The Chirurgeon’s Library: Kill Grief by Caroline Rance
Recently, I interviewed the novelist, Caroline Rance, about the rewards and challenges of writing historical fiction. Here’s what she had to say about her fascinating novel,
Books of Human Flesh: The History behind Anthropodermic Bibliopegy
Amongst a collection of medical oddities housed at the Surgeons’ Hall Museum in Edinburgh lies a tattered pocketbook [left], no longer than the length of
Justifying the Means: Defending Criminal Dissection in the 18th Century
In 1725, Bernard de Mandeville declared: ‘to be dissected, can never be a greater Scandal than being hanged’. [1] Mandeville—who had successfully demonstrated that ‘private
The Chirurgeon’s Apprentice: ‘Best Individual Blog’ in 2011!
I am thrilled to announce that The Chirurgeon’s Apprentice has been awarded a Cliopatria Award for ‘Best Individual Blog’ in 2011. In conjunction with the
Cold like the Dead: Learning Dispassion through Dissection
In 1672, a young anatomy student named Alexander Flint began doodling in his notebook (above) as his lecturer, James Pillans, droned on about the anatomical
Beyond the Grave: Concepts of Death in Early Modern England
Up until the last decades of the 19th century, people living in Derbyshire, England meticulously collected and stored their fallen or extracted teeth in jars.