Science, the law, and freedom

The great anatomist and illustrator Vesalius was probably a criminal. At the time he worked, using human bodies for scientific study was illegal, immoral, unethical, sacreligious, and simply in bad taste. Of course, people did it anyway.
Bodies were obtained from graveyards or directly from the executioner (for a fee). Dissections were done at night with poor lighting, and the cadavers had to be hidden between sessions as they rapidly decomposed. Though renowned for the beauty of his engravings, the fact that he worked with poor specimens under frightful conditions actually led Vesalius to make anatomical drawings that were often anatomically incorrect. No matter--they were the best available for centuries and, as they say, good enough.
I complain a lot about the way the world is and perhaps I am simply turning into a curmudgeon. So be it. But I am grateful that science in now practiced in the open and that those of us who do it, whether we are Nobel winners or assistant professors, are no longer criminals just for being curious about the way the world works.
ADDENDUM: There is an interesting article in the 16 July 2010 issue of Science that looks at a different aspect of the issue. A world-renowned anatomy text produced by an Austrian scientist during the inter-war period has been found to contain drawings made of (executed) victims of the Nazis. Should this book be "banned"? Clearly the work of the "doctors" of the Third Reich was barbaric, but are the findings of this "research" to be off-limits? I have no answers to these questions but it is clear that science is not independent of its context and it behooves all scientists to maintain the most rigorous integrity. Like it or not, Vesalius was a criminal!