Dissection of a femal corpse
In May 1452, the Faculty of Medicine selected a female from several criminals sentenced to death who should be subject to a post-mortem examination at the Faculty after being executed. Only medical doctors were permitted to attend the post-mortem. Students, some of whom had already paid a fee to attend, were excluded after the female had been selected, although their money was refunded. Following the post-mortem, rumour spread that the woman had been pregnant. Pregnancy would have meant that a stay of execution would have had to be granted. Although this was denied by the Faculty, the fact that such special provisions were made for this post-mortem examination leaves room for speculation.
Up until the middle of the 17th Century, only the corpses of criminals sentenced to death were subject to a post-mortem.
From 1672, the bodies of people having died in one of Vienna’s hospitals could also be used for anatomical demonstrations (Horn, 2002 and 2004).