Who supplied doctors with research specimens by stealing from local cemeteries

Around the 19th century the government played a negative role in science, allowing "body snatching" as a common practice in medical schools.

The demand for cadavers for human dissection grew, leading to an epidemic of of grave thefts; and those in charge of body snatching were named "resurrectionists" or "Resurrection-Men"; stealing corps from local cemeteries to the anatomy schools for dissection lectures.

a and b are the correct answer to what your looking fior

it is the background information on the characters and setting explained at the beginning of the story. the exposition will often have information about events that happened before the story began. the exposition is often the very first part of the plot.