Physicians' Gallery

This week, we’re exploring early microscopes, 1600s Dutch experimenter Antonie van Leeuwenhoek and red blood cells. Van Leeuwenhoek was an innovator, a microbiologist, and a curious man. Curious enough to make tiny lenses so he could examine leaves, metal and milk, as well as mites, lice and fleas. We uncover his eyeballing of eyeballs as well as his up close examination of exploding gunpowder, fa...

This week, we’re exploring some womb history. We’re starting off with a bit of menopause magic – symptoms to look out for include a loss of feminine grace and bleeding piles. We dig into some homeopathic remedies and what the womb even is anyway – if Ancient Greeks are to be believed, it’s just an inside out scrotum. _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky - @physiciansgallery Instagram - @physician...

This week, we’re exploring the blood-filled art of James Gillray. We uncover the world of excretory medicine – from gentle emetics to breathing a vein. And we dig into the uncouth, evocative and sometimes obscene work of Georgian caricaturists – making a mockery of the strange practices of eighteenth century doctors and their patients. _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky - @physiciansgallery Ins...

This week, we’re exploring the oozing story of bloodletting ulcers. Bloodletting is often described as gory, weird or baffling – but the stories of patients who were overbled and scarred in the process are often forgotten. In this episode we explore the experiences of those who got the rough end of the lancet when they were prescribed a dose of bloodletting. _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky -...

This week, we’re exploring the history of barber poles. Were these poles once wrapped in real bloody rags? Were there different coloured poles to show the different procedures that barbers carried out? So many myths and stories, but so little evidence to back it up! But one thing we do know, is that barber poles are bloody fascinating objects. _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky - @physiciansgal...

This week, we’re examining The Midwives Book and how a female midwife in 1600s England talked, wrote and understood periods, wombs and menopause. Was flatulence a sign of pregnancy? Do periods cause rabies? Can menstruating women kill bees? Find out the answers to these questions and more in this week’s episode. _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky - @physiciansgallery Instagram - @physiciansgall...

In this episode, we’re unearthing the history of medicinal leeches. From rural swamps to 24 hour leech shops, the leech industry grew and grew across Europe. There were many risks to the use of leeches - from them slithering up your behind to giving you syphilis. One top tip was to not use weird smelling leeches, another was to always squeeze them to empty them out before use. _______________ Foll...

In this episode, we’re digging into the gnarly history of blood transfusion. From dog blood to black urine, we’re looking at 1600s attempts to carry out the first transfusions. A man is allegedly kidnapped off the streets while French and English scientists vie for primacy in this story of innovation, experimentation and bad ideas. _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky - @physiciansgallery Instagr...

This week, we’re talking about eating blood. We’re digging into a tiny Scottish chapbook and the slightly gnarly recipe it contains! From the blood of Roman Gladiators to executed prisoners. Eating blood, cooking blood, smearing blood jam on your toast - we’ve got it all! _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky - @physiciansgallery Instagram - @physiciansgallery TikTok - @physiciansgallery Facebook...

This week, we’re talking about straitjackets. Despite many seeing the straitjacket as an extreme method of patient restraint, in the 1700s it was introduced as a modern and humane solution. _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky - @physiciansgallery Instagram - @physiciansgallery TikTok - @physiciansgallery Facebook - www.facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery Sign up for our newsletter - https://www.rcpe....

This week, we’re talking about asylum art. And we’re focusing on a little volume of illustrations of patients at an asylum - the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. The illustrations show one patient playing a fiddle, another drinking a cup of tea. This volume is particularly interesting because they are all drawn by Robert Miles - an artist who was also a patient at the asylum. _______________ Follow us on...

This week, we’re talking about the alchemical Ripley Scroll. This huge scroll, almost six feet long, supposedly contains the secret to the Philosophers' Stone. In this final part of our series, we wrap up by sharing the secrets to eternal life and unlimited gold! _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky - @physiciansgallery Instagram - @physiciansgallery TikTok - @physiciansgallery Facebook - www.fac...

