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