From P. N. Cardew
Wareham, Dorset
Chris Osman, whose compost bin “happily” swallows up meat
(Letters, 10 January, p 51),
would be strongly supported by the late W. D. Newcombe of the
Department of Morbid Anatomy at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School, London.
In the 1940s, he would take home interesting specimens from the post-mortem
room to study and, being a keen gardener, rather than bothering to return the
remains to the department, he would dispose of them, bone and all, on his
compost heap. When a colleague commented that he might find himself in trouble
were any incriminating bits found, he asserted that his compost heap would
destroy any organic matter and that it was far more efficient than the murderer
John Haigh’s acid bath.
