Credit
Grass snake eggs, 1760–93, Hunterian Collection. RCSHC/3304

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These eggs are from John Hunter's specimen collection and are over 200 years old. Grass snakes lay between 10 and 40 eggs at a time, so it is likely that these were all taken from the same clutch of eggs. They were preserved shortly after being laid.

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Grass snakes are the only UK snake species that lay eggs. They are one of three species of snake native to the UK, along with the adder and the smooth snake, which is very rare. Grass snakes usually lay their eggs in a sheltered location within rotting vegetation, like a compost heap.

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Glass specimen jar containing pale yellow eggs preserved in fluid. Labels on the jar read 'Tropidonotus' and '3304'.

Going on an egg hunt this weekend? 🐣

If you find any that look like this be sure to leave them alone — they are definitely not chocolate, they are grass snake eggs!

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Five women standing together in a historic library with tall bookshelves filled with old books behind them.

Three professional women standing together in a grand library with tall bookshelves filled with leather-bound books.

Tonight, our Women in Surgery community came together to mark International Women’s Day – a moment to connect, reflect and look ahead.

Thank you to everyone who joined us to celebrate and view the exhibition, Insight: Portraits of Women in Surgery.

Learn more about WinS: https://ow.ly/oUSI50Ys2W1

We are delighted to invite you to take part in The Work of Mending workshops with @hunterianmuseum.bsky.social at The Royal College of Surgeons of England!

This series of creative workshops explores the meaning of hands and handwork, past and present.

Tickets: www.eventbrite.com/cc/the-work-...

Loved the women in surgery portrait exhibition @hunterianmuseum.bsky.social @collegeofsurgeons.bsky.social. Great to meet all the surgeons at the private view last week. Do pop in if you’re in London, and visit the Hunterian Museum while you’re there. hunterianmuseum.org/exhibitions/...

Only a few specimens were framed in this way, suggesting that Hunter was particularly pleased with this one.

Credit
Boar’s epididymis (tube which stores and transports sperm) injected with mercury and framed for display, 1760–93, Hunterian Collection. RCSHC/DP 577

It is an unravelled epididymis – the long, tightly coiled tube that stores and transports sperm – from the testicle of a domestic pig (or boar). Hunter injected the specimen with mercury, a silvery liquid metal now known to be toxic, to highlight its structure.

A tubular specimen, arranged in a spiral and displayed in a round, gold-coloured frame. The tube appears silver in colour due to injected mercury. A label with the number “577” is attached at the bottom inside the frame.

John Hunter was so proud of this specimen that he is said to have displayed it in his dining room, rather than in his museum with the rest of the collection.

Black and white image showing a person helping another put on a glove. The glove is open, filled with water, as one hand slides in.

We are delighted to be partnering with @hunterianmuseum.bsky.social at The Royal College of Surgeons of England in our research on hands, craft and haptic skill in the nineteenth century!

Stay tuned for news about our collaboration and how to get involved!

Want to learn more about the surgeons behind the portraits, including our brilliant Women in Surgery Forum Chair, Felicity Meyer?

Join us for a special viewing of Insight: Portraits of Women in Surgery, celebrating International Women's Day, on 10 March, at 6pm. Book now: ow.ly/RQ4l50Y5kat

Insight: Portraits of Women in Surgery An exhibition shining a spotlight on women in surgery working across the UK today, offering an intimate and contemporary look at surgical life.

📢New Exhibition📢 - Insight: Portraits of Women in Surgery

Friday 6 February - Saturday 18 April 2026,
Wednesdays to Saturdays, 10am-5pm

hunterianmuseum.org/exhibitions/...

Had a great morning @collegeofsurgeons.bsky.social learning about the role of volunteers. Had an induction session then a volunteer took me on a building tour and showed me his object of the day in @hunterianmuseum.bsky.social. Finished with object handling. Learnt so much, can’t wait to go back!

Credit: Model eye, by Davidson, London, 1871-1910. Hunterian Museum, Royal College of Surgeons of England, RCSIC/SCM 13

#opthalmology #retina #fundoscopy #historyofmedicine #histmed #museum

They show the back of the eye, called the fundus, and were used to train students in fundoscopy. Today, training uses fundus photographs, but health professionals still use fundoscopy to detect eye diseases and complications from diabetes or high blood pressure.

Can you guess what these little painted discs were used for?

Vacancies - Collections Officer and Conservation Assistant

📢Come and work at the Hunterian Museum 📢

Two roles
- Collections Officer
- Conservation Assistant

👇👇👇

hunterianmuseum.org/news/vacancy...

Made myself a notebook cover, based on the Evelyn Tables in the @hunterianmuseum.bsky.social 🩻 (I made the bookmark to go inside it, too)

This is great!

Credit
Chicken head, with human tooth transplanted into comb, c.1763-1778, Hunterian Collection. RCSHC/P 56

#HunterianMuseum #MedicalHistory #HistMed #HistoryofMedicine #FreeMuseum

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By the 1800s, concerns about ineffectiveness, the transmission of disease, and the exploitation of donors, as well as the introduction of better dentures, led dentists to abandon tooth transplantation.

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Although some transplanted teeth stayed in patients’ mouths for years, we now know they were simply wedged in place.

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A close up of the head of a cockerel with a human tooth implanted into its comb.

His investigations included grafting cockerels’ leg spurs onto their heads, cockerel testicles into hens’ abdomens, and human teeth into cockerels’ combs, as seen in this specimen.

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During that time, dentists charged high fees to implant healthy teeth extracted from poor donors into the mouths of rich patients. Hunter wanted to know: could transplanted tissue really survive and grow?

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A glass container filled with clear liquid containing the head of a cockerel with a human tooth implanted into its comb. A label at the bottom reads ‘P 56’.

Why is there a human tooth in this chicken’s head?

It is the result of an experiment carried out by surgeon-anatomist John Hunter over 240 years ago.

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The Starr-Edwards valve was the first artificial mechanical valve used successfully in humans, and uses a ball-and-cage design to control the flow of blood. It was the product of a partnership between surgeon Dr Albert Starr, and engineer Mr Lowell Edwards.

Hunterian Museum, RCSIC/E 90.0.1

Table 3, showing the sympathetic trunks and branches of the vagus nerves, the veins supplying the lungs, and the portal vein and its tributaries
RCSHM/Z 34

Table 4, showing the distribution of veins (vessels carrying blood towards the heart). RCSHM/Z 35

From left to right:

Table 1, showing the spinal cord and nerves of the trunk and limbs of the human body. RCSHM/Z 32

Table 2, showing the aorta and distribution of the arteries (vessels carrying blood away from the heart). RCSHM/Z 33

How did Guillermo del Toro’s new Frankenstein film take inspiration from the Hunterian Museum?
@realgdt.bsky.social