As we have noted many times，it is hard to find out how these expressions begin.Sometimes，we get some hard facts.But more often we have to depend on guesswork.And that is true of this phrase，which came from England.

　　Before 1932，English law did not permit a doctor to cut open a dead human body for scientific examination，unless it was the corpse(尸体) of an executed(处决) criminal.

　　But when it became legal，more and more doctors demanded skeletons for a more scientific study of medicine.It was helping in the advance of modern medicine.The demand had become so strong that men began to rob tombs and sell skeletons to doctors at high prices.

　　We are told that a doctor would usually buy just one skeleton for scientific study.It became very important in his work.But he had to keep it hidden because most people objected to keeping such a thing.As a rule，the doctor would keep his skeleton in some dark corner where it could not be seen，or hide it in a closet.

　　After a time，people began to suspect(怀疑) every doctor of hiding a skeleton in the closet.From this suspicion，the phrase “a skeleton in the closet” took on a broader，more general meaning to describe anything that a man wanted to keep others from discovering.It could be proof of a criminal act，or something much less serious.Well，that is one theory.

　　One writer，however，believes that the phrase might have come from something that really happened.It is his guess that a hidden closet in some old English country home may have turned up a real skeleton，clear proof of some old family shame or crime.Well，one man’s guess is as good as another.But this sounds like a story by the great French novelist，Balzac.

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