Physicians' Gallery
@physiciansgallery.bsky.social
A free museum and library exploring the science and humanity of medicine at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
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Sign up to our newsletter www.rcpe.ac.uk/newsletter
New episode! We’re exploring different objects on display in our Physicians’ Gallery. This week, we’re talking about the electro-therapeutic machine. These machines were designed to administer electric shocks.
Listen now 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/ele...
Listen now 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/ele...
November 21, 2025 at 11:55 AM
New episode! We’re exploring different objects on display in our Physicians’ Gallery. This week, we’re talking about the electro-therapeutic machine. These machines were designed to administer electric shocks.
Listen now 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/ele...
Listen now 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/ele...
Blog! What we mean by addiction is ever changing. In 1600s Britain, reading books was seen as addictive. You could also be addicted to astrology or to writing poetry.
Read more 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/her...
Read more 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/her...
November 20, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Blog! What we mean by addiction is ever changing. In 1600s Britain, reading books was seen as addictive. You could also be addicted to astrology or to writing poetry.
Read more 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/her...
Read more 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/her...
In 1700s Britain tea was in such high demand it was often counterfeited - with local plants mixed with turpentine, paint and sheep dung. This book shows an authentic Chinese tea leaf (bottom left) in comparison with 'spurious' substitute leaves
Find out more in Hooked www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/hoo...
Find out more in Hooked www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/hoo...
November 17, 2025 at 8:22 AM
In 1700s Britain tea was in such high demand it was often counterfeited - with local plants mixed with turpentine, paint and sheep dung. This book shows an authentic Chinese tea leaf (bottom left) in comparison with 'spurious' substitute leaves
Find out more in Hooked www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/hoo...
Find out more in Hooked www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/hoo...
17th century birthing stool, with handgrips for the mother to grasp during contractions and a 'cloth round the ring to keep out the aire'. Similar stools can be found described in the Bible and in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs
November 12, 2025 at 5:01 PM
17th century birthing stool, with handgrips for the mother to grasp during contractions and a 'cloth round the ring to keep out the aire'. Similar stools can be found described in the Bible and in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs
A personal favourite treatment... To cure a whitloe (lesion) put your finger in a cat's ear
November 10, 2025 at 10:51 AM
A personal favourite treatment... To cure a whitloe (lesion) put your finger in a cat's ear
New podcast series! We’re exploring different objects on display in our Physicians’ Gallery.
This week, we’re talking about a 1600s book called Erotomania, which explores the addictive nature of unrequited love.
Listen now 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/ero...
This week, we’re talking about a 1600s book called Erotomania, which explores the addictive nature of unrequited love.
Listen now 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/ero...
November 8, 2025 at 11:33 AM
New podcast series! We’re exploring different objects on display in our Physicians’ Gallery.
This week, we’re talking about a 1600s book called Erotomania, which explores the addictive nature of unrequited love.
Listen now 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/ero...
This week, we’re talking about a 1600s book called Erotomania, which explores the addictive nature of unrequited love.
Listen now 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/ero...
On the doctor's orders - wine as a cure for melancholy, at breakfast, lunch and dinner.
archive.org/details/b216...
archive.org/details/b216...
![Handwritten recipe. Reads: A wine against melancholy. Take a pottle of white wine, of sage of [?] & warts-tongue of either one a close hand full. Rosemary as much as of the other then give all a boile on a soft fyre. Then put therin a pinte of spring well water & strain it after you think that a pinte is spent in boyling of the wine. Take a good beer glasse full in the morning at 4 of the clock (afternoon) & last at night](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:u7skop32os5u2x5ntrcbn5vc/bafkreidd7r2qnj6vrf7s6jysniw7zoijs2tacg5fnq6t5jd6hq6oyinbku@jpeg)
November 7, 2025 at 7:46 AM
On the doctor's orders - wine as a cure for melancholy, at breakfast, lunch and dinner.
archive.org/details/b216...
archive.org/details/b216...
Our new permanent gallery and learning centre are now open!
Be one of the first to check out our alchemical scroll, examine medicines from the Battle of Culloden and try out our family-friendly puzzles and activities.
Find out more 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/joy...
Be one of the first to check out our alchemical scroll, examine medicines from the Battle of Culloden and try out our family-friendly puzzles and activities.
Find out more 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/joy...
