This story was created for the Google Expeditions project by Twig World, now available on Google Arts & Culture
Founded in 1505, The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) has always been at the forefront of medical discovery. It was here that pioneers explored the reaches of surgical skill through new medical methods.
Surgeons’ Hall Museums
In the courtyard of the 500-year-old College, where people study surgery to this day, there is a mix of old and new buildings.
Included in these are the Surgeons’ Hall Museums, which house over 5,000 medical objects from history, such as specimens, medical instruments and artwork; they also explore the history of surgery in Edinburgh.
This is one of many colleges of surgery where medical professionals could gather and share knowledge.
Playfair Hall
This hall, built to house many donated specimens of body parts, was completed in 1832 – the same year that a law was passed making it easier for doctors to use bodies in teaching surgical methods.
Symbol of Surgery
This sculpture shows a hand holding a scalpel to represent the skills of the surgeons who study at the College. An image of this sculpture is also used as the College’s logo.
New Amongst Old
Nestled between the Playfair Hall and the older townhouses alongside is the entrance to the museums. Surgeons’ Hall Museums are visited by more than 65,000 visitors every year, as well as being a hub for visiting surgeons.
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Theatre of Knowledge
This area is a reconstruction of an early dissection theatre. Performed on humans or animals, these could be watched by the general public, who sat in the raised seating to watch the surgeon work.
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The surgeons would have little training compared to modern doctors, but these dissections became vital to the understanding of how our body systems kept us alive.
Ahead of Its Time
This is a reconstruction of the first theatre used for public dissection in Scotland. This dissection was in 1702, after the council of Edinburgh promised the College 1 body per week for use in teaching surgery.
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Audience
The audience of this dissection could be anyone, but the people allowed to perform surgery were limited to members of specific organizations. Focusing on a different part of the body each day, this surgery took a week to complete.
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Anatomy Table
This interactive surgery table represents the body that would have been dissected for the waiting audience. The first dissection was of a criminal called David Myers, whose body was used after his execution.
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Science Enters Surgery
Our understanding of the human body is a result of centuries of scientific investigation. The more surgeons understood how all the parts of the body worked, the more successful they were at performing operations.
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This type of study often involved experimenting with different techniques on the bodies of humans and animals – a strategy still used by students of surgery today.
John Barclay
John Barclay (1758–1826) was born to a farming family, but taught himself the science of anatomy before becoming a lecturer at The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He taught the next generation of leading anatomists, defining Edinburgh as a centre of medical knowledge.
Study of Animals
These are examples of animal specimens used for teaching anatomy. With restrictions on the number of bodies available for dissection, specimens like this lobster or monkey skull were the only way for students to learn about systems of the body.
Early Teaching Methods
This is a wax model of a real face from the mid-1800s. One eye is bulging outward because of a tumor beneath. Students could build upon their knowledge more easily with the help of preserved bodies and lifelike models.
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Conquering Pain: Anaesthesia
Medicine to reduce pain was not often available to early surgery patients. Many patients got drunk, or simply had to bear it. During the 1800s, better medicine became available as a result of the study of anaesthesia.
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These new discoveries helped patients sleep through surgery, or reduced the sensation of pain.
Inhalers
Many different facemasks were made for inhaling anesthetic gases such as ether. Valves regulated the amount of air let in, depending on the required level of anesthesia.
Surgery in Childbirth
This is a bust of James Young Simpson (1811–1870). A professor at the University of Edinburgh, he experimented with pain relief for mothers giving birth. This became very popular after Queen Victoria used chloroform during the birth of 2 of her children.
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The Case of Robert Penman
Robert Penman was 24 when his 72-ounce (2-kilogram) facial tumour was removed in 1828. Using revolutionary surgical techniques, the tumour was removed in 24 minutes. Robert Penman remained seated during his procedure, which was very modern at the time.
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Study of Pathology
Surgeons’ Hall Museums keep many examples of preserved human specimens in this large hall. The collection has provided case studies for surgical students for hundreds of years, helping them to understand complex conditions they might encounter in the course of their careers.
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Surgeons throughout the history of the college have also used these samples to understand the causes of certain diseases. This field of study is called pathology.
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Beginnings of the Collection
John Barclay (1758–1826) was a lecturer at the RCSEd. He had a vast private collection and after his death, he gave it to the College under the condition that they build the hall to keep them in.
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Cabinets of Curiosity
For more than 500 years, scientists have collected animal remains for the purpose of study. “Cabinets of Curiosity” were rooms containing a variety of preserved specimens, but these were often used as entertainment or to show the wealth of the owner.
Paget’s Disease Skeleton
This is the skeleton of someone who had Paget’s disease, which affects bone renewal in people. This skeleton was preserved to show the progress of the disease. Paget’s disease can be treated by medicine and rarely occurs in people under 55 years old.
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Real People
Each of these skulls belonged to a real person whose circumstances and suffering have allowed us to know more about their disease, and helped surgeons improve their ability to help the next patient with the same condition.
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As well as being useful for teaching students more about anatomy, they also show the advances in surgery over the last 300 years.
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Skulls
There are many different types of skulls in the collection. Each area of the Pathology Museum is dedicated to a different part of the body, from teeth and limbs to lungs and skin.
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Which Hand?
Not all the specimens are real body parts – this is a plaster cast of a hand. Just behind this, however, is a real hand. The plaster cast provides a different way of preserving specimens for future use, if standard preservation techniques for real body parts are unavailable.
Preservation Techniques
In order to preserve them, many specimens are suspended in preservative liquids and sealed in jars. This prevents their decay and has ensured that many specimens remain unchanged for centuries.