tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/medical-instruments-8657/articles
Medical instruments – The Conversation
2017-12-11T14:58:23Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/88840
2017-12-11T14:58:23Z
2017-12-11T14:58:23Z
The speculum finally gets redesigned – by women
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198558/original/file-20171211-27689-1bwcnfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The old-style speculum – soon to be replaced.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/662645254?src=xAdTjsxya3dyoVPfY-uwkA-1-44&size=medium_jpg">Bangkoker/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The vaginal speculum – that creepy looking metal device used to examine the vagina and cervix – has remained largely unchanged since the 19th century. But a team of female designers in San Francisco is looking to give the unfriendly implement a new design. </p>
<p>In an interview with <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/the-speculum-finally-gets-a-modern-redesign/">Wired</a>, the designers described the hazards of the current one as the noise, the temperature and the feeling inside. Their prototype, by contrast, is made of three leaves that open silently. And it’s covered in silicone – a warmer material than steel.</p>
<p>James Marion Sims, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/statues-of-medical-racist-who-experimented-on-slaves-should-also-be-taken-down-82704">controversial</a> “father of gynaecology”, is credited with inventing the modern speculum in the mid-19th century. However, the type with two or more metal blades and a screw mechanism that opens them so that the vaginal walls are forced apart, goes back at least to the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1139583/">Roman Empire</a>. Resistance to using these implements also has a long history. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198559/original/file-20171211-27705-10rhge0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198559/original/file-20171211-27705-10rhge0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=770&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198559/original/file-20171211-27705-10rhge0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=770&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198559/original/file-20171211-27705-10rhge0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=770&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198559/original/file-20171211-27705-10rhge0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=968&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198559/original/file-20171211-27705-10rhge0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=968&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198559/original/file-20171211-27705-10rhge0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=968&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">English physician Marshall Hall regarded the speculum as French.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36310324">Wellcome images/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>There was some unease in the ancient world about using any instruments to see inside the body. The ancient doctor was supposed to rely on all his senses, not enhance them. An ancient Greek description of <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=fQaGAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA46&lpg=PA46&dq=haemorrhoids+5+hippocrates&source=bl&ots=PWdliV6IBv&sig=5xpIoIv_0d29ReVoqGiyXL-sxig&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi6iZ6H8vrXAhUmIsAKHbWqCSQQ6AEIQTAD#v=onepage&q=haemorrhoids%205%20hippocrates&f=false">haemorrhoids</a> made the point that an instrument could flatten a lump and obscure the very problem the doctor was supposed to be seeing for himself. </p>
<p>The ethics of inserting an instrument into the vagina made the speculum even more controversial. In Sims’ own time, the English regarded the speculum as French and thought it risked “dulling the edge of virgin modesty, and the degradation of pure minds, of the daughters of England”, as the English physiologist, <a href="http://bit.ly/2BDYhf4">Marshall Hall</a>, phrased it in 1850. </p>
<h2>Making sense of ancient medicine</h2>
<p>Medical instruments used in ancient times are difficult to understand, as surgeon John Stewart Milne makes clear in <a href="https://archive.org/details/b21274150">Surgical instruments in Greek and Roman times</a>. Ancient medical writers named and described various instruments, but it isn’t easy to match the texts to the objects that archaeologists find. </p>
<p>Many such objects look a lot like something we have today, so we assume they were used in the same way. But things weren’t so simple. A tool to examine the rectum or vagina could also be used to hold open a wound while a foreign body was extracted. </p>
<p>Sims’ speculum was based on bending a metal spoon, and one of the items almost always found in sets of medical instruments from ancient Rome is a spoon. Sometimes it has a probe or hook at the other end. </p>
<p>The ancient Greek rectal dilator (“katopter”) may originally have been two spoons, one held in each hand. A more specialised tool for looking into the rectum was the <a href="http://broughttolife.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/objects/display?id=92151">small dioptrion</a>. We assume this is the two-bladed instrument where you compress the handles to open the blades. Many of these have been found. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198562/original/file-20171211-27693-18xn91t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198562/original/file-20171211-27693-18xn91t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198562/original/file-20171211-27693-18xn91t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198562/original/file-20171211-27693-18xn91t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198562/original/file-20171211-27693-18xn91t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198562/original/file-20171211-27693-18xn91t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198562/original/file-20171211-27693-18xn91t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Roman bronze rectal dioptrion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://broughttolife.sciencemuseum.org.uk/hommedia.ashx?id=95695&size=Large">© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>They were possibly also used for gynaecological examination. In the third century AD, <a href="https://archive.org/stream/b21274150#page/148">Leonidas of Alexandria</a> wrote that you use them to open up the rectum “as we do the female vagina”. It isn’t clear here whether he means the same instrument was used, or just the same method. </p>
