privately married a person beneath him in station, and thus greatly injured his prospects. His wife died in 1841, having borne him six children, of whom only one son, Edward, survived him.

His old teacher, Barclay, being desirous to retire, Knox signed articles of partnership with him on 2 March 1825, undertaking the whole of the work. Barclay's death in 1826 left his anatomical school entirely under Knox's control. He at once took first rank as an anatomical lecturer, and his classes increased until his students numbered 504 in 1828–9, when he lectured for three hours daily.

Naturally Knox, who was an enthusiast for practical dissection, was the best customer of the ‘resurrectionists,’ from whom alone ‘subjects’ for dissection could be procured. He gave higher prices than others, and consequently offered a tempting market in 1828 for the victims of Burke and Hare [see, 1792–1829]. The populace involved Knox in the obloquy of the murderers, and mobbed and burnt him in effigy. For months he was in danger of violence, but attempted no public defence of himself. He was caricatured in lithographic prints, termed ‘Wretch's Illustrations of Shakespeare,’ in one of which the devil was represented with a big pair of shears in his hand about to crop ‘a nox-i-ous plant;’ in another he was depicted as Richard III looking for Tyrrel, whom he finds in Burke. Burke in his confession exonerated Knox from all blame, but John Wilson, in ‘Blackwood’ (‘Noctes,’ March 1829), attacked him savagely. On 17 March 1829 Knox addressed a letter to the ‘Caledonian Mercury,’ with the report of an influential committee, including John Robinson, secretary to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Russell, professor of surgery, W. P. Alison, professor of medicine, and Sir W. Hamilton, bart., to whom he had given every facility for ascertaining the facts. This committee reported that they had ‘seen no evidence that Dr. Knox or his assistants knew that murder was committed in procuring any of the subjects brought to his rooms,’ and ‘firmly believed’ in his complete innocence. There were circumstances calculated to excite suspicion of murder, but no proof that they did excite such suspicion. They thought that Knox had acted incautiously in the reception of subjects, and especially in allowing his assistants to receive them without making particular inquiry whence they came. Many did not consider Knox cleared by this verdict, and his chief assistants, T. W. Jones, Wil-