Instruments

The tools, and the oldest continuous thread in the whole subject. Amputation saws with griffin-head handles, bone chisels and osteotomes, trephines, Liston knives, traction apparatus, the Hippocratic bench with its winches, the instrument illustrations in al-Zahrawi, and the fitted cases that surgeons carried. Also the trade catalogues of the instrument makers, which are a large and badly under-used documentary record of what was actually available to buy and when.

Part of Orthopedics

93 moments in this segment.

  1. - Amputation knife, Europe, 1501-1600. The curved sickle shape of this amputation knife is known as falciform. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  2. - Amputation saw, Europe, 1501-1600. The ornate appearance of this amputation saw was not unusual for this period. Amputation saws are the emblematic instrument of pre-anaesthetic surgery.
  3. - Artzneybuch. 1546. Surgical Instruments. Artzneybuch kostlich fur mancherley Kranchheit des gantzen Leibs. Fitted instrument cases were sold as sets, and they record what a surgeon of the period was actually equipped to do, as against what the textbooks recommended.
  4. - Hunting trousse, England, 1560-1580. The hunting trousse contains all the instruments needed by a hunter to dismember and prepare a deer. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  5. - Bow frame amputation saw, Europe, 1575-1585. This amputation saw has an elaborate handle design which ends in a griffins head the griffin being a mythological creature which has the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. Amputation saws are the emblematic instrument of pre-anaesthetic surgery.
  6. - Illustration of surgical instruments, 1597. Woodcut illustration from Tagliacozzi, Gaspare: De curtorum chirurgia per insitionem, libri duo, Venetiis : Apud Gasparem Bindonum juniorem, 1597. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  7. - Instruments illustration, 17th century
  8. - Set of trephination Instruments, including the trephine designed by John Woodall. Engraving published in Woodall, John: The surgeons mate or military and domestique surgery, London : Printed by Rob. Trepanation, the cutting of an opening in the skull, is among the oldest operations for which there is physical evidence, and trepanned skulls with healed margins survive in museum collections worldwide, showing that people lived afterwards.
  9. - Edinburgh, Greyfriars churchyard: the tomb of James Borthwick of Stow, carved with a skeleton and surgical instruments. Photograph, 19--.
  10. - Bow-frame amputation saw, Europe, c.1650. Amputation saws are the emblematic instrument of pre-anaesthetic surgery. Before anaesthesia an amputation was measured in seconds, so speed governed technique, and the instrument was built for it.
  11. - Surgical instruments. Engraving by G. Georgi, 1656.. 1641, at the pages indicated on the engraving. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  12. - Surgical instruments, including lancets, saws and forceps, made by Isaac Grenier; advertising his goods for sale. Etching by H. Neutte [?], 1698.
  13. - Amputation knife, Germany, 1701-1800. The curved shape of this amputation knife was common in the early 1700s. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  14. - Amputation knife, Paris, France, 1701-1800. Made from steel with an ebony handle, this surgical knife was used for amputations. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  15. - A surgeon and his assistant operating on a patient's head and using a drill to perform the trephination. Engraving, 1731.
  16. - Surgical instruments, including lancets, saws and forceps; advertising the work of the surgical instrument-maker J. Songy. Etching, 1732.
  17. - John Cargill: surgical Instrument maker's trade-card / M0015854: John Chasson: surgical instruments maker's trade-card. Two images on one negative: the John Cargill trade card is from 1739. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  18. - A suspended lower arm from which the skin and fatty layer has been removed to reveal the muscles. Next to it is a knife and a surgical instrument case with its lid. Engraving after G. de Lairesse, 173. 9. Fitted instrument cases were sold as sets, and they record what a surgeon of the period was actually equipped to do, as against what the textbooks recommended.
  19. - Surgical instruments: 37 figures, including needles of various shapes and sizes. Engraving with etching by George Bickham, 1740/1760?.
  20. - Amputation instruments: a saw and curved knife, 1749. Illustration published in Le Dran, Henry-Francois: The operations in surgery of Mons. Amputation saws are the emblematic instrument of pre-anaesthetic surgery.
  21. - A case of amputation instruments, circa 1750 - 1800.
  22. - Benjamin Bell-type metacarpal amputation saw, Europe, 1780-1. Benjamin Bell, an influential Scottish surgeon (1749-1806), introduced a number of modifications to surgical instruments during his career. Amputation saws are the emblematic instrument of pre-anaesthetic surgery.
