Graverobbing for advancement of the medical industry, discussed in this post, has a history extending back to the Romantic Era, it seems. Druin Burch calls surgeon Astley Cooper (1768-1841) "king of the bodysnatchers" due to his operation of a global network of grave desecrators. Cooper's dissection of cadaverous contraband revolutionized both anatomy and surgical practice. For example:
Cooper’s work on the breast depended on obtaining specimens. He jotted down a request to the body snatchers to provide "breasts of any age (old women or young)." The specimens they supplied were diseased, rotten, hacked apart…. The book [Cooper wrote on breast structure] saved lives, massively improving diagnostic skills—breasts were often removed because surgeons mistook abscesses for cancers—and establishing an understanding of anatomy, and in particular the lymphatic drainage of the breast, so advanced it gets cited as a relevant authority in modern research papers.
The Dish 