I’m excited to announce that I’ve just finished filming the first episode of my new YouTube series, Under The Knife, and will be releasing it very soon (please subscribe to my channel for video updates). Unsurprisingly, that got me thinking about, well, knives. Here’s a list of some rather terrifying knives from our medical past.

1. VALENTIN KNIFE, 1838. This knife was one of the few able to cut slices of organs and soft tissues for microscopic examination. The double-bladed knife worked best when the blades were wet – best of all when submerged in water. Named after its inventor, Professor Gabriel Valentin (1810-1883), a German-Swiss physiologist, the knife was invented in 1838. This example, however, dates from 1890.

2. BISTOURY CACHÉ, c.1850. Invented in the mid-19^th century, bistoury caché literally translates from the French as ‘hidden knife’. The device was used to cut internal organs or to open cavities, particularly during the surgical removal of a bladder or kidney stone – a practice known as lithotomy.
3. CIRCUMCISION KNIFE, c.1775. Circumcision – the removal of the foreskin of the penis – is practised across the world often for cultural and religious reasons. In some countries it is also promoted for reasons of hygiene and health. This knife dates from the late 18^th century.
4. CATARACT KNIFE & NEEDLE, 1805. Georg Joseph Beer (1763-1821), an Austrian professor of ophthalmology, invented this cataract knife and needle around 1805. Cataracts cause blurred vision as the lens becomes cloudy and if left untreated can cause blindness. These instruments allowed for the surgical removal of some of the cloudy mass and, if necessary, part or all of the lens itself. Prior to effective anaesthetics, this was an excruciatingly painful process. This particular example dates from 1820.
5. ORTHOPEDIC KNIFE, 1855. William Adams (1820-1900), an English surgeon, invented this type of knife for his new procedure called periosteotomy in 1855. This involved un-fusing the bones of the hip joint by cutting the neck of the femur (upper leg bone). He affectionately called it ‘my little thaw’, because the knife was used to cut through and ‘melt’ fused bones.
6. LISTON KNIFE, c.1830. Robert Liston (1797-1847), a Scottish surgeon renowned for his speed and precision in surgery, invented this double-edged amputation knife in the 1830s. This particular example is made of steel with a nickel-plated handle. Nickel plating was introduced in the 1890s and meant that the knife could be boiled without it rusting and was therefore ideal for aseptic surgery. It was made by Down Bros, a leading surgical instrument maker, in the 1920s.
7. SYRIAN SURGICAL KNIFE, c.900 AD. Most of the blade of this ancient surgical knife is rusty and part of it is broken. The steel blade is slotted into a brass handle. The loop at the end may have been used as a finger hole for gripping. This knife dates to a period when the Islamic world became a major centre for medical study and practice.
8. PLAGUE LANCET, c.1600. Plague epidemics ravaged Marseilles in France throughout the 17^th and 18^th centuries. Lancets, such as the copy shown here, were used to open buboes in order to relieve pressure and also remove poisons from the body – an unsuccessful attempt to cure the patient. The lancet would have been stored in a brass case.
9. DOUBLE BLADED LITHOTOME, 1812. This object was used to cut the bladder in order to remove stones – a practice known as lithotomy. Baron Guillaume Dupuytren (1777-1835), a French surgeon and pathologist, invented this double bladed lithotome for the bi-lateral lithotomy procedure he developed in 1812. This procedure became widely used from the 1850s onwards, and this example dates from 1825.
10. FALCIFORM AMPUTATION KNIFE, c.1700. The curved shape of this amputation knife was common in the early 1700s. Amputation knives became straighter once the practice of leaving a flap of skin to cover the limb stump became the preferred amputation method. Ebony was a common material for handles as it is a hard-wearing wood. This knife was probably made by Eberle in Germany, as indicated by the inscription on the silver blade.