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Sir John Tomes was a major 19th century figure who turned dentistry from a trade requiring no qualifications or training, into the profession we recognise today, with a defined course of study, professional examinations and registration, and a body with legal standing in order to ensure standards are maintained. Tomes’ book on dental practice, ‘A System of Dental Surgery’, first published in 1859, became a standard textbook for decades. The third edition was revised and enlarged by his son, Sir Charles Sissore Tomes. This small leather notebook contains some of the sketches that appear as illustrations in the Third Edition of “Dental Surgery”.

William White MRCS (1792-1806) practiced in Bath. He was apothecary, later surgeon, to Bath City Infirmary and Dispensary. He was also surgeon/apothecary to St James's and the Abbey and the Poor House from 1804. He is most noted for recommending the use of use of broad-leaved willow bark in place of quinine.

Joseph François Louis Deschamps (1740-1824) was a celebrated French surgeon who practiced at the Hôpital de La Charité in Paris. Famous for inventing the Deschamps needle which had a long shaft for passing sutures in deep tissues, he is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris. 

For this work on the surgery of the ear, nose and throat he claimed to have studied widely both ancient and modern texts and consulted numerous articles in the Mémoires de l’Académie de Chirurgie and the work of such notable surgeons as Sabatier and Lassus.

Hans Selye (1907-1982) was a celebrated Austrian/ Canadian physician and endocrinologist. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize several times. Born in Vienna, he grew up in Hungary and studied medicine in Prague, where he began to develop his theory that stress was the foundation of many illnesses – noting that patients suffering from different diseases often exhibited similar signs. The Textbook of endocrinology was central to this work for it was through the study of the effect of hormones that he developed his “general adaptation syndrome” (GAS). His theory was that failure to deal with the effects of stress could produce “diseases of adaption” such as ulcers, high blood pressure and heart attacks. His research led to the discovery of steroids. 

Selye published more than 1,700 articles and 39 books on stress and it is said that he revolutionised medical science’s understanding of the mind-body relationship. In his initial article he used the word “stress” unaware that it was a specific term in physics and that what he really meant was “strain”. This caused confusion when his works came to be translated and, in the end, the word “stress” was used in most European languages – even the French Academy agreed to the term “le stress”.

Michael Etmuller (1644-1683) was Professor of Physic at the University of Leipzig. Among his remedies, he recommends the use of dried toads. “Transfixed alive in the month of July, dried, powdered and administered in doses of twelve grains on alternate days they furnish an excellent cure for dropsy. Powdered toad is also an effective remedy against incontinence of urine, and is said to be efficacious because of its anodyne character while it's volatile, penetrating salt as acts as a diuretic”. 

Thankfully this therapy is now obsolete but Etmuller did accurately observe, in 1667, that the gallbladder could be removed without harm to the patient and that there was no drug that could cure gallstones which is still the case today.

William Wood FLS, FLS (177-1857) originally trained as a surgeon and then turned to the study of natural history. Eventually, he became a leading natural history bookseller. 

This book is important for the black and white aquatints by William Daniel (1769-1837) who was one of the most notable English landscape artists of his day. 

The subjects are renowned for their realism and are placed against exotic scenery reflecting their origin, for example the camel is pictured in front of a view of the Nile with feluccas sailing up and down in the background. William is now most famous for a fabulous six-part work on India called Oriental scenery which he produced with his uncle, the landscape artist Thomas Daniel (1749-1840) and which he must have been working on while producing the plates for the Zoography as it was published between 1795 and 1808.

Charles Guthrie FRCS (1817-1859) was Assistant Surgeon to the Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital, where his father, George James Guthrie FRCS was Surgeon and succeeded him as Surgeon. Sadly he died aged 42 due to a liver complaint. His entry in Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons remarks - “Charles Guthrie was a capable surgeon and a dexterous operator, both in the large operations of general surgery and the more delicate ones on the eye. He was kindly, generous, and very sociable; a cause of much anxiety to his father, who on more than one occasion had to pay for cattle shot on the Thames marshes under the impression that they were big game. He might have done well.”

The content of this work largely consists of the lectures that Skey gave at the Aldersgate Street School of Medicine in 1838-9. This school was formed by discontented members of St Bartholomew’s Hospital and rapidly became one of the largest and best known in London.

Frederic Carpenter Skey (1798-1872) was one of the original 300 Fellows of the RCS. He was a popular lecturer and a skilful and successful surgeon. He wrote and lectured widely on various surgical topics and his textbook on operative surgery became a standard student text. In it he argued vehemently against the use of the knife except as a last resort and recommended the use of tonics and stimulants in preference to the bleeding and leeching which were still current in his day.

