The Hunterian Museum is devoted to the surgical profession. The archives contain surgical instruments, manuscripts, the journals of eminent surgeons, photographs of facial repairs during World War I, anatomical drawings and other papers of varying degrees of morbidity, mostly from physician and surgeon John Hunter’s collection. Hunter is remembered for being the founder of scientific surgery, and throughout the 18th century he taught students the importance of how the body adapts after injury or illness. He also developed new treatments for gunshot wounds and sexually transmitted diseases. The exhibitions at the Hunterian Museum are of a general nature; an exhibit devoted to the British Monarchy commemorates the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth, previous ones detailed the history of the NHS, dentistry in the Victorian era, and skin diseases experienced by black Africans in the 18th and 19th centuries, which coincided with the Bicentenary of the Abolition of Slavery. Additionally for children and animal-lovers there is a room devoted to extinct animals, complete with prehistoric skeletons. A must for medical students and the curious.
The Hunterian Museum
Museum in Holborn
Address
The Royal College of Surgeons of England, 35-43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Holborn, WC2A 3PE
The Royal College of Surgeons of England, 35-43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Holborn, WC2A 3PE
Telephone
020 7869 6560
020 7869 6560
Category
Museums
Museums
Region
Holborn
Holborn
Website
www.rcseng.ac.uk/museums
The Hunterian Museum Picture Gallery
Things to Try
Surround yourself with skeletons and er, human organs
Slightly creepy? Yes. But interesting? Certainly.
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