<p>The large dioptrion used for the vagina looked very different. Like the modern speculum, it had a screw mechanism to open up between two and four valves: <a href="http://exhibits.hsl.virginia.edu/hist-images/romansurgical/vaginalSpeculum1a_e.jpg">this one</a> has three.</p>
<p>Ancient medical writers were perhaps more sensitive to their women patients than we’d expect. They had different sizes of instrument depending on the age of the patient. The set of medical instruments found in the Casa del Medico Nuovo in Pompeii includes a uterine speculum but also a small dioptrion. </p>
<p>Medical texts recommend using a probe to check the length of the vagina before deciding which size to use. <a href="https://archive.org/stream/b21274150#page/150">Muscio</a>, the supposed author of the Genecia, a treatise on gynaecology based on the work of Soranus and dating to around 500AD, says they put oil on a speculum first and warmed it up before insertion. </p>
<p>The obstetric forceps developed by <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TF5BDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT4&lpg=PT4&dq=helen+king+obstetrics+midwifery&source=bl&ots=amTUNL6rQa&sig=I5g5jTOPyK7WsfgO6tvBPiJtPKE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjNl8-xyPrXAhVDAcAKHYoACOkQ6AEISDAH#v=onepage&q=clinking&f=false">William Smellie</a> in 1748 were of wood rather than metal, so that they would “appear less terrible to the Women … make no clinking noise when used”. Because the wood could easily break, Smellie then tried steel forceps with the blades covered in leather, but these soaked up fluids and smelled bad. We now know that they would spread infection.</p>
<p>The metallic noises and the coldness of the speculum and other devices used in gynaecology have long been a problem. But there were attempts to reduce the unpleasantness. It’s not clear how much these attempts were about the need to attract patients, and, certainly, not all innovations were in women’s interests. But a new speculum, designed by women for women, is a refreshing break with the past.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88840/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen King does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Women, rejoice. The speculum is getting a friendly makeover.
Helen King, Professor Emerita, Classical Studies, The Open University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/45670
2015-08-05T16:18:23Z
2015-08-05T16:18:23Z
Artificial whiskers could inspire future instruments to aid keyhole surgery
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/90890/original/image-20150805-22478-lcniec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whiskers.jpg">Hjvannes</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The image of a cat’s quivering whiskers has always been suggestive of an animal with a sixth sense. Now scientists are experimenting with <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-3190/10/4/046018/article">robo-whiskers</a>, synthetic versions of the super-sensitive fibres, which may one day allow surgeons to perform extremely delicate procedures via keyhole surgery. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/nature-must-remain-at-the-heart-of-engineering-solutions-27904">Biomimetics</a> – the imitation of living systems – is a branch of engineering that copies from or is inspired by nature. For example, tissue engineering uses scaffolds often designed to directly imitate the structure and properties of native tissues. When used in <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19301274">bone repair</a>, these can be made from collagen or calcium phosphate, both found naturally in bones. While it makes sense to mimic nature for an implant that is going into the body, there are applications for external uses too, such as this bio-inspired whisker array.</p>
<h2>Probing sensitive subjects</h2>
<p>Animals with whiskers (technical term <em><a href="http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Vibrissal_behavior_and_function">vibrissae</a></em>) include various rodents, cats and sea mammals such as seals, which use whiskers to probe and sense the environment around them. Whiskers are larger than typical mammalian hairs, but similar in structure and composition. They do not contain nerves – but where the whiskers meet the skin is an extraordinarily sensitive mechanism that allows the animal to feel with the whiskers. At their base, the nerve endings can sense direct stimuli when they are bent through contact, and indirect stimuli, when the hairs deform or shift in response to air or fluid currents moving around them. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-3190/10/4/046018/article">study</a> by researchers in Singapore and the US takes a discount store approach by using common objects such as plastic drinking straws and Lego blocks to create a bio-inspired array of five artificial whiskers. </p>
<p>The straws act as the whiskers, responding to air currents generated by a hair dryer. Strain sensors at the base of the plastic whiskers monitor their movement and shape change in response to the currents. This simple experimental set-up is linked to complex mathematical analysis capable of demonstrating whether the artificial whiskers faithfully capture various different airflow patterns from the hair dryer.</p>
<h2>Making whiskers active</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/90914/original/image-20150805-22485-1vnxz5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/90914/original/image-20150805-22485-1vnxz5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/90914/original/image-20150805-22485-1vnxz5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=658&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90914/original/image-20150805-22485-1vnxz5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=658&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90914/original/image-20150805-22485-1vnxz5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=658&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90914/original/image-20150805-22485-1vnxz5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=827&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90914/original/image-20150805-22485-1vnxz5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=827&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90914/original/image-20150805-22485-1vnxz5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=827&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Artificial whiskers, with Lego, straws, a hair dryer - and a complex mathematical model.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-3190/10/4/046018/article">Tuna/Jones/Kamalabadi/IOP</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>As is often the case in bio-inspired engineering, the true promise goes beyond what it might be imagined Lego, straws and hair-dryers could provide. </p>