  23. - Instruments for trephination, from Bertrandi: <i>Opere</i>, 1786. Instruments for trephination, from Bertrandi: Opere, 1786. Illustration from Bertrandi, Giovanni Ambrogio Maria: Opere, di Ambrogio Bertrandi, Torino : Fratelli Reycends, 1786-1802. Trepanation, the cutting of an opening in the skull, is among the oldest operations for which there is physical evidence, and trepanned skulls with healed margins survive in museum collections worldwide, showing that people lived afterwards.
  24. - Case of surgical instruments by Evans, 1793. Used by Thomas Major, naval Surgeon.
  25. - Nelson's spy-glass and tourniquet. 1797. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  26. - Illustration of surgical instruments, from Bertrandi: <i>Trattato delle Operazioni di Chirurgia</i>, 1802. Illustration of surgical instruments, from Bertrandi: Trattato delle Operazioni di Chirurgia, 1802. Title page to Bertrandi, Giovanni Ambrogio Maria: Opere, di Ambrogio Bertrandi, volume I, Torino : Fratelli Reycends, 1786-1802. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  27. - Surgical instruments: tourniquets and amputating instruments. Engraving by Wilson Lowry, 1803.
  28. - Surgical instruments, including an amputating saw, an amputating knife, scalpels and bone nippers. Engraving by Wilson Lowry, 1810.
  29. - Surgical instruments, including scalpels and catheters. Engraving by Wilson Lowry, 1810.
  30. - Surgical instruments for trepanning, including a tripod elevator. Engraving by Wilson Lowry, 1813.
  31. - Adams-type orthopaedic saw, Liverpool, England, 1855-1928. William Adams (1820-1900), an English surgeon, invented this type of saw for his new procedure, called periosteotomy. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  32. - W.T. Evans (SP 334), National Museum of Health and Medicine. The Army Medical Museum was founded in 1862 and the resulting Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, published 1870 to 1888, is one of the great medical documentation projects. It is the origin of the Otis Historical Archives collection.
  33. - Case of surgical instruments used by Joseph Lister. Photograph of an open case of surgical instruments used by Joseph Lister. Joseph Lister published his method in The Lancet in 1867, arguing it through compound fracture, which is an orthopedic problem.
  34. - Surgical instruments used by Joseph Lister. Photograph of six surgical instruments used by Joseph Lister. Joseph Lister published his method in The Lancet in 1867, arguing it through compound fracture, which is an orthopedic problem.
  35. - Catalogue of surgical instruments. Arnold and Sons, 1885. Gas and Aether Inhaler (Closeman's), Fig. Long wards of children in frames are the characteristic institutional image of orthopedics for the first two thirds of the twentieth century, when the caseload was polio and skeletal tuberculosis.
  36. - Illustration of a corneal trephine. Photograph of an illustration of a corneal trephine, a surgical instrument used for cutting sections of corneal tissue, introduced by Von Hippel in 1888. Trepanation, the cutting of an opening in the skull, is among the oldest operations for which there is physical evidence, and trepanned skulls with healed margins survive in museum collections worldwide, showing that people lived afterwards.
  37. - Corneal trephine instrument. Photograph of a corneal trephine, a surgical instrument used for cutting sections of corneal tissue, introduced by Von Hippel in 1888. Trepanation, the cutting of an opening in the skull, is among the oldest operations for which there is physical evidence, and trepanned skulls with healed margins survive in museum collections worldwide, showing that people lived afterwards.
  38. - Amputation set, Europe, 1891-1910. Made from nickel and chrome plated steel, this set of surgical instruments includes a large amputation saw, amputation knives and hooks to remove blood clots. Joseph Lister published his method in The Lancet in 1867, arguing it through compound fracture, which is an orthopedic problem.
  39. - Illustration of medieval surgical instruments from <i>Geschichte der Chirurgie und ihrer Ausübung...</i>. Illustration of medieval surgical instruments from Geschichte der Chirurgie und ihrer Ausübung... Photograph of an illustration from Gurlt, Ernst Julius, Geschichte der Chirurgie und ihrer Ausübung..., Berlin: August Hirschwald, 1898, p.648. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  40. - Illustration of Al-Zahrawi's surgical instruments from <i>Geschichte der Chirurgie und ihrer Ausübung...</i>. Illustration of Al-Zahrawi's surgical instruments from Geschichte der Chirurgie und ihrer Ausübung... Photograph of an illustration from Gurlt, Ernst Julius, Geschichte der Chirurgie und ihrer Ausübung..., Berlin: August Hirschwald, 1898, p.648. Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi, latinised Albucasis, of Cordoba, wrote the thirty-volume Kitab al-Tasrif whose final surgical volume was illustrated with drawings of instruments.
