It’s something of a myth that pre-industrial doctoring was all leeches and cups. There was real expertise – of a sort – in field surgery. Such work, being about getting warriors and workers back into their game, lacks the historical appeal of the more “philosophical” medical arts studied by academics.
The Romans: now they knew how to remove a thing or two. As for the device pictured above, if you can’t guess what it is, you probably don’t want to know.
If they had figured out the whole sterility thing sooner, medicine and surgery would have been a lot more successful.
Aaaaaaaaaaah! GET IT AWAY.
hey, dual purpose… speculum and wine cork remover!
i found it amusing the under each painful-looking instrument it said “click to enlarge.” as though it wasn’t big and painful enough.
looks like a vaginal speculum.
Oh, wait. I KNOW it is a vaginal speculum…
Not all speculums are for vaginal use – think about that and let your horror magnify
trepanner?
I like how the most terrifying gadgets in that link have no description paragraph. Such as:
Clyster for Administering Enemas
Male Caltheter
It’s like they decided that there’s no way they could come up with a description that would make the device more horrifying.
Uvula crusher? Ung….
Reminds me of visiting the Hunter Surgical Museum in London, opening the drawer marked “Male Genito-urinary Instruments” and then closing it again very rapidly.
…If you’ve watched Rome, you can see a neat device that allowed Roman doctors to perform brain surgery! Same sort of device Injuns used to start fires, too!
Finally something to rival Dead Ringers! Jeremy Irons as Eeeevil Twin of Eevil Twin: “Gynecological instruments for operating on mutant women.”
From the linked article:
That’s right, Soranus, it’s made specifically for the vagina. I don’t want to see you trying it anywhere else, ok?
I think these instruments are beautiful handcrafted works.
#10…Injuns…really?
#8 – I agree. I think they were ones where they said, “The name is enough to strike terror into the minds, loins and rears of mankind.”
Oh, goodness I don’t think I can sit comfortably for the rest of the day. Mental imagery sucks.
This totally made my day. I wish I could acquire a nice replica to leave on my desk. Nice conversation starter: What do you think of my roman speculum replica?
Fast way to lose a lot of friends though.