iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 15h

We've just launched a new digital resource! Almost 15,000 entries, covering every Fellow, Honorary Fellow, Member and Licentiate of our College from our foundation to 1926. Check it out 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/phy...

Promotional image. A composite image of nine doctors, text on image reads 'physicians database'

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

1578 Counsell Against the Pestilence - use cinnamon, violet and cloves, but under no circumstances rely on a walnut

Open page of a book, only text is visible, no illustrations. The text is unreadable.

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Betonia officinalis was believed to be effective against sorcery and was planted in churchyards to ward off ghosts. According to one 16thc botanist it also 'maketh a man to pisse well'

Open book showing colour illustration of a plant with spiked leaves and pink petals

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

A history of divination, werewolves and swan-maidens in our digitised text 'Myths and Myth-Makers' archive.org/details/b219...

Illustration of two hands holding a divination rod

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RCP museum @rcpmuseum.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

📣New blog 📣 ‘The Gàidhealtachd in the World of British Medicine’. PhD researcher Euan Bowman on placement at the RCP kept an eye out for wee slices of his Scottish home in our collections. His blog shares his insights into Gaels & the British medical establishment history.rcp.ac.uk/blog/gaidhea...

A small Scottish croft is just visible on a otherwise empty coastal heath by the sea in Kilmaluag, Skye.

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Our College around 1900, showing rooms filled with ferns. This was during the fern fever (also known as Pteridomania) of the Victorian period. Fern collecting was a hugely popular pastime and was even rumoured to enhance virility and improve mental health

Black and white photograph of a room with large roman columns. In the middle of the room is a large table covered in ferns

Black and white photograph of a large museum display case containing wet specimens in jars

Black and white photograph of a staircase leading up to an open door. The door is flanked by two statues

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

This 17thc work is dedicated to palmistry, or chiromancy, i.e. the idea you can predict the future through the study of the palm. In this diagram, different lines on the hand represent Venus, wealth and rationality

An open book, showing an image of a flat palm with marks and Latin text written across the palm

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Newcastle Uni Special Collections & Archives @ncllibspeccoll.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

#Discover This Child Vaccination Poster from c. 1950s offers a fascinating glimpse into the history of public health communication. What can this poster tell us about attitudes towards childhood vaccination — then and now? Explore the item: collectionscaptured.ncl.ac.uk/digital/coll...

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

John Hill was an apothecary and botanist, known for his publications on natural science and regularly accused of plagiarism. This page shows some images that have been copied from previous unrealistic descriptions

Six colour images of animals - including a bear, a tiger, a lion and a lioness

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

This textile banner was made by community groups in Leeds. Participants were asked to share things they wish they had known about menstruation to capture experiences about starting a period, pregnancy and menopause. Find out more in Rag👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/rag...

Shows a wider shot of the banner, with various images of menstrual pads, underwear and vulvas.

Shows a closeup of two of the pads, one says ‘Shock when it starts! Shock when it stops!’, the other says ‘Hello 10 years old’ and Goodbye 52 years old’.

Shows a fabric mooncup containing blood, with the word ‘womanhood’ embroidered on it along with the words ‘Not all women’ and ‘Not only women’.

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

'One can use the sword as a crutch...cold weak tea is best for the march'. A study of wartime self-aid (1900) archive.org/details/b219...

Two images, on the left is the cover of a book titled 'Self-aid in war' and on the right is an illustration of a man carrying another man over his shoulder while holding a rifle in the other hand.

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Swallowing pistol bullets as a cure for hysteria, 18thc folk remedy used by Jean Clerk, a seamstress (noted in Edinburgh dispensary records)

Handwritten text. Reads:
'Among other remedies may observe that some months before death had swallowed two pistol bullets, with view to removal of obstruction. These never observed to be either discharged by stool or rejected by vomiting'

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RCPSG Heritage @rcpsgheritage.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Join us on the 20th September (10am-4pm) for Glasgow Doors Open Day! We'll be opening our beautiful building for you to explore. There'll also be the chance to see our brand new exhibition Dear Green Places, and our copy of Audubon's Birds of America www.glasgowdoorsopendays.org.uk/events/royal...

