@hunterianmuseum
At the Royal College of Surgeons of England Discover the art and science of surgery from ancient times to the present day. https://hunterianmuseum.org/ Banner Image - Concourse (2) by Barbara Hepworth, 1948, Barbara Hepworth © Bowness
Loved the women in surgery portrait exhibition @hunterianmuseum.bsky.social @collegeofsurgeons.bsky.social. Great to meet all the surgeons at the private view last week. Do pop in if you’re in London, and visit the Hunterian Museum while you’re there. hunterianmuseum.org/exhibitions/...
Only a few specimens were framed in this way, suggesting that Hunter was particularly pleased with this one.
Credit
Boar’s epididymis (tube which stores and transports sperm) injected with mercury and framed for display, 1760–93, Hunterian Collection. RCSHC/DP 577
It is an unravelled epididymis – the long, tightly coiled tube that stores and transports sperm – from the testicle of a domestic pig (or boar). Hunter injected the specimen with mercury, a silvery liquid metal now known to be toxic, to highlight its structure.
A tubular specimen, arranged in a spiral and displayed in a round, gold-coloured frame. The tube appears silver in colour due to injected mercury. A label with the number “577” is attached at the bottom inside the frame.
John Hunter was so proud of this specimen that he is said to have displayed it in his dining room, rather than in his museum with the rest of the collection.
Black and white image showing a person helping another put on a glove. The glove is open, filled with water, as one hand slides in.
We are delighted to be partnering with @hunterianmuseum.bsky.social at The Royal College of Surgeons of England in our research on hands, craft and haptic skill in the nineteenth century!
Stay tuned for news about our collaboration and how to get involved!
Want to learn more about the surgeons behind the portraits, including our brilliant Women in Surgery Forum Chair, Felicity Meyer?
Join us for a special viewing of Insight: Portraits of Women in Surgery, celebrating International Women's Day, on 10 March, at 6pm. Book now: ow.ly/RQ4l50Y5kat
📢New Exhibition📢 - Insight: Portraits of Women in Surgery
Friday 6 February - Saturday 18 April 2026,
Wednesdays to Saturdays, 10am-5pm
hunterianmuseum.org/exhibitions/...
Had a great morning @collegeofsurgeons.bsky.social learning about the role of volunteers. Had an induction session then a volunteer took me on a building tour and showed me his object of the day in @hunterianmuseum.bsky.social. Finished with object handling. Learnt so much, can’t wait to go back!
Credit: Model eye, by Davidson, London, 1871-1910. Hunterian Museum, Royal College of Surgeons of England, RCSIC/SCM 13
#opthalmology #retina #fundoscopy #historyofmedicine #histmed #museum
They show the back of the eye, called the fundus, and were used to train students in fundoscopy. Today, training uses fundus photographs, but health professionals still use fundoscopy to detect eye diseases and complications from diabetes or high blood pressure.
Can you guess what these little painted discs were used for?
📢Come and work at the Hunterian Museum 📢
Two roles
- Collections Officer
- Conservation Assistant
👇👇👇
hunterianmuseum.org/news/vacancy...
Made myself a notebook cover, based on the Evelyn Tables in the @hunterianmuseum.bsky.social 🩻 (I made the bookmark to go inside it, too)
This is great!
Credit
Chicken head, with human tooth transplanted into comb, c.1763-1778, Hunterian Collection. RCSHC/P 56
#HunterianMuseum #MedicalHistory #HistMed #HistoryofMedicine #FreeMuseum
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By the 1800s, concerns about ineffectiveness, the transmission of disease, and the exploitation of donors, as well as the introduction of better dentures, led dentists to abandon tooth transplantation.
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Although some transplanted teeth stayed in patients’ mouths for years, we now know they were simply wedged in place.
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A close up of the head of a cockerel with a human tooth implanted into its comb.
His investigations included grafting cockerels’ leg spurs onto their heads, cockerel testicles into hens’ abdomens, and human teeth into cockerels’ combs, as seen in this specimen.
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During that time, dentists charged high fees to implant healthy teeth extracted from poor donors into the mouths of rich patients. Hunter wanted to know: could transplanted tissue really survive and grow?
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A glass container filled with clear liquid containing the head of a cockerel with a human tooth implanted into its comb. A label at the bottom reads ‘P 56’.
Why is there a human tooth in this chicken’s head?
It is the result of an experiment carried out by surgeon-anatomist John Hunter over 240 years ago.
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The Starr-Edwards valve was the first artificial mechanical valve used successfully in humans, and uses a ball-and-cage design to control the flow of blood. It was the product of a partnership between surgeon Dr Albert Starr, and engineer Mr Lowell Edwards.
Hunterian Museum, RCSIC/E 90.0.1
Table 3, showing the sympathetic trunks and branches of the vagus nerves, the veins supplying the lungs, and the portal vein and its tributaries
RCSHM/Z 34
Table 4, showing the distribution of veins (vessels carrying blood towards the heart). RCSHM/Z 35
From left to right:
Table 1, showing the spinal cord and nerves of the trunk and limbs of the human body. RCSHM/Z 32
Table 2, showing the aorta and distribution of the arteries (vessels carrying blood away from the heart). RCSHM/Z 33
How did Guillermo del Toro’s new Frankenstein film take inspiration from the Hunterian Museum?
@realgdt.bsky.social
Credit
Ova of the hen, by Jan van Rymsdyk (d 1790), pastel on parchment, 1755-6. Hunterian Museum, Royal College of Surgeons of England. RCSSC/P 269b
Close-up of the same pastel, showing a chick with dark brown feathers in a curled position.
It appears that once he had completed the eggs on a pale blue background, Rymsdyke went back and added additional brighter blue pastel around them to increase the contrast.
Pastel illustration showing the stages of chick embryo development inside eggs, arranged in a five-row grid against a blue background. The first four rows depict gradual growth from fertilised eggs to forming embryos, while the fifth row shows four chicks with distinct features, some partially hatched.
This 270-year-old pastel drawing vividly illustrates the journey of a hen's egg to a fully developed chick.
By Dutch artist Jan van Rymsdyk, they were made for John Hunter in about 1755, when he was investigating animal reproduction. It is likely that Hunter used the drawing for presentations.
Text on a green background reading 'The Hunterian Museum is currently closed for essential maintenance work. The Museum will reopen on Wednesday 8 October. Our apologies for any inconvenience caused.'
Credit
1. Skull, left profile, attributed to William Cheselden, early 1700s. Hunterian Museum, Royal College of Surgeons of England. RCSSC/P 261
2. Plate 4 from Osteographia, or the anatomy of the bones, by William Cheselden, 1733. Royal College of Surgeons of England Library and Archives
Close up of part of an oil painting of a human skull in profile, resting on a red surface with a dark background.
The painting belonged to Cheselden, and is thought to have been a preparatory work by him for 'Osteographia'. Although he worked with artists Gerard van der Gucht (1695/6–1776) and Jacob Schijnvoet (1685–1733) to create the complex images for the book, Cheselden was a capable artist himself.
