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Opera ... divisa in sei libri. Nel primo si contiene il ragionamento che fa l'Autore con Gio[vanni] suo discepolo. Nel secondo si tratta di diverse vivande di carne ... Nel terzo si parla ... de pesci. Nel quarto si mostrano le liste del presentar le vivande in tavola ... Nel quinto si contiene l'ordine di far diverse sorti di paste ... Nel sesto ... si ragiona de' convalescenti, et molte altre sorti di vivande per gli infermi. Con il discorso funerale che fu fatto nelle essequie di Papa Paulo III. Con le figure che fanno bisogna nella cucina, et alli Reverendissimi nel Conclave.

A selection of knives.

A selection of knives

1 drawing : gouache, with gold and gum arabic

Indian butcher selling meat to some customers. Gouache drawing.

Knives and lancets for abscesses

Lithotomy was a procedure where a stone in the bladder or urethra was removed by means of surgery. This thirty-piece instrument set contained all the necessary instruments to carry out the operation, including four gorgets, specialised knives used in lithotomy, and six lithotomy staffs, which are grooved to guide the gorget towards the stone. The set was made by Charrière, a surgical instrument maker based in Paris, France.

maker: Charrière

Place made: Paris, Ville de Paris, Île-de-France, France

Lithotomy set, Paris, France, 1820-1860

Six cross-sections through a foot. Coloured lithograph by M. Hanhart after C. Heath after J.B. Léveillé.

The barman in the pub is the industrialist and philanthropist Anthony John Mundella, as indicated by the notice behind the bar "A.J. Mundela [sic] licensed retailer of ale beer and porter". Mundella was elected Liberal member of parliament for Sheffield at the election in 1868. Two other notices behind the bar say "Library 1d per week" and "Knives forks and plates lent here 1½ per week"

The Sheffield election of 1868: (left) two men play cards and drink in a warm pub; (right) two women (one with a baby) beg and cower in a snowy street. Transfer lithograph, 1868.

Made from steel with ivory handles, the set contains knives for cartilage, bones and the brain, forceps, saws, scalpels and a spine wrench – all used for post-mortems. The instruments are all still remarkably sharp. Post-mortems only came into practice in the early 1800s. They were used to determine whether the physician’s diagnosis when the patient was alive had been correct. They also helped physicians to learn more about the internal symptoms and signs of disease. Most of these instruments were made by S Maw & Son, a surgical instrument maker based in London; the rest were made by other instrument makers based in the United Kingdom.

maker: S Maw & Son, maker: Mayer and Meltzer, maker: Ferguson, maker: Blyde, maker: Hillard and Chapman, maker: Millikin and Lawley

Place made: United Kingdom

Post-mortem set, United Kingdom, 1860-1865

Surgical instruments, mainly needles and knives. Engraving by E. Mitchell.

Egyptian flint knives, predynastic.

An itinerant musician playing to an audience using an instrument that is partly made out of an animals bladder. Drypoint.

A film about safety in kitchen workplaces. It shows how you could harm yourself with knives and broken crockey. Two men share the carrying of a large sack of sugar. A few basic rules are proposed and accidents are not inevitable.

1 encoded moving image (10 mins.) : sound, black and white

Kitchen safety. Pt 1. Preventing cuts and strains.

Illustration of Greek and Roman Knives etc.- surgical instruments

Greek and Roman Knives etc,-Surgical Instruments

Gallery of primtive medicine, 1946.

Section showing surgical instruments.

IV. Knives, Africa

Wellcome museum, primitive medicine: surgical instruments

Rosset's third plate: straight knife, crooked knives (2-4)

Rosset's third plate: surgical knives (2-4)