<p>By bringing together complex fluid mechanics, control theory and electronic signal processing, experiments with artificial whiskers could provide significant engineering advances. Bioengineering is an interdisciplinary research area – and experiments like this can bring together experts from different fields of inquiry that would normally operate independently. Although the authors deal only with passive whisker sensing, there’s significantly more promise to an approach that uses robotics to create robo-whiskers, capable of responding to stimuli and passing information. These whiskers would be “biofidelic” – able to mimic the natural system more closely. </p>
<h2>Whiskers as a surgeon’s hands</h2>
<p>Even in a relatively simple form, the potential applications for synthetic whiskers arrays are far more interesting as they could demonstrate invaluable medical uses, such as in surgery. With traditional <a href="http://surgery.about.com/od/glossaryofsurgicalterms/g/OpenSurgGloss.htm">open surgery</a>, surgeons use the tactile feedback provided by the extremely sensitive nerve endings in their own fingertips to guide their tools. The tactile feedback helps the surgeon, but infection and other risks are a problem.</p>
<p>The other approach is minimally invasive, <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/minimally-invasive-surgery/basics/definition/prc-20025473">keyhole surgery</a>, when the surgeon’s hands do not enter the site of the operation. Instead the surgical tools are mounted on fibre-optic scopes or other sorts of remote instruments that are inserted into a far smaller hole. As doctors adopt this approach, the need to provide new ways of gaining a clearer sense of feeling, as when physically holding the instruments, has become more pressing. </p>
<p>If the thought of cat (or rat, or even seal) whiskers inside your aorta makes you shudder, consider that it’s entirely possible that your own future cardiac outpatient procedure some years from now may be quicker and more successful because of robotic tactile feedback mechanisms inspired by this whiskery experiment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45670/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Oyen is a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics, in which this work was published, but was not involved in any aspect of the editorial process with respect to this particular paper.</span></em></p>
A simple experiment with plastic straws, Lego bricks and a hair dryer is the basis for a future surgeon’s sensitive tools.
Michelle Oyen, Reader in Bioengineering, University of Cambridge
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/22211
2014-01-21T14:35:53Z
2014-01-21T14:35:53Z
Ten weird and terrifying medical instruments from the past
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39571/original/rrsd857j-1390311996.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">18th century German cranial brace and bit to create holes in the skulls</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wellcome Library</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UK’s largest medical charity, the Wellcome Trust, has made its vast database of images <a href="http://wellcomeimages.org">freely available to all</a>. The collection holds photos of hundreds of years worth of medicine, instruments and scientific culture.</p>
<p>For me, the progress of science best described by advances in medicine and the instruments used to practice it. Here is a list of a few of my favourites.</p>
<p>Nothing quite says medicine like a syringe. And this collection has plenty, from the 17th century brass or 18th century ivory enema syringes, to the 20th century’s glass and stainless steel ones, all clearly made to last much longer than our modern disposable versions.</p>
<p><strong>17th century French brass syringe</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39556/original/cb59fbzp-1390307331.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39556/original/cb59fbzp-1390307331.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39556/original/cb59fbzp-1390307331.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39556/original/cb59fbzp-1390307331.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39556/original/cb59fbzp-1390307331.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39556/original/cb59fbzp-1390307331.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39556/original/cb59fbzp-1390307331.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39556/original/cb59fbzp-1390307331.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Science Museum, London</span></span>
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<p><strong>18th century Sri Lankan Ivory enema syringe</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39557/original/vkyd7qt3-1390307409.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39557/original/vkyd7qt3-1390307409.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39557/original/vkyd7qt3-1390307409.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39557/original/vkyd7qt3-1390307409.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39557/original/vkyd7qt3-1390307409.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39557/original/vkyd7qt3-1390307409.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39557/original/vkyd7qt3-1390307409.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39557/original/vkyd7qt3-1390307409.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Science Museum, London</span></span>
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<p><strong>19th century Japanese self-administering enema syringe with a piston and reservoir</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39554/original/38r4g7cf-1390307098.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39554/original/38r4g7cf-1390307098.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39554/original/38r4g7cf-1390307098.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39554/original/38r4g7cf-1390307098.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39554/original/38r4g7cf-1390307098.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39554/original/38r4g7cf-1390307098.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39554/original/38r4g7cf-1390307098.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39554/original/38r4g7cf-1390307098.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Science Museum, London</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>Then there are the surgical instruments, like the 16th century tools below. Those on the right include a double-bladed knife, <strong>a forceps for extracting arrow head</strong> and <strong>a bullet extractor</strong>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39558/original/dzd9bc8z-1390308231.