BURKING-BURKISM
\bˈɜːkɪŋbˈɜːkɪzəm], \bˈɜːkɪŋbˈɜːkɪzəm], \b_ˈɜː_k_ɪ_ŋ_b_ˈɜː_k_ɪ_z_ə_m]\
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Murder committed with the object of selling the cadaver for purposes of dissection, particularly and originally, by suffocating or strangling the victim. So named from William Burke, a notorious practitioner of this crime, who was hanged at Edinburgh in 1829. It is said that the first instance of his name being thus used as a synonym for the form of death he had inflicted on others occurred when he himself was led to the gibbet, the crowd around the scaffold shouting "Burke him!"
By Henry Campbell Black
Word of the day
Platidiam
- An inorganic water-soluble platinum complex. After undergoing hydrolysis, it reacts DNA produce both intra interstrand crosslinks. These crosslinks appear to impair replication and transcription of DNA. The cytotoxicity cisplatin correlates with cellular arrest in G2 phase cell cycle.