This week, we’re talking about the alchemical Ripley Scroll. This huge scroll, almost six feet long, supposedly contains the secret to the Philosophers' Stone - the key to both unlimited gold and eternal life! In this third part of our series, we're well under way in our alchemical preparation. _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky - @physiciansgallery Instagram - @physiciansgallery TikTok - @phys...

This week, we’re into our second episode about the alchemical Ripley Scroll. In this episode we’re talking about conmen, Adam and Eve and Bigfoot. _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky - @physiciansgallery Instagram - @physiciansgallery TikTok - @physiciansgallery Facebook - www.facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery Sign up for our newsletter - www.rcpe.ac.uk/newsletter To support heritage at the RCPE, p...

This week, we’re talking about the alchemical Ripley Scroll. This huge scroll, almost six feet long, supposedly contains the secret to the Philosophers' Stone - the key to both unlimited gold and eternal life! In this first part of our series, we explore the first steps in alchemy. _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky - @physiciansgallery Instagram - @physiciansgallery TikTok - @physiciansgallery...

This week, we’re talking about scarificators. These alarming devices are filled with tiny blades. Also known as 'mechanical leeches' they were designed to be used for bloodletting. _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky - @physiciansgallery Instagram - @physiciansgallery TikTok - @physiciansgallery Facebook - www.facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery Sign up for our newsletter - www.rcpe.ac.uk/newsletter...

This week, we’re talking about the rose. One of the less unpleasant-tasting medicines, rose was a common treatment for indigestion and constipation.

This week, we’re talking about bleeding bowls. We’re covering everything from heroic near-death levels of bloodletting, to a Scots porringer of blood - a handy tool that doubled as a measuring jug, gravy boat and ladle! _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky - @physiciansgallery Instagram - @physiciansgallery TikTok - @physiciansgallery Facebook - www.facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery Sign up for our...

This week, we’re talking about the Air Loom. This fascinating image is the first example of asylum patient art ever reproduced in print and we uncover the story of its creator - James Tilly Matthews. _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky - @physiciansgallery Instagram - @physiciansgallery TikTok - @physiciansgallery Facebook - www.facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery Sign up for our newsletter - www.rcp...

This week, we’re talking about the thistle. From a medical marvel to a symbol of Scotland, we explore the rich history of this spiky plant. _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky - @physiciansgallery Instagram - @physiciansgallery TikTok - @physiciansgallery Facebook - www.facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery Sign up for our newsletter - www.rcpe.ac.uk/newsletter To support heritage at the RCPE, please d...

This week, we’re talking about an object from our temporary exhibition ‘Hooked’ – ‘A treatise of new artificial wines’. The author of this book was a distiller, alchemist and chemist. _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky - @physiciansgallery Instagram - @physiciansgallery TikTok - @physiciansgallery Facebook - www.facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery Sign up for our newsletter - www.rcpe.ac.uk/newslett...

This week, we’re talking about an object from our temporary exhibition ‘Hooked’ – Jamaica Ginger, a Prohibition-era American medicine which was highly alcoholic and contained a range of noxious ingredients. _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky - @physiciansgallery Instagram - @physiciansgallery TikTok - @physiciansgallery Facebook - www.facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery Sign up for our newsletter -...

This week, we’re talking about an object from our temporary exhibition ‘Hooked’ – The Tree of Intemperance, an 1800s American illustration with an admonishing moral message. _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky - @physiciansgallery Instagram - @physiciansgallery TikTok - @physiciansgallery Facebook - www.facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery Sign up for our newsletter - www.rcpe.ac.uk/newsletter To supp...

We’re exploring different objects on display in our Physicians’ Gallery. This week, we’re talking about the electro-therapeutic machine. These machines were designed to administer electric shocks. _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky - @physiciansgallery Instagram - @physiciansgallery TikTok - @physiciansgallery Facebook - www.facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery Sign up for our newsletter - www.rcpe.a...

In this episode, we’re talking about an object from our temporary exhibition ‘Hooked’ – a 1600s book called Erotomania, which explores the addictive nature of unrequited love. _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky - @physiciansgallery Instagram - @physiciansgallery TikTok - @physiciansgallery Facebook - www.facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery Sign up for our newsletter - www.rcpe.ac.uk/newsletter To su...