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Stories

  • Article

A body apart from the head

We look back at the importance of the head, from how it’s influenced our language to the bold political statement of having it removed.

  • Article

The current that kills

In the 19th century, electricity held life in the balance, with the power to execute – or reanimate.

  • In pictures

Top ten creepiest objects in the collection

From anti-masturbation rings to a tonsil guillotine, these specially selected pieces might make your skin crawl.

All stories (3)

Images

  • Type of guillotine(?)
  • The head of King Louis XVI being cut off by a guillotine. Etching by James Gillray, 1793.
  • Prisoners in the French Revolution awaiting the summons to the guillotine. Engraving by Masson after Charles Muller.
  • Prisoners are driven on a cart to the guillotine. Etching by J. Somerville after D.A.M. Raffet.
  • Tonsillectomy : by means of the alveolar eminence of the mandible and a guillotine with a review of the collateral issues / by Greenfield Sluder.
  • Tonsillectomy : by means of the alveolar eminence of the mandible and a guillotine with a review of the collateral issues / by Greenfield Sluder.
  • Tonsillectomy : by means of the alveolar eminence of the mandible and a guillotine with a review of the collateral issues / by Greenfield Sluder.
  • Tonsillectomy : by means of the alveolar eminence of the mandible and a guillotine with a review of the collateral issues / by Greenfield Sluder.
  • Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, kneeling before the guillotine next to her confessor on the day of her execution, 16 October 1793. Line engraving with etching, 1815.
  • Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, kneeling before the guillotine next to her confessor on the day of her execution, 16 October 1793. Line engraving with etching, 1815.
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Catalogue

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