In the centre, raised on a dais, stands a physician representing Medicine. He wears academic dress, and his gown is composed of some of the ancient and mediaeval books in which traditional western medicine has been transmitted. They include works by the ancient Greek authors Hippocrates (5th-4th century BC) and Galen (AD 129-200); the Byzantine Paul of Aegina (AD 625-690?); the eastern mediaeval authors Avicenna (980-1037), Rhazes (Abu Bakr Mu?ammad ibn Zakariya Razi, 865?-925?), Avenzoar (?Abd al-Malik ibn Abi al-?Ala' Ibn Zuhr, d. 1162), Moses Maimonides (1135-1204), Haly Rodoan (?Ali ibn Ri?wan, d. ca. 1068), Haly Abbas (?Ali ibn al-?Abbas Majusi, 10th/11th cent.), and Mesue (Yu?anna Ibn Masawayh, d. 857 or 858); and the western mediaeval authors Bernard of Gordon (ca. 1260-ca. 1318), Arnold of Villanova (d. 1311), and the modern preserver of mediaeval knowledge Laurent Joubert (1529-1583). Elevated by his learning, which ranges over the whole spectrum of subjects relevant to medicine, the physician gives six instructions to the two subordinate figures whose qualifications cover a narrower range.The first three commands (clysters, bloodletting, cupping) are directions to the surgeon, the second three (laxatives, juleps, emetics) to the apothecary. On a table on the left are medical instruments: a vertical urine flask containing urine with sediment from a kidney or bladder stone; a horizontal urine flask; a bowl containing a steaming liquid; and a prescription ("Ordonnance") containing a list of plants (senna, cassia, tamarind, rhubarb, manna) to be used as a medicine or medicines. On his head he wears an academic beret on which sits an owl 



Below, on the left is the apothecary, composed of items of pharmaceutical equipment. His hat is an alembic or distilling flask. Bags of oil of lilies and oil of bay cover his chest. Various other ointments, creams and syrups form other parts of his body 



On the right is the surgeon, whose body is composed of surgical instruments. His hat is a cranial elevator (for removing pieces of bone when the skull has been fractured). In his right hand he holds a vaginal speculum, in his left an oral speculum. Trusses hang from his right forearm, tourniquets from his left. On his breasts he has shaving bowls. From his waist hang saws, knives and drills.

Personifications of medicine, pharmacy and surgery. Oil painting after (?) Nicolas de Larmessin II (1638-1694).

A Valentin knife was one of the few knives able to cut slices of organs and soft tissues for microscopic examination. The double-bladed knife worked best when the blades were wet – best of all when submerged in water. When not in use the nickel-plated steel blades were put in leather covers to protect them. Named after its inventor, Professor Gabriel Valentin (1810-1883), a German-Swiss physiologist, the knife was popular from its invention in 1838 until the 1890s.

maker: Weiss, John

Place made: London, Greater London, England, United Kingdom

Valentin knife, London, England, 1850-1870

Iridectomy knives label

Four women with knives and wooden paddles are cutting and beating the wool and a man is putting it through a combing device. Stipple engraving.

Woodblock illustration of surgical instruments/ instruments of external medicine from Waike xinfa zhenyan zhinan (Guide to Tried and True Methods at the Heart of External Medicine), published in 1887 (13th year of the Guangxu reign period of the Qing dynasty). The pointed cautery iron (jian lao), square/blunt cautery iron (fang lao), annular type (quan shi), depressor type (ya shi), hoe type (chu shi), iron spill (tienian), sickle type (lian shi) and depressor type (yashi) were all instruments employed in Chinese medicine for surgical or external treatment. The pointed cautery iron had a sharp tip. After being heated until red hot, it was used to pierce and cauterize septic boils and ulcers and bring them to a head, drawing the malignities and poisons (xiedu) together. The square/blunt cautery iron was similarly used to cauterize large boils, and served to dissipate the poisons. The annular type was used to isolate lesions during cauterization, to avoid damage to the surrounding tissue. In cases where medication could not easily be applied directly to a lesion, the depressor type offered an extremely convenient means of administering external treatment. Where decayed flesh could not easily be excised from a lesion, it could be gently removed using the hoe type. If the opening of a lesion was obstructed by tissue and purulent matter, the iron spill could be used to unblock it, allowing the pus to drain spontaneously. If the opening of a lesion was constantly oozing pus, it could be clamped together with tweezers, and then cut off using the sickle type. The depressor type was used chiefly to depress the tongue to allow access to the throat for examination, surgery, or the administration of drugs, by insufflation or otherwise.

Chinese woodcut: Types of knives and needles (3)

Part of the process of mummification is the removal of all of the internal organs from the body apart from the heart, which was seen as the seat of the mind and emotions. These knives would have been used to cut the organs from the body prior to embalming. However, in ancient Egypt there were no specialised knives, so these examples made from bronze and copper may also have been used in the home for eating and preparing meat. The knives (A634903, A634904, A634905, A634906, A634907) were bought at different times from auction houses and private collections.

maker: Unknown maker

Place made: Egypt

Bronze knife used in mummification, Egypt, 600-200 BCE

The curved shape of this amputation knife was common in the early 1700s. Amputation knives became straighter once the practice of leaving a flap of skin to cover the limb stump became the preferred amputation method. Ebony was a common material for handles as it is a hard-wearing wood. This knife was probably made by Eberle in Germany, as indicated by the inscription on the silver blade.

maker: Eberle

Place made: Germany

Amputation knife, Germany, 1701-1800

Lithotomy knives.