  41. - The Barber Surgeons' Guild of Newcastle: surgical instruments in a display case bearing the Guild's coat of arms. Photograph, ca. 1900.
  42. - Copy of a Roman surgical instrument set, Europe, 1901-1932. This replica surgical instrument set contains a probe, a combined probe and scoop and tweezers, which fit into a cylindrical case. Roman surgical instruments survive in quantity, notably from Pompeii and Herculaneum, and they show a level of specialisation that was not matched again in Europe for centuries.
  43. - Skull with trephination hole from the cave of Nogert-les-vierges. Photograph of a human skull from the Neolithic period, published in Lucas-Championnière, Just: Trepanation neolithique, trepanation pre-Colombienne, trepanation des Kabyles, trepantion traditionnelle, Paris : G. Steinheil, 1912. Trepanation, the cutting of an opening in the skull, is among the oldest operations for which there is physical evidence, and trepanned skulls with healed margins survive in museum collections worldwide, showing that people lived afterwards.
  44. - Trephined skull, Neolithic period. Reproduction of a photograph of a trephined skull from a person from the Neolithic period. Trepanation, the cutting of an opening in the skull, is among the oldest operations for which there is physical evidence, and trepanned skulls with healed margins survive in museum collections worldwide, showing that people lived afterwards.
  45. - Pocket set of twelve surgical instruments, 16th century. Photograph of a 16th century pocket set of surgical instruments mounted for display by the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  46. - Liston-type amputation knife, London, England, 1920-1930. Robert Liston (1797-1847), a Scottish surgeon renowned for his speed and precision in surgery, invented this double edged amputation knife. Long wards of children in frames are the characteristic institutional image of orthopedics for the first two thirds of the twentieth century, when the caseload was polio and skeletal tuberculosis.
  47. - Model of a Morell-type tourniquet, London, England, 1925-193. This is one of the first examples of a tourniquet. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  48. - Surgical instruments, Roman, 199 BCE-500 CE. These bronze surgical instruments have been fused together probably by the intense heat of a fire. Roman surgical instruments survive in quantity, notably from Pompeii and Herculaneum, and they show a level of specialisation that was not matched again in Europe for centuries.
  49. - Bronze retractor, Roman, 1-100 CE. Retractors are surgical instruments designed to hold back muscles or skin during operations including limb amputations. Roman surgical instruments survive in quantity, notably from Pompeii and Herculaneum, and they show a level of specialisation that was not matched again in Europe for centuries.
  50. - Six skulls showing trephination, Peru. Reproduction of photographs published in Harcourt, Raoul: La medecine dans l'ancien Perou, Paris : Libr. Trepanation, the cutting of an opening in the skull, is among the oldest operations for which there is physical evidence, and trepanned skulls with healed margins survive in museum collections worldwide, showing that people lived afterwards.
  51. - Illustration of an implement with a handle decorated to show trephination taking place. Illustration published in Harcourt, Raoul: La medecine dans l'ancien Perou, Paris : Libr. Trepanation, the cutting of an opening in the skull, is among the oldest operations for which there is physical evidence, and trepanned skulls with healed margins survive in museum collections worldwide, showing that people lived afterwards.
  52. - Amputation instruments used by a naval surgeon, 1942. Plate from Turnbull, William: The naval surgeon; comprising the entire duties of professional men at sea, London : R. Phillips, 1806. Amputation saws are the emblematic instrument of pre-anaesthetic surgery.
  53. - Relief tablet of surgical instruments on the wall of Kom Ombo temple, Egypt. Photograph of a relief tablet on the wall of Kom Ombo temple, upper Egypt. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  54. - Wellcome Historical Medical Museum 2nd floor gallery: display case of surgical instrument, 1958-1959. Photograph of the centre section of the 2nd floor gallery at 183 Euston Road, London. Fitted instrument cases were sold as sets, and they record what a surgeon of the period was actually equipped to do, as against what the textbooks recommended.
  55. - Trephined skullin showing different stages of healing. Trephined skull excavated at Jericho in 1958 [Tomb 88] by Dr. Katheeln Kenyon, C.B.E., Director of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem. Trepanation, the cutting of an opening in the skull, is among the oldest operations for which there is physical evidence, and trepanned skulls with healed margins survive in museum collections worldwide, showing that people lived afterwards.
