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Stories

  • Article

The making of ‘Quacks’

How do you create a medical comedy that’s authentic and laugh-out-loud funny?

  • Article

Fashion for an unruly body

One weekend, just before an operation to correct her scoliosis, Rosalind Jana stopped trying to hide her body. Read how those two days helped her step into the future.

  • Article

The mystery of the malignant brain

In 1884 a neurologist successfully used a patient’s symptoms, plus a new kind of map, to locate a brain tumour. Discover how his best-laid plans for treatment worked out.

  • Article

The blight of the ballooning blood vessels

In 1817 an emergency operation on a London porter was hailed a ‘success’ despite the patient’s swift demise. Find out how this case became a landmark in vascular surgery.

All stories (6)

Images

  • Catalogue of surgical instruments & appliances, aseptic hospital furniture and surgical dressings, etc., etc / manufactured and sold by S. Maw, Son & Sons.
  • Surgical instruments laid out on a table, for use in cataract and hernia operations during the mid 1500s, with two men in 16th century dress standing behind it. Colour facsimile process print after a 16th century manuscript, 1925.
  • "Asepta" absorbent cotton for surgical, medical and hygienic uses. Colour lithograph by Henry Le Monnier, 1928.
  • A periscope being used above an operation which is projected onto a lantern screen for a lecture in the adjoining room. Gouache painting by W.R. Seton.
  • A periscope being used above an operation which is projected onto a lantern screen for a lecture in the adjoining room. Gouache painting by W.R. Seton.
  • A periscope being used above an operation which is projected onto a lantern screen for a lecture in the adjoining room. Gouache painting by W.R. Seton.
  • A periscope being used above an operation which is projected onto a lantern screen for a lecture in the adjoining room. Gouache painting by W.R. Seton.
  • Boer War: soldiers checking the contents of crates of medical supplies. Halftone, c.1900.
  • Gloucester smallpox epidemic, 1896: Elsie Clutterbuck (right), a smallpox patient, with another patient (a boy) and a nurse. Photograph by H.C.F., 1896.
  • An ill marsupial creature with a human head and long tail is seated in a chair being treated by two nurses; representing Daniel O'Connell's role in the County Carlow election of 1835. Coloured lithograph by R. Seymour, 1835.
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Catalogue

All works (161)