This extensive steel surgical instrument set contains a wide range of the equipment an army surgeon may have needed at a German field hospital. Some of the instruments, such as the amputation knives and saw, are for specific tasks. Other instruments, such as the forceps for clamping bones, arteries, and intestines, have a more general use. 

The kit is labelled with the German word Hauptbesteck and the date. Hauptbesteck translates as “main cutlery”, “cutlery” being another word for surgical instruments. The use of steel for the case as well as the instruments ensured that this equipment could be sterilised easily.

maker: Jetter and Scheerer

Place made: Tuttlingen, Freiburg district, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Surgical instrument set, Germany, 1939

1 drawing : gouache, with gum arabic ; image 27 x 37 cm

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A selection of knives

Indian butcher selling meat to some customers. Gouache drawing.

Knives and lancets for abscesses

Lithotomy set, Paris, France, 1820-1860

Six cross-sections through a foot. Coloured lithograph by M. Hanhart after C. Heath after J.B. Léveillé.

The Sheffield election of 1868: (left) two men play cards and drink in a warm pub; (right) two women (one with a baby) beg and cower in a snowy street. Transfer lithograph, 1868.

Post-mortem set, United Kingdom, 1860-1865

Surgical instruments, mainly needles and knives. Engraving by E. Mitchell.

Egyptian flint knives, predynastic.

An itinerant musician playing to an audience using an instrument that is partly made out of an animals bladder. Drypoint.

Kitchen safety. Pt 1. Preventing cuts and strains.

Greek and Roman Knives etc,-Surgical Instruments

Wellcome museum, primitive medicine: surgical instruments

Rosset's third plate: surgical knives (2-4)

Personifications of medicine, pharmacy and surgery. Oil painting after (?) Nicolas de Larmessin II (1638-1694).

Valentin knife, London, England, 1850-1870

Iridectomy knives label

Four women with knives and wooden paddles are cutting and beating the wool and a man is putting it through a combing device. Stipple engraving.

Chinese woodcut: Types of knives and needles (3)

Bronze knife used in mummification, Egypt, 600-200 BCE

Amputation knife, Germany, 1701-1800

Lithotomy knives.

Egyptian flint knives, predynastic.

Surgical instrument set, Germany, 1939

Indian hunter and wife. Gouache drawing.

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A selection of knives

Indian butcher selling meat to some customers. Gouache drawing.

Knives and lancets for abscesses

Lithotomy set, Paris, France, 1820-1860

Six cross-sections through a foot. Coloured lithograph by M. Hanhart after C. Heath after J.B. Léveillé.

The Sheffield election of 1868: (left) two men play cards and drink in a warm pub; (right) two women (one with a baby) beg and cower in a snowy street. Transfer lithograph, 1868.

Post-mortem set, United Kingdom, 1860-1865

Surgical instruments, mainly needles and knives. Engraving by E. Mitchell.

Egyptian flint knives, predynastic.

An itinerant musician playing to an audience using an instrument that is partly made out of an animals bladder. Drypoint.

Kitchen safety. Pt 1. Preventing cuts and strains.

Greek and Roman Knives etc,-Surgical Instruments

Wellcome museum, primitive medicine: surgical instruments

Rosset's third plate: surgical knives (2-4)

Personifications of medicine, pharmacy and surgery. Oil painting after (?) Nicolas de Larmessin II (1638-1694).

Valentin knife, London, England, 1850-1870

Iridectomy knives label

Four women with knives and wooden paddles are cutting and beating the wool and a man is putting it through a combing device. Stipple engraving.

Chinese woodcut: Types of knives and needles (3)

Bronze knife used in mummification, Egypt, 600-200 BCE

Amputation knife, Germany, 1701-1800

Lithotomy knives.

Egyptian flint knives, predynastic.

Surgical instrument set, Germany, 1939

Indian hunter and wife. Gouache drawing.

Stay in the know

Wellcome collectionWellcome Collection

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