External view of our building. A Georgian style building over three floors with steps leading up to a black double door

Page from Audubon's Birds of America showing the Carolina Parrot or Parakeet

A wooden double door with one side open to show a glimpse of a staircase a door opposite

Our College Hall - a large room with a huge fireplace with surround made of carved wood and an ornate ceiling in blue and gold

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Illustration of the heart, with flaps that can be folded back to reveal the inner chambers, from Descartes' 'The Treatise of Man'. Published after his death, he feared that this book would result in accusations of heresy for its idea of 'man as a machine'

Open book showing a black and white illustration of a heart, with raised flaps

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

This shows the red blood cells of different animals. The author William Hewson ran an anatomy school in London. In 1998 workers found human remains beneath the property. Likely Hewson acquired bodies illegally for his study and then hid them afterwards Find out more👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/rag...

A foldout page of a book, showing rows of small circular/oval images of different sizes and shapes.

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

'A wonderful historie of a monster who from the navell upwards had the shape of a man and the rest like a dogge'. This 16thc text is a collection of extraordinary stories - demons, sea-monsters, serpents and centaurs

Open book showing illustration of a person with the legs of a dog, walking upright through a woodland clearing

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

This handy 18thc cure for the King's Evil (i.e. scrofula) argues that 'Mice roasted, and eaten by Children, is very good'

Printed recipe, reads:
For the king's evil
Mice roasted, and eaten by children, is very good: then, let their heads become full of lice, until the scabs appear large, so as they may run a little. Otherwise, apply the juice of Helena Herba, until cured

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

These re-usable period products were created by Hey Girls, a Scottish social enterprise. Period poverty is a very real problem and around 500 million women worldwide struggle to manage their periods safely Find out more👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/rag...

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Bloodletting could cause infection. This image shows the arm of James Donachy who was being treated for a rib fracture when his doctor decided to bleed him. Three days after blood was first taken, his arm became inflamed and the wound opened Find out more in Rag👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/rag...

A colour illustration of an arm with a large infected-looking sore on it.

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

This book, by English doctor James Johnson, examines the medicinal uses of leeches. The book describes experiments on different leeches to see how easily they could be ‘tamed’. The horse leech, it says, is the most wild and unpredictable. Find out more in Rag👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/rag...

An open book. On the left page is an illustration, showing three cross sections of a dissected leech

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

The 1700s artist James Gillray produced engravings of medical treatments. In these prints the unfortunate patient can be seen receiving laxatives, vomits and foul-tasting medicines before he begins the course of bloodletting shown in this image Find out more in Rag👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/rag...

A colour illustration of two men, with a title at the bottom of the image which reads ‘Breathing a Vein’. One of the men is sitting, his head turned away from the other man and a grimace on his face. The other man is standing over him, holding his arm as blood flows from one of the seated man’s veins into a bowl which the other man is holding.

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Bloodletting was far from just a European practice and was carried out in parts of South America, Africa and across both South and East Asia. This illustration depicts bloodletting in 1500s Egypt Find out more in Rag👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/rag

An open book showing an illustration of a man bending over the footboard of a bed. His trouser legs are rolled up and another man kneels next to him, making small cuts into the backs of his legs. Other figures stand around him, including a woman holding a towel

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Free #Edinburgh exhibition If you're in town for #EdFringe check out our exhibition Rag. Exploring the history of blood from transfusions to menstruation 📍 Physicians’ Gallery, 11 Queen Street, EH2 1JQ 📅 Mon – Fri, 10am – 4.30pm Find out more 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/rag...

Three people looking into a museum display case.

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

This is a Zodiac Man. These showed the relationship between parts of the body and the zodiac. Stories were told to explain these connections – the heart was Leo because lions were brave, Cancer was the chest wall because crabs have shells. Find out more in Rag👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/rag...

An open book. On the right page is a woodcut showing a man, naked except for a loin cloth, surrounded by objects. The objects are difficult to see, but include animals and a set of scales. Each object is connected by a line to a different one of the man’s body parts (knee, head, foot etc)

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

This 1785 recipe, to make a powder of your blood, describes how to cook the blood before storing it in a bladder. This treatment, the recipe emphasises, 'will be no cure to another' - each person must only ingest their own blood. Find out more in Rag www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/rag...