  56. - Museum objects from exhibition-various.1972-3. Museum objects from exhibition -various. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  57. - On Surgery and Instruments, 1973. Figure 194: Above: Marsh Below: Huntington. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  58. - Albucasis on Surgery and Instruments, 1973. Above: Marsh Below: Huntington. Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi, latinised Albucasis, of Cordoba, wrote the thirty-volume Kitab al-Tasrif whose final surgical volume was illustrated with drawings of instruments.
  59. - Аппарат Илизарова (фильм 1979 г.). Soviet film of 1979 on the Ilizarov apparatus, from the Russian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents. This footage dates from the period when the method was still largely unknown outside the Soviet Union.
  60. - Leucotome, designed by Neurosurgeon Dr John Crumbie 1955 (rear view). A stainless steel leucotome, designed by Neurosurgeon Dr John Crumbie. Long wards of children in frames are the characteristic institutional image of orthopedics for the first two thirds of the twentieth century, when the caseload was polio and skeletal tuberculosis.
  61. - Amputation Saw from the Battle of Waterloo. National Army Museum on an amputation saw from the Battle of Waterloo. Waterloo produced amputation on a scale that shaped nineteenth century military surgical practice.
  62. - 【Around China HQ】 Traditional Mongolian Bone Treatment at Tong Liao City. CCTV documentary on traditional Mongolian bone treatment at Tongliao. Mongolian bonesetting is a distinct tradition from the Chinese one and is still practised.
  63. - Amputation Kits. Melnick Medical Museum on amputation kits. The fitted amputation set, with capital saw, Liston knife and bone forceps, was standard equipment across the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
  64. - World War I hand or finger therapy device. A First World War hand and finger therapy device from the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia. Devices like this belong to the wartime rehabilitation programmes that followed the mass limb and hand injuries of 1914 to 1918.
  65. - Heli-FX Applier Updated. Photo of the Heli-FX Applier from 2013. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  66. - Arab speculum, described by Albucasis (936-1013).. ). Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi, latinised Albucasis, of Cordoba, wrote the thirty-volume Kitab al-Tasrif whose final surgical volume was illustrated with drawings of instruments. He described a method for reducing a dislocated shoulder corresponding to what is taught as Kocher's method, centuries before Kocher was born.
  67. - Speculum; wood. Reconstruction of Abulcasis (A.D. 936-1013). Wood reconstruction of Abulcasis (A.D. 936-1013). Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi, latinised Albucasis, of Cordoba, wrote the thirty-volume Kitab al-Tasrif whose final surgical volume was illustrated with drawings of instruments.
  68. - Surgical Equipment from Das Buch der Cirurgia. Examples of contemporary surgical equipment including devices recognisable as scissors or shears, forcept, bone saws and a razor, though some tools may no longer be in use. Amputation saws are the emblematic instrument of pre-anaesthetic surgery.
  69. - Laparoscopic surgery in Afghanistan. Improvised explosive devices produce a characteristic pattern of multiple traumatic amputation with survival, because body armour and rapid evacuation keep casualties alive with injuries that were previously fatal. Improved survival is a change in who lives to be counted, and it produces more amputees, not fewer.
  70. - A medicinal dictionary, detail; amputations (after Heister). Detail: amputations (after Heister). Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  71. - Schädelbohrer (Anfang 20. Jh., MUT). Trepanierbohrer, Edelstahl, frühes 20. Trepanation, the cutting of an opening in the skull, is among the oldest operations for which there is physical evidence, and trepanned skulls with healed margins survive in museum collections worldwide, showing that people lived afterwards.
  72. - Guess What's on the Curator's Desk: Angiotribe. Mütter Museum curator's object talk on the angiotribe, a nineteenth century haemostatic clamp. Instrument collections are the most direct surviving evidence of what surgeons of a period actually had in their hands.
  73. - World's First Meniscectomy - Watanabe 1962. ISAKOS film described as the world's first meniscectomy recorded by Watanabe in 1962. Watanabe did not begin arthroscopy: Severin Nordentoft in 1912, Kenji Takagi in 1918 and Eugen Bircher in 1921 all precede him, and Takagi's motivation was tuberculosis rather than sport.
