Historians have examined the development of surgical techniques and of the surgical profession itself, but have paid scant attention to the tools that made surgery. Surgeon and historian Kirkup (honorary curator, Royal College of Surgeons, UK) demonstrates how surgical instruments as sophisticated as ultrasound or lasers began as teeth, mouth, fists, fingernails, and fingers. Far from being a compendium drawn from instrument catalogs, this volume is a masterpiece of scholarship. The instruments are situated in the surgical theory and practice of their times. Kirkup's skill and devotion in his presentation and description raise the work from a register to a natural history of the instruments. (The only caveat is that some pictures are not for the squeamish.) An extensive bibliography and an excellent index add to the book's value.

2010 Reprint of the 1942 edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Hardbound. Cloth, Oversized Octavo. 114 Pages with index. This important little book contains an account of the evolution of surgical instruments as illustrated by examples formerly in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. With Dr. Thompson as curator, this collection had grown to number about three thousand examples when early in 1941 a Nazi air raid destroyed a major portion of it. Dr. Thompson, from his intimate knowledge of the contents of the collection, has compiled this record. He traces the scapel from 330 B.C. up to the present time. The amputation knife from Susruta to Liston; and the story of the saw in 2700 B.C. The period from Trepan to Trephine covers almost two thousand years. Originally published in 1941, this book has become hard to find. Specialists currently ask circa $250 for the title. Special effort has been made to reproduce the illustrations contained in the original edition.