During a trip to London recently I visited the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons.
I found this visit incredibly influential and inspirational on my dissertation topic of evolution and our innate reactions to animals in art. I was shocked by the fetuses in jars but so so intrigued and the similarities between the jarred animals was amazing to see in this context. The two men who worked there were really kind and talked to my friend and I about the museum in detail, showing us their favourite pieces and giving us a brief history of the collection. Unfortunately we had to catch a train so had to leave, but it was so interesting and somewhere I would definitely go back to even though most of it made me cringe and squeemish - this reaction was almost part of the intrigue... the effect looking at this stuff has on us! So natural yet so unnatural to us.
The Hunterian Museum boasts unrivalled collections of human and non-human anatomical and pathological specimens, models, instruments, painting and sculptures that reveal the art and science of surgery from the 17th century to the present day. Read on to find out about the individual collections’ history, highlights and unique treasures.
The Hunterian Collection
The Hunterian's history
In 1799 the UK government purchased the collection of the surgeon and anatomist John Hunter FRS (1728-1793). It was placed in the care of the Company (later the Royal College) of Surgeons. Hunter's collection of around 15,000 specimens and preparations formed the nucleus of one of the greatest museums of comparative anatomy, pathology, osteology and natural history in the world.
The Hunterian today
The Hunterian Collection today contains approximately 3,500 specimens and preparations from John Hunter's original collection. The collection still includes many of Hunter's most famous specimens, including those showing his successful ligation of the femoral artery for popliteal aneurysm and his experiments on collateral circulation. Other specimens demonstrate Hunter's extensive and varied researches on subjects such as bone growth, transplantation and freemartins.
Many specimens are associated with other significant figures, such as Joseph Banks, who supplied Hunter with many items; King George III and Queen Charlotte, for whom Hunter prepared a selection of specimens for the royal collection at Kew; and Edward Jenner. Also included in the collection is the skeleton of Charles Byrne, the 'Irish Giant'.
The College's Museum Collection also contains about 2,500 specimens acquired after 1799. Many specimens were prepared or collected by the conservators of the museum, such as Richard Owen, John Quekett, William Flower and Arthur Keith.
Other items that are part of this collection and on display in the museum are a set of four anatomical tables prepared for the diarist John Evelyn in Padua in 1646, as well as scientific and surgical instruments belonging to Joseph Lister, one of the pioneers of antiseptic surgery.
Also on show are wax anatomical models prepared by Joseph Towne in the nineteenth century and corrosion casts made by David Tompsett in the 1950s.
