Surgeon's Hall

The visit to Surgeon's Hall was the one many people in the group were most looking forward to especially as they had heard all about the Pathology department which we were getting to see around. The museum was tucked away up three flights of narrow stairs with no lift so unfortunately it is not very accessible to those with wheelchairs or mobility issues. There are toilets as you enter and a room with exhibitions about the history of dentistry where we saw old sets of false teeth which had been made with someone's actual real teeth! In the main hall we saw some models of body parts such as hands and legs where wax had been injected to show the blood vessels. It was quite fascinating to see the number of blood vessels and how delicate they were.Our tour guide was called Thomas and the group all agreed he was very good. He was very enthusiastic about the museum, answered all questions and knew a great deal. He told us about the story of Burke and Hare and John Knox. Burke and Hare had murdered people for a year and sold the bodies to Knox to experiment and teach with at Surgeons Hall. We saw the famous book that is said to be made of Burke's skin. Thomas led a handling session where the group examined a range of surgical items from history. We were surprised at how brutal amputation was and that the quicker the surgeon could be the more business he would get. The group also liked the story about the Chloroform parties held when inventing this. Some of the instruments and medicine had actually not changed much over time though. After this we went in to the Pathology department where we saw a range of preserved body parts suffering from different illnesses and examples of different wounds sustained in wars over the century. We found it quite disgusting but also fascinating. The museum is soon to close for a makeover and to get a lift put in. We would all like to come back when that is done. The vast majority of the group enjoyed this attraction and learnt more that they did not know from it that our previous visit.