Alexander Monro (primus), The History of Anatomy.

Alexander Monro (primus), The History of Anatomy.Plagiarism was common place in the eighteenth century. Popular lectures would be copied verbatim in shorthand, passed onto professional scribes, and then sold; sometimes attributed to the correct author, sometimes not. This is a printed version by William Northcote of History of Anatomy published in 1772. The textual similarities and long Latin passages in Northcote's version points to evidence that Northcote must have had access to a copy of Primus' own manuscript, rather than attending the lectures. These items and others in the Collection erode the theory Primus lectured without notes (as he so famously attested in his Life). Professor Taylor has viewed ten other sets of history of anatomy lecture-notes from differing years, all of which have incredibly similar content. Was Primus really able to lecture exactly the same topics, with the same anecdotes year after year, without detailed notes?

William Northcote, A Concise History of Anatomy from the Earliest Ages of Antiquity. London: T. Evans, 1772

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University of Otago Monro Exhibition <