Such was his expertise in the field covered by the Practical Treatise that his friend and patient, Benjamin Disraeli, recommended him as Chairman of the first Parliamentary Commission at the Admiralty to inquire into the best mode of dealing with venereal diseases in the Navy and Army. The report of the Committee led to the framing and passing of the Contagious Diseases Act in 1866 and he was awarded the CB in 1868.

Walter Hayle Walshe (1812-1892) was born in Dublin and, when his widowed mother moved to Paris, studied medicine at the Sorbonne where his teachers included the famous French surgeon Baron Dupuytren. He graduated in Edinburgh in 1835 and began general practice in North London. On the strength of his writing he was appointed Professor of Morbid Anatomy at University College in 1841 at the age of 29 and, seven years later, took over complete responsibility for medical teaching at UC when he was appointed Professor of the Principles and Practice of Medicine. He retired early at the age of 50 and proceeded to publish on such varied topics as “dramatic singing” and linguistics. 

Diseases of the heart, first published in 1851, has been described as being one of the most significant cardiology textbooks of its time. Walshe’s obituary in the Lancet commented that it was “one of the most careful and elaborate epitomes of knowledge in the matters with which it deals”. He was one of the first to recognise the presystolic character of the direct mitral murmur in mitral stenosis. The writing was based more on close personal observation and detailed analysis than that of the other three important cardiologists of the day, and was enhanced by his wide reading of European medical literature.

This work was first published in 1769 with the title Domestic medicine or the family physician and it became an instant best seller. It was the first of its kind to be published in Britain and, although the remedies proposed were by no means unique, the approach was, as the book encouraged people to take responsibility for their own health and understand the causes and prevention of disease. Buchan was keen to demystify medical terminology and wrote that “men of every occupation and condition of life might [profitably] avail themselves of a degree of medical knowledge.” He was a firm advocate of breast feeding and stipulated that mothers should look after their own children. He thought the high infant mortality of his day a national scandal and castigated his own profession for not taking more trouble to treat the diseases of childhood. 

Domestic Medicine was translated into all the main European languages including Russian. Apparently the Empress of Russia was so impressed with it that she sent Buchan a letter of commendation and a gold medal. A copy of the 6th edition of 1779 was taken on the Bounty and removed by the mutineers for their own use when they landed at Pitcairn.

Due to the popularity of Thomas Johnson's edition of Gerard's Herball, Parkinson's planned herbal did not appear until 1640. The herbal was a compilation of botanical writings including the unpublished work left by de l'Obel after his death. The Theatrum botanicum contains twenty-eight new species never previously mentioned before. Two of the more famous plants include the strawberry tree and the lady's slipper orchid. The leather binding of our 1640 edition is disintegrating and nearly coming apart.

George Gibb was born in Montreal, Canada in 1821 but also spent time in London where he established a practice. He first published this book in 1860 and it was well- received. Therefore, in 1864, he published a second edition of which this is a copy.

In 1863, after writing a book on the laryngoscope he became known as London’s foremost laryngologist and a pioneer in the use of the laryngoscope.

The son of a Norfolk clergyman, Astley Cooper (1768-1841) trained in London under Henry Cline and also attended John Hunter's lectures. In 1800 he was appointed surgeon to Guy's Hospital. Cooper became one of the best known – and best paid – surgeons of his generation. He received a baronetcy for his success in treating George IV and was subsequently appointed sergeant surgeon to George IV, William IV and Queen Victoria. He served as president of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1827and 1836. In addition to his surgical practice Cooper carried out studies on anatomy, pathology and physiology; he was elected a vice-president of the Royal Society in 1830.

Sir Thomas Lawrence PRA FRS (1769 –1830) was a leading English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy.

In June 1848, Charlotte Waite was injured while falling from a carriage seat in Saltburn, North Yorkshire. She was only 11 years old. Surgeons had no choice but to amputate her leg. She made these two small cross-stitch samplers to commemorate the operation. In some respects, Charlotte was lucky; she had access to anaesthetic. Her surgery was performed just 7 months after the Edinburgh Surgeon, James Young Simpson, first reported the anaesthetic qualities of chloroform, and18 months after the first operation under ether in Britain. Charlotte made a good recovery from the amputation and went on to raise ten children.

This set was fully funded for conservation by the Conserve our Collections summer appeal.  The set was dirty, the case lid almost detached and the covering was peeling and the silk lid lining had shattered.

The instruments - consisting of forceps, scalpels, scissors, saws, needles, a skull rest and a wrench were tarnished and corroded, and their handles were stained.

The case and instruments have been cleaned; a protective wax coating applied to the metal surfaces of the instruments and buffed to polish; the fraying silk textile lining has been re-laid and secured; the lifting case covering and loose lid hinges has been stabilised.