An assortment of surgical instruments from the Wellcome collection in the Science Museum's Blythe House reserve collection building.
While the Stoke-on-Trent 'Ceramic City Stories' group were exploring the Science Museum's reserve small-item store in Blythe House, I noticed this set of surgical instruments from the Wellcome collection.
They reminded me very much of the type of instrument developed in India by Sushruta in the 6th century BC :I had seen a BBC documentary about this subject. This amazing man had developed techniques for operating on cataracts, developing techniques for facial reconstruction using 'skin grafting' as well as abdominal surgery.
There's a statue dedicated to Sushuta in Haridwar, one of the holiest cities to Hindus.
An excellent article about Sushruta's techniques and instruments from the Indian Journal of Surgery is available free at this address :-
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3452414/pdf/12262_2008_Article_63.pdf
and another one from the UK :-
http://www.historyofsurgery.co.uk/Web%20Pages/0427.htm
