Physicians' Gallery

Coloured illustration of a person - the left half is dressed in typically male 18th century clothing - yellow breeches, a green coat and a powdered wig, while the right side is dressed in typically female clothing - a dress with ruffled sleeves. The background is similarly divided - on the left are shelves of medicines, forceps and a mortar and pestle.

This image is from an 18thc text, 'Man-midwifery dissected'. Its author, John Blunt, wrote that women who employed male midwives were 'female brutes' who 'have stoically forgotten to blush, unless it be by the assistance of rouge'

Two medicine bottles with labels reading ‘laudanum’ and ‘paregoric elixir’

These are both opium-based medicines. Paregoric was given to young children to relieve teething pain and send them to sleep. Other opium-based medicines for children included Mother Bailey’s Quieting Syrup and Mrs Winslow’s Soothing Syrup

Find out more in Hooked www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/hoo...

A man standing on a ladder holding a sponge. Behind him is a colourful wall vinyl with pictures of test tubes and x-rays

A green wall vinyl with rolled up vinyl tubes propped up against it

We're on the way!

Very excited to see our new public gallery taking shape.

Opening on 3rd November and free entry - see you there!

Find out more 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/joy...

Illustration of 1700s snuff taking – a group of men and women sit around a table, on the table are pipes and snuff boxes and the seated figures are smoking and sniffing from the boes

‘A Satyr against Snuff’ caused a bit of a stir in the 18thc with its risqué health warnings:

‘now, tis by every sort And Sex adorned,
But ask a Wench how Oysters sell?
If nice, She begs a pinch before she sets a price’

Find out more in our exhibition www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/hoo...

Love it!

A book open on its title page. On the right is text - Sanctorii Santorii De Statica Medicina Aphorismorum. On the left is an image of a man seated at a table. The table has plates, cups and cutlery on it. His chair is attached to a pulley.

Santorio Sanctorius’s 17thc weighing machine. For over 30 years he weighed everything that went into, and came out of his body, comparing the weight of his food and drink with his urine and excretia and keeping a detailed diary of his findings

Advertisement for Collaro Sunray Lamp, 1939. Features a drawing of a woman wearing protective goggles convalescing in bed. The sunlamp is on the bedside table sending out healing rays.

"We are sun-starved"

Not sure a Collaro Sunray Lamp is the answer....

This advertisement is from September 1939, when people had a lot more on their minds than the lack of sunlight.

Printed recipe. Reads: For swelled legs. Take salt herrings, open them, pulling out the back-bone, lay them to the soles of your feet: by doing this once per day, for 7 days, you will experience the benefit.

Sore legs? Considered putting herrings on your feet? - Handy 1785 medical tip

Drawing of a bird wearing a crown biting its own wing, surrounded by drops of blood and feathers

We’re excited to announce that on 3rd Nov we’re opening a 🎉 free 🎉 entry new gallery and learning centre!

Join us to explore stories from medicine – from alchemy to straitjackets, along with family-friendly activities and puzzles.

Find out more 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/joy...

An 18th century coloured print. Two figures - on the right is a seated woman in a green dress, on the left, standing over her, is a man in a red frockcoat. He holds up his hands and rays - dotted lines - emanate from his hands to her face

Dr Ebenezer Sibly, using his miracle tincture, the occult, and mesmerism to 'cure' a patient, ('A Key to Physic and the Occult Sciences')

Handwritten text. Reads: opium in strong coffee

18thc medical advice for #internationalcoffeeday – try opium in your coffee for ‘the Coffee takes of the narcotic quality of the Opium’ cullenproject.ac.uk/docs/5939/

Black and white print of 7 images - a person restrained on a bed, the bed itself, a person wearing a straitjacket, manacles and wrist restraints

This is the first known illustration of a straitjacket (1794). Despite many seeing it as an extreme method of restraint, it was introduced as a humane solution. Although still dehumanising, it was an improvement on manacling and chaining patients to walls

Printed text. Reads: for blisters. 1. Anoint the place either with old and stale urine of a man. 2. Or, with the rust of iron. 3,. Or, with sanguis draconis. 4. Or, with cinnabarum.

Old and stale urine of a man anyone?

A model of the female pelvic region where you can see the kidneys and major abdominal blood vessels, and three foetuses lying outside the uterus

Looking at this 18thC model of female pelvic anatomy, you see three foetuses. This isn’t showing pregnancy with triplets - it’s an intended to show different types of ectopic pregnancy. You can see ovarian, tubal, and peritoneal. It was produced by sculptor Francesc Citarelli to teach obstetrics

A book frontispiece showing a man in a long robe holding a sword pointed at a mirror - another hand inside the mirror also hold a sword, pointing it back at the man

Magiae Naturalis or Natural Magic. This book includes a recipe for Witches’ Unguent that supposedly allowed witches to fly at night… or at least they thought they could, due to its hallucinogenic properties!

