Laura Sellers

I finally made it to Edinburgh! After years of wanting to visit (I grew up in Hertfordshire, it is cheaper and easier to get to Paris than Scotland from there). I went with my friend Liz and our main goal was to go to Surgeons Hall. I should add that Liz is a midwife so we were in our element with history of medicine, and nerded hard that weekend.

 

We went on the Surgeons Hall history of medicine walking tour which was a good way to see some of the city, and gave us the confidence to walk into some spaces which are not obviously open to the public (like parts of the University grounds). Our guide Gerry (with a G) was very informative and had obviously spent some time in the archives. He did a brilliant job of weaving together narratives of anatomy, pathology, preservation, and horror (body snatching was most definitely a thing for the people of Edinburgh and definitely fuels hundreds of ghost tours – along side all the Harry Potter stuff). As part of the tour we visited the Greyfriars Kirkyard graveyard, which I want to go back to and visit again and spend some time wondering around. On a side-note outside the graveyard is Bobby the dog, who is a) being eroded by being over touched by tourists b) “smaller than expected” according to one Tripadvisor reviewer. It should be noted Bobby was a terrier. Just saying.

 

After the tour we went into Surgeons Hall itself. The museum was renovated and reopened in 2015 so is fairly up to date and has some interesting interactives and displays. The museum is arranged thematically which I liked, but Liz felt it would be more helpful if each themed case had some indication of chronology. This was particularly true when a story of technological innovation was being told. There were some really great Edinburgh specific stories in the galleries, which I liked (love a local touch) as well as the key history of medicine stories you’d expect to find in a medical museum. One of the best interactives was an animation of the first (legal) public dissection in Edinburgh. A video talks through what happened and the body is revealed through projection onto a manikin on a dissection table. It is dramatised very well, sat on the benches I wanted to get up and look closer at the detail but knew I’d get in someones way/block the projection from myself.

 

The Pathology side of the museum was, to my mind, less successful than the surgery, although the bottom floor was much stronger at the top. On the top floor there seemed to be very little by the way of interpretation or guidance. Faced with row upon row of body parts it was quite overwhelming, even if you’ve seen human remains before. Grouped by body part and affliction there was little information and an active effort seemed to have been made to avoid talking about people; either the “donor” of the specimens or their users. I was uncomfortable with the number of skulls, fetuses and female sexual organs which appeared with no warning. I particularly disliked that many of the skulls were virtually on the ground and barely protected. It felt irreverent to the deceased and terrible from a conservation perspective.

 

Downstairs had obviously been changed up more recently. It felt much more considered and planned than upstairs. Human stories were evident and the human remains were more spread out and considered. Each was accompanied by some form of interpretation so it was much easier to understand what you were looking at and why. It also placed everything in both a medical and historical context which I appreciated. Along one side of the gallery were stories linking war and medicine. A huge range of objects (and stories) were on display, and some of them brought me to the edge of tears.

 

I would have liked more acknowledgement of where the specimens came from (and the dodgy dealings, theft, and lack of consent that led to many of them being a) in jars b) in Surgeons Hall). This was something that Gerry was obviously keen to stress as well. The museum itself seemed want to shy away to some extent to acknowledge that each jar represented a former human body and a life that went with it. A decision has obviously been made to not name of of the people there (although the archives do tell us who some of them were). I assume this is either to relatives don’t remand the reburial of their ancestors or because the focus is on the pathology. If its the later I could have done with a bit more guidance on the top floor about what I was looking at and why specimens were  grouped in the way they were. Sadly my anatomy knowledge is lacking when it comes to more complicated human remains.

 

Overall, I loved Edinburgh. I would absolutely recommend the walking tours, I enjoyed visiting surgeons hall, but hope that the pathology side, especially upstairs, receives the same level of care and attention that the rest of the museum has had.

 

P.S I’ve just discovered there is a virtual tour online which isn’t bad. A good alternative if you can’t make it to Scotland or would like to assess your access needs before you visit.