Surgery and Anatomy
Surgery kit
Details: Medicine through Time: Surgery and anatomy in the early modern period [pdf] / History programme leaflet [pdf]
Key Stage: 3
Length: 1-2 hours (adaptable)
Maximum number: See Planning a visit
Suitable for Schools’ History Project GCSE unit Medicine through Time.
This is an opportunity for pupils to gain insight into the realities of surgery in the early modern period focusing particularly on the seventeenth century.
The workshop begins with a presentation of original books from the museum’s library and archive which will give students a unique opportunity to appreciate primary source material and to gain insight into the development of medicine, surgery and anatomy in the seventeenth century.
A handling workshop of some of the Museum’s collection of surgical instruments will help to illustrate the ideas and techniques of various operations such as amputations and trepanning, and the hazards associated with them.
An extended session can be arranged which involves the presentation of a dramatic excerpt from a novel based on early experiments in blood transfusion which then provides the focus for a question and answer session examining the philosophical and scientific basis of early modern medicine.
Early anatomy illustration from Johannes Remmelin, ‘Catoptrum Microcosmicum’ (1619)
