Autopsies

"Medical experts should be permitted by law to examine the bodies of all persons who die of peculiar or unusual diseases." This plea was made by Dr. Simon Flexner, director of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, who is quoted as saying: "The United States should have a law similar to the one in Austria which gives this power to experts of that country who are studying how to combat disease. Our hands will remain tied until we are allowed the same liberty." It was through the performing of innumerable autopsies that Pasteur came to discover his treatment for rabies. He went to morgues and studied--he always had an autopsy of patients of his who died, and by studying every condition he was able to present medical science with one of the greatest discoveries of all time. " I have been working for four years to have this law passed in this country, and I believe that within the next ten years medical science here will be enjoying the same freedom in performing autopsies as is given to medical science in Austria."