November 3, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Our new permanent gallery and learning centre are now open!
Be one of the first to check out our alchemical scroll, examine medicines from the Battle of Culloden and try out our family-friendly puzzles and activities.
Find out more 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/joy...
Be one of the first to check out our alchemical scroll, examine medicines from the Battle of Culloden and try out our family-friendly puzzles and activities.
Find out more 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/joy...
This image is from an 18thc text, 'Man-midwifery dissected'. Its author, John Blunt, wrote that women who employed male midwives were 'female brutes' who 'have stoically forgotten to blush, unless it be by the assistance of rouge'
October 29, 2025 at 7:58 AM
This image is from an 18thc text, 'Man-midwifery dissected'. Its author, John Blunt, wrote that women who employed male midwives were 'female brutes' who 'have stoically forgotten to blush, unless it be by the assistance of rouge'
These are both opium-based medicines. Paregoric was given to young children to relieve teething pain and send them to sleep. Other opium-based medicines for children included Mother Bailey’s Quieting Syrup and Mrs Winslow’s Soothing Syrup
Find out more in Hooked www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/hoo...
Find out more in Hooked www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/hoo...
October 24, 2025 at 6:46 AM
These are both opium-based medicines. Paregoric was given to young children to relieve teething pain and send them to sleep. Other opium-based medicines for children included Mother Bailey’s Quieting Syrup and Mrs Winslow’s Soothing Syrup
Find out more in Hooked www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/hoo...
Find out more in Hooked www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/hoo...
We're on the way!
Very excited to see our new public gallery taking shape.
Opening on 3rd November and free entry - see you there!
Find out more 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/joy...
Very excited to see our new public gallery taking shape.
Opening on 3rd November and free entry - see you there!
Find out more 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/joy...
October 21, 2025 at 3:01 PM
We're on the way!
Very excited to see our new public gallery taking shape.
Opening on 3rd November and free entry - see you there!
Find out more 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/joy...
Very excited to see our new public gallery taking shape.
Opening on 3rd November and free entry - see you there!
Find out more 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/joy...
‘A Satyr against Snuff’ caused a bit of a stir in the 18thc with its risqué health warnings:
‘now, tis by every sort And Sex adorned,
But ask a Wench how Oysters sell?
If nice, She begs a pinch before she sets a price’
Find out more in our exhibition www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/hoo...
‘now, tis by every sort And Sex adorned,
But ask a Wench how Oysters sell?
If nice, She begs a pinch before she sets a price’
Find out more in our exhibition www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/hoo...
October 20, 2025 at 7:39 AM
‘A Satyr against Snuff’ caused a bit of a stir in the 18thc with its risqué health warnings:
‘now, tis by every sort And Sex adorned,
But ask a Wench how Oysters sell?
If nice, She begs a pinch before she sets a price’
Find out more in our exhibition www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/hoo...
‘now, tis by every sort And Sex adorned,
But ask a Wench how Oysters sell?
If nice, She begs a pinch before she sets a price’
Find out more in our exhibition www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/hoo...
Santorio Sanctorius’s 17thc weighing machine. For over 30 years he weighed everything that went into, and came out of his body, comparing the weight of his food and drink with his urine and excretia and keeping a detailed diary of his findings
October 17, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Santorio Sanctorius’s 17thc weighing machine. For over 30 years he weighed everything that went into, and came out of his body, comparing the weight of his food and drink with his urine and excretia and keeping a detailed diary of his findings
Sore legs? Considered putting herrings on your feet? - Handy 1785 medical tip
October 15, 2025 at 6:38 AM
Sore legs? Considered putting herrings on your feet? - Handy 1785 medical tip
We’re excited to announce that on 3rd Nov we’re opening a 🎉 free 🎉 entry new gallery and learning centre!
Join us to explore stories from medicine – from alchemy to straitjackets, along with family-friendly activities and puzzles.
Find out more 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/joy...
Join us to explore stories from medicine – from alchemy to straitjackets, along with family-friendly activities and puzzles.
Find out more 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/joy...
October 13, 2025 at 7:00 AM
We’re excited to announce that on 3rd Nov we’re opening a 🎉 free 🎉 entry new gallery and learning centre!
Join us to explore stories from medicine – from alchemy to straitjackets, along with family-friendly activities and puzzles.
Find out more 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/joy...
Join us to explore stories from medicine – from alchemy to straitjackets, along with family-friendly activities and puzzles.
Find out more 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/joy...
Dr Ebenezer Sibly, using his miracle tincture, the occult, and mesmerism to 'cure' a patient, ('A Key to Physic and the Occult Sciences')
October 8, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Dr Ebenezer Sibly, using his miracle tincture, the occult, and mesmerism to 'cure' a patient, ('A Key to Physic and the Occult Sciences')
18thc medical advice for #internationalcoffeeday – try opium in your coffee for ‘the Coffee takes of the narcotic quality of the Opium’ cullenproject.ac.uk/docs/5939/
October 1, 2025 at 8:25 AM
18thc medical advice for #internationalcoffeeday – try opium in your coffee for ‘the Coffee takes of the narcotic quality of the Opium’ cullenproject.ac.uk/docs/5939/
This is the first known illustration of a straitjacket (1794). Despite many seeing it as an extreme method of restraint, it was introduced as a humane solution. Although still dehumanising, it was an improvement on manacling and chaining patients to walls
September 29, 2025 at 6:50 AM
This is the first known illustration of a straitjacket (1794). Despite many seeing it as an extreme method of restraint, it was introduced as a humane solution. Although still dehumanising, it was an improvement on manacling and chaining patients to walls
Old and stale urine of a man anyone?
September 24, 2025 at 6:48 AM
Old and stale urine of a man anyone?
Magiae Naturalis or Natural Magic. This book includes a recipe for Witches’ Unguent that supposedly allowed witches to fly at night… or at least they thought they could, due to its hallucinogenic properties!
September 22, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Magiae Naturalis or Natural Magic. This book includes a recipe for Witches’ Unguent that supposedly allowed witches to fly at night… or at least they thought they could, due to its hallucinogenic properties!
1800s medical kit containing Spanish fly. Also known as Blister Beetles because they were applied to the skin in order to create blisters which supposedly forced the sickness out
September 18, 2025 at 1:25 PM
1800s medical kit containing Spanish fly. Also known as Blister Beetles because they were applied to the skin in order to create blisters which supposedly forced the sickness out
Blog post! Prohibition stories...
Anti-tea and coffee spokespersons had once decried those drinks as creating ‘tea mania’ and ‘coffee drunkards’. But by 1920 the Temperance Movement was advocating for more coffee shops and tearooms as an alternative to pubs.
👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/her...
Anti-tea and coffee spokespersons had once decried those drinks as creating ‘tea mania’ and ‘coffee drunkards’. But by 1920 the Temperance Movement was advocating for more coffee shops and tearooms as an alternative to pubs.
👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/her...
September 12, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Blog post! Prohibition stories...
Anti-tea and coffee spokespersons had once decried those drinks as creating ‘tea mania’ and ‘coffee drunkards’. But by 1920 the Temperance Movement was advocating for more coffee shops and tearooms as an alternative to pubs.
👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/her...
Anti-tea and coffee spokespersons had once decried those drinks as creating ‘tea mania’ and ‘coffee drunkards’. But by 1920 the Temperance Movement was advocating for more coffee shops and tearooms as an alternative to pubs.
👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/her...
Chinese utensils used in preparing and drinking tea, from a 1600s work by Simon Paulli
Find out more about the history of tea in our exhibition ‘Hooked’ www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/hoo...
Find out more about the history of tea in our exhibition ‘Hooked’ www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/hoo...
September 9, 2025 at 6:23 AM
Chinese utensils used in preparing and drinking tea, from a 1600s work by Simon Paulli
Find out more about the history of tea in our exhibition ‘Hooked’ www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/hoo...
Find out more about the history of tea in our exhibition ‘Hooked’ www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/hoo...
Fishwives, or ‘oyster lasses’, were common figures in the streets of 1700s Edinburgh. Oysters were so plentiful that they were considered to be cheap snack food. The shells themselves, when ground up, were taken to relieve heartburn
September 5, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Fishwives, or ‘oyster lasses’, were common figures in the streets of 1700s Edinburgh. Oysters were so plentiful that they were considered to be cheap snack food. The shells themselves, when ground up, were taken to relieve heartburn
I think I prefer the summer treatment…winter is a bit too uriney
September 1, 2025 at 7:33 AM
I think I prefer the summer treatment…winter is a bit too uriney