  74. - [Gadgets & Gizmos] The Evolution of the Medical Instrument Trade. Indiana Medical History Museum talk on the evolution of the medical instrument trade. Nineteenth century instrument makers such as Down Brothers, Arnold and Sons, and Mayer and Meltzer published illustrated trade catalogues that are now a primary record of the period's surgical equipment.
  75. - TRADITIONAL HEALING {TRADITIONAL BONE SETTING PRACTICES(T.B.S)}: A DOCUMENTARY: DR. IMLIKUMBA/NEIFM. Documentary on traditional bone setting practices in North East India. Traditional bonesetters are not a historical curiosity: they remain a major current provider of fracture care across sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia.
  76. - Myth-Busting the History of Chinese Medicine: Going Beyond the "Function, Not Structure" Stereotype. Lecture challenging the standard framing of Chinese medicine as concerned with function rather than structure. Chinese bone-setting is attested from around three thousand years ago, and a ninth century Chinese manual on bone setting has been formally compared with the Hippocratic corpus in the scholarly literature.
  77. - 18th-century Persian surgical tools. A642946/1, Lancet with metal handlefrom set of cased surgical instruments, Persian, 18th century.. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  78. - Nine Classical Surgery Needles | Guide into Traditional Chinese Medicine. On the nine classical Chinese surgical needles. The Chinese instrument tradition developed independently of the Greek and Arabic ones.
  79. - Calliope's Cabinet Episode 4: Civil War Surgeon's Kit and 19th Century Surgical Advances. Emory University on a Civil War surgeon's kit and nineteenth century surgical advances. Anaesthesia arrived in the 1840s and transformed what could be attempted.
  80. - Bone-setting Massage Zhenggu | Guide into Traditional Chinese Medicine. On zhenggu, Chinese bone-setting massage. Bone-setting emerged as a specialised Chinese skill roughly three thousand years ago and wound physicians are attested from the Zhou dynasty.
  81. - Set of amputation instruments, nineteenth century at The Surgeons' Hall Museums. A nineteenth century set of amputation instruments at Surgeons' Hall Museums. Complete fitted sets are the standard surviving form of pre-antiseptic surgical equipment.
  82. - Documentary Film | al-Zahrawi (Albucasis) , Father of Surgery | by Islamweb. Documentary on al-Zahrawi, known in Latin Europe as Albucasis. His Kitab al-Tasrif includes illustrated surgical instruments, and he described ligature of arteries centuries before Ambroise Paré revived the technique in Europe.
  83. - Ancient Roman Speculum. Three types of ancient Roman speculum c. 50 AD. Roman surgical instruments survive in quantity, notably from Pompeii and Herculaneum, and they show a level of specialisation that was not matched again in Europe for centuries.
  84. - The History of Surgery in London's Museums - A Tour of The Old Operating Theatre & 4 others. Tour of the Old Operating Theatre and four other London medical museums. The Old Operating Theatre at Old St Thomas' survives from the era before anaesthesia and before antisepsis.
  85. - 12.06 「繁榮南島 智慧永續」總統視察臺帛海上救援聯合操演. President Lai observes Taiwan-Palau joint maritime rescue drill on 6 December 2024 (Official Photo by Liu Shu fu / Office of the President). Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  86. - History's goriest operating table: Blood bowls, blades and bodies. Victoria and Albert Museum on a historical operating table with blood bowls. Furniture, not only instruments, records the conditions surgery was performed in.
  87. - Masaki Watanabe and the Arthroscopy Revolution. On Masaki Watanabe and arthroscopy. Watanabe did not begin the field: Severin Nordentoft in Denmark in 1912, Kenji Takagi in Japan in 1918 and Eugen Bircher in Switzerland in 1921 all precede him, and different countries teach different answers to the priority question.
  88. - Glove and saw used in the amputation of Lord Uxbridges leg. Photo of glove and saw used in the amputation of Lord Uxbridge's leg. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  89. - Circumcision instruments arrayed on black velvet background - left. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  90. - Circumcision instruments arrayed on black velvet background - right. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  91. - Circumcision instruments arrayed on black velvet background - centered. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  92. - Circumcision instruments on green cloth in tray 2 - centered. Surgical instrument and appliance trade catalogues are a major and under-used visual record of what was actually made and sold, as against what was written about.
  93. - From Killing to Healing: The Lost Medical History of Jujutsu | Japanese Martial Arts Documentary. On the medical tradition attached to Japanese jujutsu. Japanese bone-setting is sekkotsu, a recognised and still-practised tradition whose licensed modern descendant is judo therapy.
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