Strange, Wonderful, and Macabre

...There's a bit of an eerie trend in our posts at the moment, it's probably because we've just been to quite a few events hosted by the Wellcome Collection. Here are some of the strange and interesting items from their archives of medical history. There is also a new catalogue of intriguing things from the Collection called 'Brought to Life' hosted by the Science Museum.



This exhibition is called 'Medicine Man' and catalogues just some of Sir Henry Wellcome's extensive collection of medicine related artefacts. It's a bit gothic-looking with displays set on dark red tables and dark wood, with cabinets where you can pull out the drawers and look for captions. There were shelves full of beautiful bottles...




Haunting and curious photographs and paintings... a Peace Pipe...



I took a bit of an interest in looking at the old-fashioned artificial limbs having worked with amputees. Modern prosthetics are less fancy-looking but perhaps more functional!

Below, from top left going clockwise: an ancient Chinese torture chair, glass eyes, an elaborate snuff-box, sculpture, obstetric forceps, surgeons' tools, more obstetrics, a totem, mask collection; and a book of medicine and surgery.







Look, there's even Charles Darwin's walking stick: