Knox, Robert (1791–1862)

Scottish anatomist and ethnologist. He gained prominence as a university lecturer in anatomy in his home town of Edinburgh, 1826–44. However, to obtain corpses for dissection, he became a client of the notorious body snatchers and murderers William Burke and Hare. The furore surrounding this case caused Knox to leave Edinburgh for Glasgow and then London, where he died.

From 1825 to 1831 Knox was conservator of the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. His lectures on anatomy were highly popular, sometimes attracting over 500 students; he was the first to attempt to explain human anatomy through comparison with other species. When Burke and Hare's crimes were exposed, the body of their final victim was found in Knox's rooms, and he was threatened with lynching by an angry mob. Despite the loyal support of his students, he left Edinburgh in 1844, never to return. His writings include The Races of Men, 1850, and A Manual of Artistic Anatomy, 1852.