Mortsafes were contraptions designed to protect graves from disturbance. Resurrectionists had supplied the schools of anatomy in Scotland since the early 18th century. This was due to the necessity for medical students to learn anatomy by attending dissections of human subjects, which was frustrated by the very limited allowance of dead bodies – for example the corpses of executed criminals – granted by the government, which controlled the supply.

“They’ve been obsessing me for years. I searched and found them in Benares, on the banks of the river Gange (India). They arrive here to get rid of everything and to wait for death. This existence can last for years, sometimes decades, almost a life. Opposite to mine, well organised and filled as a human life can be, to try in vain to push the limits of its end”. – Denis Rouvre. (Photo by Denis Rouvre)

A reveller walks through the streets in the early hours during traditional May Day celebrations in Oxford, Britain, May 1, 2015. (Photo by Dylan Martinez/Reuters)

Groundsman Darren Cordingley on his way out of the maze on July 11, 2024. Gardeners have had their work cut out after spending a whopping 520 hours trimming one of the world's biggest hedge mazes. It has taken a team of 13 working eight hours a day for five days to tackle the enormous maze at the Longleat estate in Wiltshire, UK. (Photo by Max Willcock/Bournemouth News)

Men sleep at a 24-hour McDonald's restaurant in Hong Kong, China November 10, 2015. A large number of homeless people sleeping on the street has long been been a problem in Hong Kong mainly due to its high rent and soaring property. In recent years, McDonald's 24-hour fast food shops opening all over the city have become popular alternatives for people, know as McRefugees or McSleepers, to spend the night in a safer and more comfortable way than on the street. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

An amazing photo shows a rare meteor shower captured from Glastonbury Tor, UK. Astrophotographer Josh Dury took the photo when the skies cleared for 30 minutes in the early hours of the morning on January 4, 2024. Josh said the Quadrantids meteor shower is an active shower where up to 100 meteors can be seen per hour, although it only peaks for a few hours during January. He said that meteor showers are produced by debris left over from comets – but what produces the meteors during the Quadrantids meteor shower is unknown. (Photo by Josh Dury/South West News Service)

A photo taken from the International Space Station shows Hurricane Lane in the early morning hours near Hawaii, August 22, 2018. (Photo by Courtesy @astro_ricky/NASA/Handout via Reuters)

A Chicago Police Officer runs toward gunfire as looters break into downtown stores in the early hours of the morning on August 10, 2020. (Photo by RMV/Rex Features/Shutterstock)