Description
Unveiling some unusual objects from the fascinating collections of the Royal Australasian College of surgeons, this book opens with an archetypal symbol of the College, the Great Mace. It continues with an exploration of a diverse group of objects loosely bound together by type. Furniture, ceramics and silverware vie with paintings and sculpture. A miscellany of surgical instruments dating mainly from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, feature the carbolic spray used by Lord Lister at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, pictured on the back of the book. Developed in 1869, the spray was designed to kill airborne bacteria, but had some side effects. Everyone attending the operation inhaled the spray and if the patient had been anaesthetized using chloroform, the vapour decomposed into chlorine gas.
At the other end of the spectrum, a large collection of historic medical book contains many rare and early editions such as those by Vesalius and Pare. Objects often have interesting stories connected to them, contributing to the complex web of relationships that have created a surgical College.
Confirming the importance of valuing and preserving heritage, Unveiling the Collections will enrich present generations and benefit those in the future.
Paperback, 119pp, 2020
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