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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Burke and Hare
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Two Irishmen whose enterprising response to the shortage of bodies for dissection by medical students in the early 19C led to the passing of the Anatomy Act of 1832, which regulated the supply of corpses. In 1827 Burke was living in a lodging house run by Hare in Edinburgh, a city noted for its surgery. The two men began digging up corpses in cemeteries to supply the needs of the medical schools. They soon found it easier to suffocate travellers in the lodging house, and they had killed about 15 before they were arrested. Hare escaped by turning king's evidence; Burke was hanged in 1829. To 'burke' rapidly became a word meaning to suffocate, and by extension to hush up.
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