A man walking along a country path is attacked by a bodysnatcher hiding behind a brick wall, who asphyxiates him by thrusting a heart-shaped plaster in his face.

A man walking along a country path is attacked by a bodysnatcher hiding behind a brick wall, who asphyxiates him by thrusting a heart-shaped plaster in his face.

Body Snatching, Murder, Asphyxiation, Anatomy, Medicine

According to the Wellcome Collection, "The Oxford English dictionary defines 'pitch-plaster' as 'A dressing containing pitch, used as a depilatory. Also: a dressing containing Burgundy pitch, used in the treatment of chest and rheumatic disorders' and cites J. Theobald, Every man his own physician, 1764, 'Scald head. Cover the head with a pitch plaster spread on leather'; also Times 3 Dec. 1913, 'There circulated stories of gangs..whose business it was to attack lonely travellers, apply pitch plasters to the mouth and nostrils, strangle their victims, and sell the bodies'."

Dickey Fubs

London (Cheapside) : J. Tregear, 1828.

1828

Kelly Collins

Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Original: etching, with watercolour; File: PDF

English

Etching; still image

Wellcome Library no. 663319i

19th century

etching, with watercolour

image and border 37.8 x 24.8