Image of an open book. The recipe reads: To make a powder of your blood. Dry it upon a girdle, or in a frying pan; keep still stirring it about with a knife until you think it is dried enough upon the fire; then take it off, let it stand upon the girdle or in the frying pan till cold, but still keep moving it about: after doing this, you may pound it small any way you please. NB: It will keep in a bladder 7 years but let it be observed, the blood of one person will be no cure to another, every one must use their own blood.

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

A 1785 chapbook recipe for 'Beardiness', including watercress and sealions. Too much beard? Try the blood of a bat!

Printed recipe. Reads: For beardiness. To shave often, and wash the beard with the boiled juice of sybbous, or seallions, will cause it grow very quickly; or, wash with water, wherein rusty iron has been laid, upon the places you want hair to grow. But, remember, these cures will not answer the hair of the head, cures being given, as you may see in this book, quite different.

Now, to hinder a beard to grow, be it too strong, to make it weaker: take a handful of euphrasie, and as much of water cresses, boil them together, and anoint therewith as occasion requires - otherwise, singe the beard with the light of a whale oil lamp, or braland berries, by some called crow berries. Or, if you want to be free of a beard altogether, the blood of a batt once applied, wll do the turn.

Probatum est.

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Every six months we re-roll the alchemical Ripley Scroll which is on display in our Gallery. This is to help preserve the scroll from damage, and to give you something new to look at! Stop by and see the newly unrolled biting bird, menstruating dragon and Hermes, the alchemist.

A woman with long dark brown hair, tied up in a bun, bending over an open museum display cabinet with her hands placed on either side of a large parchment scroll

An illustration of a winged dragon biting its own tail while its menstrual blood flows below it

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Late 1800s obstetrics lecture, showcasing teaching materials including anatomical dolls and medical illustrations

Black and white photograph of a lecture theatre. On the rear wall is a display of 15 obstretric images - images of wombs, a woman mid-birth and foetal body parts. At the base of the wall sit two men - on the left a man in a top hat and uniform, appearing like a guard, and on the right sits a man holding an obstetric phantom, another one by his side and his elbow resting on an obstetric birthing model

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Maria Sibylla Merian’s early 18thc natural history illustrations, she was a major contributor to #entomology – particularly with her research on the metamorphosis of butterflies

A colour image of a plant with red fruits, two butterflies can be seen alongside a caterpillar

A colour illustration of two flowers – one pink, one white. Two butterflies can also be seen

Colour illustration of flower, with yellow and red leaves. A brown butterfly is also shown in the bottom right corner

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

This is one of the first books on medical care for horses. For the cure ‘of the biting with a mad Dogge’, Markham recommends covering the wound with goat dung, elderwort and 40 walnuts crushed together to make a paste

Titlepage of a book. 10 images around the page all show a man and a horse – in each image the man is taming, riding, or treating the horse in different ways.

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RCP museum @rcpmuseum.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Dr Kadambini Ganguli, was a woman of many firsts. One of the first 2 women graduates of India & the British Empire & the first Indian woman to graduate & practice Western Medicine in India. Discover more in this blog by Dr Theeba Krishnamoorthy 👉 history.rcp.ac.uk/blog/dr-kada... #SAHM2026

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

This board game was created by the Lothian Health Board and Lothian Regional Council as part of a campaign aimed at raising awareness of the risks surrounding HIV and AIDS Find out more in Rag👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/rag...

A colourful board game, with a similar layout to Monopoly

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

These bags were created as part of The Blood Bag Project. The project has collected over 1,500 bags from all over the world, including Australia, Japan and Russia. Some have been made by artists, some by patients and some by school pupils. Find out more in Rag👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/rag...

Blood bags made from fabric, plastic and other materials hang from red thread from the ceiling and walls. Some have faces, people or other shapes on them. A person with pink hair reaches up and touches one of the bags.

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History Chrono @historyachannel.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

In the 19th century, physicians occasionally used strychnine to treat paralysis. However, the drug’s potential for toxicity was immense; the violent, rigid convulsions it triggered were often indistinguishable from tetanus, leading to frequent diagnostic errors. #MedicalHistory

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Suffering from a gouty disposition? According to 18thc physician William Cullen the best treatment was opium, brandy and a little amusement cullenproject.ac.uk/docs/3910/

Handwritten text. Reads:

Dr Dolman in York

A gouty disposition at the bottom of your complaints, but your

constitution shattered by many & various accident leaves little hope

of bringing that disposition to take a proper course. No medicines can do.

