'Losing sight of glory': six centuries of battlefield surgery

Join medical history expert and former surgeon Michael Crumplin to spend an evening discovering the fascinating and dramatic history of battlefield surgery. Uncover the stories behind landmark developments in military medicine, from Agincourt to Afghanistan.

This illuminating lecture celebrates the recent redisplay of the Royal College of Physicians museum's 'Prujean chest', one of the most important collections of 17th century British surgical instruments in existence.

The chest contains two trays of intricately-shaped compartments, originally holding 104 instruments. Having possibly seen action in the English Civil War, it survived the Great Fire of London and the Blitz, and now houses an array of tools intended for obstetrics, gynaecology, lithotomy (the removal of stones), trepanation (the opening of the human skull), dental and bullet extraction.

The Prujean chest will be available to view before and after the lecture.