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RCPSG Heritage
@rcpsgheritage.bsky.social
News, events and stories from the library, archive and museum at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow
https://heritage.rcpsg.ac.uk/ #histmed #libraries #archives #museums
Reposted by RCPSG Heritage
It happens to be our birthday on Monday. We will be 231 years old!

To celebrate we are hosting 2 events:

🎂 8th December Bake Sale in the main foyer next to outpatients at 12 noon

🎶 12th December Carol Service in The Cathedral at 530pm

Come celebrate with us - we definitely believe in tomorrow
December 5, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Reposted by RCPSG Heritage
During #WWI, medics applied 1.5 million splints, fitted over 20,000 artificial eyes & used 7,250 tons of cotton wool while applying 108 million bandages to injured soldiers. More than 6,000 medics died & over 17,000 were wounded in the British Army alone.
December 5, 2025 at 10:59 AM
It's day 5 of #ArchiveAdventCalendar with @arascot.bsky.social.

Behind today's door you'll find a lovely little Christmas #tree from The herball or generall historie of plantes by John Gerard, c.1636 🎄
December 5, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Reposted by RCPSG Heritage
'Tis the season!

“One Night Cough Syrup” from the 1930s, which contained cannabis, morphine, chloroform, and alcohol! In 1934, the FDA ruled that the claims of the cough syrup's therapeutic properties were misleading, and remaining stock was destroyed.

#skystorians #medhist #science 🧪
December 4, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Day 3 of #ArchiveAdventCalendar is all about #BoxesAndBows.

Just look at all these lovely boxes and an impressive piece of archival wrapping topped with a beautiful bow.
December 3, 2025 at 11:22 AM
It's #FestiveLights for today's #ArchiveAdventCalendar.
Our Vapo-Cresoline Spirit Lamp (c.1900) has a very Christmassy feel to it! The lamp would light you to bed but its claim to cure respiratory diseases, by producing a cleansing gas, was definitely fake news.
December 2, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Slightly late to the party but there were #Presents behind yesterday's #ArchiveAdventCalendar door. Here's a lovely festive photo of Santa (a.k.a. stage star Jack Radcliffe) delivering a sack full of presents to the children on the wards at Mearnskirk Hospital (c1935). Bonus St Bernard watching on 🐶
December 2, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Tomorrow marks the 426th anniversary of the foundation of our College founded by surgeon Peter Lowe to improve standards of healthcare. The charter, granted by King James VI, brought together physicians and surgeons, and covered pharmacy and medical jurisprudence.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKo4...
The Founding of the College
YouTube video by Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow
www.youtube.com
November 28, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Amputation knife (c.1800) of William Beatty, surgeon on HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. The curved blade was a popular style in the late 1700s/early 1800s. These were replaced by straighter blades in the mid-1800s to ensure more accurate incisions
November 27, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Reposted by RCPSG Heritage
The original visitors book from Rottenrow.

Lots of famous signatures in here inc this one - Ernest Hemingway's father - Clarence Edmonds Hemingway. 'Ed' was a GP with an interest in obstetrics who invented spinal forceps.

The book will be on display during our Rottenrow exhibtion, opening 2026.
November 27, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Our College hall always looks so cosy and inviting on a cold, dark, rainy #Glasgow evening 😊
November 26, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Suffering from the sniffles? Here's a recipe to make a "fine tablet for the cough and coold" from our 18th century herbal notebook.
November 25, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Born #OTD 1915 former president of our College, Tom Gibson, pioneer of #plasticsurgery. He made an outstanding contribution to 20th Century medicine by developing a hypothesis that laid the scientific foundation of tissue and organ transplantation heritageblog.rcpsg.ac.uk/2015/11/24/p...
November 24, 2025 at 12:06 PM
On the origin of species by Charles Darwin was published #OnThisDay 1859. We're lucky enough to have a first edition in our collection 😊
November 24, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Love the design on the case for this 19th century set of ophthalmology instruments 😍. The set contains two spuds (to removing foreign bodies), two lens hooks and two capsulotomy knives for cataract surgery.
November 21, 2025 at 12:14 PM
We had a lovely day yesterday with Helen Kellock and all those who came along to our #BookWeekScotland event. Lots of fun making paper birds inspired by our beautiful copies of JJ Audubon's Birds of America
@scottishbooktrust.bsky.social
November 19, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Reposted by RCPSG Heritage
Book Week Scotland is friendship woven through words. ❤📚

Whatever you are doing to celebrate, from going along to one of hundreds of events to reading a brilliant book at home, we wish you a happy Book Week Scotland! 📚🥳
November 17, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Today is #WorldDiabetesDay. In the Middle Ages, Ibn Sina (Avicenna) gave an account of diabetes mellitus in his Canon of Medicine. He described a number of clinical features relating to diabetes, most notably the sweetness of the urine produced by diabetic patients
November 14, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Reposted by RCPSG Heritage
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
A view of St Vincent Street looking west towards our College buildings. We relocated to St Vincent Street in 1862. The artwork is by Glasgow artist, Muirhead Bone and dates from 1911. The rain soaked pavements seem particularly appropriate today!☔️
November 13, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Born #OnThisDay 1774, Charles Bell, Scottish surgeon, anatomist and talented artist. This stunning illustration by Bell was based on his own dissection work. Bell is perhaps best remembered for describing "Bell's Palsy".
#OTD #anatomy #histmed
November 12, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Nurse Annie Allan stands beside the grave of her colleague, Sister Burt. Scottish Women's Hospitals, Salonika, 1916. #ArmisticeDay #Remembrance
November 11, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Reposted by RCPSG Heritage
Re-upping for #RemembranceDay
#OTD 1867, Marie Curie was born.

During WWI, Curie created a vehicle that contained a hospital bed, a generator, an X-ray machine and photographic darkroom equipment. These “petite Curies" (below) could be driven right up to the Front. Curie also helped train 150 women as radiology technicians.
November 11, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Born #OTD 1873, Dr Archibald Young, pioneer in the operative treatment of fractures and in the study of methods of relieving pain. During #WWI he acted as a neurological expert focusing on nerve injuries. Young was President of our College from 1935-37
#onthisday #histmed
November 10, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Today's #Museum30 is all about a #box. This lovely gavel casket in our collection was made using timber from the former Lister Ward at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

The box was presented to the College to remember Andrew and William Brown who were instrument makers for Joseph Lister and William Macewen.
November 7, 2025 at 2:43 PM