Physicians' Gallery

This week, we’re exploring the history of barber poles. Were these poles once wrapped in real bloody rags? Were there different coloured poles to show the different procedures that barbers carried out? So many myths and...

This week, we’re examining The Midwives Book and how a female midwife in 1600s England talked, wrote and understood periods, wombs and menopause. Was flatulence a sign of pregnancy? Do periods cause rabies? Can...

In this episode, we’re unearthing the history of medicinal leeches. From rural swamps to 24 hour leech shops, the leech industry grew and grew across Europe. There were many risks to the use of leeches - from them...

In this episode, we’re digging into the gnarly history of blood transfusion. From dog blood to black urine, we’re looking at 1600s attempts to carry out the first transfusions. A man is allegedly kidnapped off the...

This week, we’re talking about eating blood. We’re digging into a tiny Scottish chapbook and the slightly gnarly recipe it contains! From the blood of Roman Gladiators to executed prisoners. Eating blood, cooking blood...

This week, we’re talking about straitjackets. Despite many seeing the straitjacket as an extreme method of patient restraint, in the 1700s it was introduced as a modern and humane solution. _______________ Follow us on...

This week, we’re talking about asylum art. And we’re focusing on a little volume of illustrations of patients at an asylum - the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. The illustrations show one patient playing a fiddle, another...

This week, we’re talking about the alchemical Ripley Scroll. This huge scroll, almost six feet long, supposedly contains the secret to the Philosophers' Stone. In this final part of our series, we wrap up by sharing the...

This week, we’re talking about the alchemical Ripley Scroll. This huge scroll, almost six feet long, supposedly contains the secret to the Philosophers' Stone - the key to both unlimited gold and eternal life! In this...

This week, we’re into our second episode about the alchemical Ripley Scroll. In this episode we’re talking about conmen, Adam and Eve and Bigfoot. _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky - @physiciansgallery Instagram...

This week, we’re talking about the alchemical Ripley Scroll. This huge scroll, almost six feet long, supposedly contains the secret to the Philosophers' Stone - the key to both unlimited gold and eternal life! In this...

This week, we’re talking about scarificators. These alarming devices are filled with tiny blades. Also known as 'mechanical leeches' they were designed to be used for bloodletting. _______________ Follow us on: Bluesky...

This week, we’re talking about the rose. One of the less unpleasant-tasting medicines, rose was a common treatment for indigestion and constipation.

This week, we’re talking about bleeding bowls. We’re covering everything from heroic near-death levels of bloodletting, to a Scots porringer of blood - a handy tool that doubled as a measuring jug, gravy boat and ladle...

This week, we’re talking about the Air Loom. This fascinating image is the first example of asylum patient art ever reproduced in print and we uncover the story of its creator - James Tilly Matthews. _______________...