Bark & bitters will do harm. The only plan is to palliate

by Opium, brandy, [amusement?] exercise, the 2 first as little

& the 2 last as much as possible -- & at the same time a Regimen.

which should be ex media materia. Light animal food, moderately.

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RCP museum @rcpmuseum.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

We know who owned them. We don't know who they were. These extraordinary 17th C anatomical tables consist of six panels, showing the preserved veins, arteries & nerves of real human bodies, & two animal organs dissected at the University of Padua with extraordinary skill & care. 1/4

A view of the anatomical tables in frames hanging on the wall of the RCP.

A close up of the texture showing the raised surface of the dissected remains.

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

New podcast episode! We’re digging into the gnarly history of blood transfusion. From dog blood to black urine, a man is allegedly kidnapped off the streets while scientists vie for primacy in this story of innovation, experimentation and bad ideas. 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/blo...

Promotional image showing illustration of man having blood removed from his arm. Text reads: Physicians' Gallery Podcast, blood transfusion

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

For hundreds of years illustrations of women’s reproductive organs were focused on the foetus. These 1834 illustrations are unusual because they show the female reproductive organs without focusing on pregnancy. Find out more in Rag👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/rag...

An open book showing coloured illustrations of ovaries and a breast

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

This #marginalia lion is perching on the side of George Ripley's seminal 15th century alchemical scroll. Lions represent sulphur in alchemy and when paired with mercury (a lioness) they produce the Philosopher's Stone

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RCPSG Heritage @rcpsgheritage.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Feeling the heat? 🥵 Try these herbal remedies for cooling the blood from our 18th century herbal notebook. heritage.rcpsg.ac.uk/items/show/187

Handwritten note listing herbs for cooling the blood including sorrel, endive and violets

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

We are very pleased to have unveiled our first painting of a global majority doctor. Dr Krishnabai Kelavkar was one of the earliest women physicians in India. She was a social reformer and the founder of the Kelavkar Medical Centre in Kolhapur.

In the background is a large painting in a gold frame, showing an Indian woman in a red sari, resting her arm on a small table.

In the foreground are six people, two men, two women and two young children, facing the camera.

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

The first binaural (two earpiece) stethoscope was invented in the 1850s. It was developed after the arrival of Malaysian rubber in Europe - material necessary to create the flexible tubing used in these stethoscopes This object is on display in our Gallery 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/phy...

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

This image shows the first blood transfusion into a human - by Jean-Baptiste Denys in 1667. Two men died in these trials and public opinion quickly turned against transfusion. 200 years passed before transfusion began to be accepted again. Find out more in Rag👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/rag...

An open book. On the left page are two illustrations, one is of a selection of bladed implements, the other is a man sitting in a chair, to one side is a man, on the other side another man stands next to a suspended dog

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

We're hiring! We're looking for a Project Library Cataloguer to catalogue our modern (post-1900) library collections Find out more 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/college/proj...

Text reads:
Project Library Cataloguer
£34,384 pro rata

6 month contract at 35 hours per week

Option for flexible/part time working

Deadline: 2 July 2026

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

The mortars and pestles used by doctors and apothecaries who made large quantities of medicines as part of their work could be very large. This mortar and pestle weighs over 16 kilograms (two and a half stone) This object is on display in our Gallery 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/phy...

Large mortar, metal with two handles. A metal pestle sits in the mortar

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RCPSG Heritage @rcpsgheritage.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

#OTD 1912, 313 years after our College was founded, Jamini Sen became our 1st female Fellow. Sen was an advocate for better working conditions for female doctors & improved access to care for female patients in India. Her portrait by Grace Payne-Kumar, is the 1st of a woman to hang in College Hall

Portrait by Grace Payne-Kumar of Dr Jamini Sen

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Physicians' Gallery @physiciansgallery.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

From mythical creatures to the natural world to alchemical experiments, this blog delves into symbols present in our collections to reveal their queer significance www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/her...

Promo image. Text reads: Queering the collections, new blog'

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