Surgeons’ Hall Museums

The History of Surgery Museum is a fascinating look at surgery in Scotland from the 15th century – when barbers supplemented their income with blood-letting, amputations and other surgical procedures – to the present day. The highlight is the exhibit on Burke and Hare, which includes Burke’s death mask and a pocket book bound in his skin. Covering dentistry, with its wince-inducing collections of extraction tools, is the adjacent Dental Collection. The Pathology Museum houses a gruesome but compelling 19th-century collection of diseased organs and massive tumours pickled in formaldehyde.