Illustration of a man taking a bite out of the title of the book

Gastro map of France

Chomp!

Love this little guy taking a bite out of the gastronomy map of France (Cours gastronomique, ou, Les diners de Manant-ville, c.1809) 😋

A wooden box with the glass lid slid open - showing the contents, a mass of green beetles

1800s medical kit containing Spanish fly. Also known as Blister Beetles because they were applied to the skin in order to create blisters which supposedly forced the sickness out

Promotional image. Text reads: Blog post, Hooked, last orders. Image shows an empty bottle with the label 'Jamaica Ginger'.

Blog post! Prohibition stories...

Anti-tea and coffee spokespersons had once decried those drinks as creating ‘tea mania’ and ‘coffee drunkards’. But by 1920 the Temperance Movement was advocating for more coffee shops and tearooms as an alternative to pubs.

👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/her...

Black and white illustration showing tea-related implements - three teapots, an oval tub, and three long thin implements

Chinese utensils used in preparing and drinking tea, from a 1600s work by Simon Paulli

Find out more about the history of tea in our exhibition ‘Hooked’ www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/hoo...

A blue-grey box with a Red Cross on it, which reads: "BLOOD TRANSFUSION SET."

The hematologist Oswald H. Robertson pioneered the idea of "blood banks" in WWI by packing glass jars of citrated blood from universal donors in an ice-filled chest that he had constructed from ammunition cases. Learn more in my book THE FACEMAKER: drlindseyfitzharris.com/the-facemaker/

Black and white illustration of a woman carrying a wicker bag on her back and another on her arm. She is wearing a headscarf and long striped skirt.

Fishwives, or ‘oyster lasses’, were common figures in the streets of 1700s Edinburgh. Oysters were so plentiful that they were considered to be cheap snack food. The shells themselves, when ground up, were taken to relieve heartburn

Small card showing that Mr Murdoch Cameron attended Lister's class. The card is dated 1867

Class card belonging to Murdoch Cameron, a pioneer in caesarean section under antiseptic conditions. The card shows attendance at Joseph Lister's Clinical Lectures on the Cases of Surgical Patients, held in 1867 at Glasgow Royal Infirmary

Good point!

Printed recipe. Text reads: To cause one look younger-like. Clean your face in summer with the juice of wild roses; and in winter with your own urine, or the juice of camphire: in doing this, you will appear ruddy, and of a goodly complexion

I think I prefer the summer treatment…winter is a bit too uriney

Two black and white photographs of young women in nightgowns - the woman on the left poses on a chair with her leg outstretched, on the right she sits on a bed with her legs crossed and arms raised

Charcot was a French neurologist who studied hypnotism in cases of hysteria. He held public displays of his skills which were attended by actors, authors and others, including a young Sigmund Freud. They were viewed as salacious as they often involved semi-clad young women

A black and white illustration showing two sentient skeletons, gazing at each other while holding a winding sheet filled with decomposing corpses

A strong start to your 1600s surgical textbook when you begin with allegorical winged and cloaked death images like these – a stark reminder to all medical students

A black and white illustration of an early modern spa. In the centre is the pool, with buildings on every side. The pool is busy, people can be seen bathing, drinking water and outside riding horses, walking and carrying goods

This 16thc text contains descriptions of over 200 spas as well as collecting together the works of over 70 classical, Arabic and contemporary writers on the subject of bathing. This illustration shows visitors bathing, drrinking and defecating at the spa

Promo image

Giant bladder

Child with playdo

Stop by today! It is our 🎉 FREE 🎉 #Edinburgh science fun day!

10am – 2pm

🔬 Try testing ‘urine’ in our lab

🐍 Meet a real snake and learn what snakes have to do with bladders

💪 Get sparkly with glitter tattoos

🩺 Listen to talks from real doctors

FREE

Find out more www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/sna...

Condom in a paper wrapper. An attached rag reads Police court Edinburgh, 14 Dec 1914, the two rubber sheaths, purchased in shop 17 W Register Street'

Condom, or ‘rubber sheath’, over 100 years old. This was used as evidence in the court case of
a quack imposter physician ‘Dr’ Massie in Edinburgh in 1914

Three people looking into museum display cases

A person looking at an interactive display showing a gambling fruit machine

Visit our free #Edinburgh exhibition Hooked.

Exploring pills, drink, snuff and cigarettes, we uncover the many faces of addiction and the many attempts to combat it.

📍 Physicians’ Gallery, 11 Queen Street, EH2 1JQ

📅 Mon – Fri, 10am – 4.30pm

Find out more 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/hoo...