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39558/original/dzd9bc8z-1390308231.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39558/original/dzd9bc8z-1390308231.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39558/original/dzd9bc8z-1390308231.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39558/original/dzd9bc8z-1390308231.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39558/original/dzd9bc8z-1390308231.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39558/original/dzd9bc8z-1390308231.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39558/original/dzd9bc8z-1390308231.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wellcome Library</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Others like the <strong>Belgian Iron “scolds bridle” mask</strong> from the 1550s that was used to publicly humiliate and punish, mainly women, speaking out against authority, nagging, brawling with neighbours, blaspheming or lying, are just horrible inventions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39568/original/6zwrqdg7-1390311161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39568/original/6zwrqdg7-1390311161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39568/original/6zwrqdg7-1390311161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=919&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39568/original/6zwrqdg7-1390311161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=919&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39568/original/6zwrqdg7-1390311161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=919&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39568/original/6zwrqdg7-1390311161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39568/original/6zwrqdg7-1390311161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39568/original/6zwrqdg7-1390311161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wellcome Library London</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More preferable are the <strong>“Jedi” helmets</strong> from the 1980s, used in conjunction with MRI scanners to investigate the brain without having to crack open the cranium. The word “Jedi” was used to ensure that children put it on without too much fuss.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39561/original/y8yfhgg7-1390308602.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39561/original/y8yfhgg7-1390308602.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39561/original/y8yfhgg7-1390308602.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39561/original/y8yfhgg7-1390308602.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39561/original/y8yfhgg7-1390308602.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39561/original/y8yfhgg7-1390308602.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39561/original/y8yfhgg7-1390308602.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39561/original/y8yfhgg7-1390308602.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Science Museum, London</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is also this steampunk <strong>steel hand and forearm with brass wrist mountings</strong> from 1890.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39569/original/6dcybx79-1390311665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39569/original/6dcybx79-1390311665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39569/original/6dcybx79-1390311665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39569/original/6dcybx79-1390311665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39569/original/6dcybx79-1390311665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39569/original/6dcybx79-1390311665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39569/original/6dcybx79-1390311665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39569/original/6dcybx79-1390311665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wellcome Library, London</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And finally how about the slightly <strong>disturbing model eye</strong>… </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39562/original/mdy6pksw-1390308752.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39562/original/mdy6pksw-1390308752.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39562/original/mdy6pksw-1390308752.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39562/original/mdy6pksw-1390308752.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39562/original/mdy6pksw-1390308752.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39562/original/mdy6pksw-1390308752.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=711&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39562/original/mdy6pksw-1390308752.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=711&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39562/original/mdy6pksw-1390308752.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=711&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Model eye by W. and S. Jones, London, 1840-1900.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wellcome Library, London</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>…to go alongside the original eye pad</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39563/original/kscqvxpf-1390308783.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39563/original/kscqvxpf-1390308783.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39563/original/kscqvxpf-1390308783.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39563/original/kscqvxpf-1390308783.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39563/original/kscqvxpf-1390308783.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39563/original/kscqvxpf-1390308783.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=626&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39563/original/kscqvxpf-1390308783.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=626&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39563/original/kscqvxpf-1390308783.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=626&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Box of eyeballs from 1900.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wellcome Library, London</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/22211/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Lorch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The UK’s largest medical charity, the Wellcome Trust, has made its vast database of images freely available to all. The collection holds photos of hundreds of years worth of medicine, instruments and scientific…
Mark Lorch, Senior Lecturer in Biological Chemistry, University of Hull
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.