Skip to content

History

3D object
ks3, ks4

Leech jar

This jar was made and used between 1830 and 1870. It was used to store leeches – a kind of worm that survives by sucking blood from other animals.

This wooden statue was made around 1900 on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, near India. It was known as a kareau or scare devil.

3D object
ks3, ks4

Jenner’s medicine chest

This medicine chest, made in the 1780s, was owned by a doctor called Edward Jenner, who is famous as a pioneer of vaccination.

3D object
ks3, ks4

Machine to measure brain waves

This machine, made in 1958, is an electroencephalograph (EEG) – a device that measures electrical activity in the brain.

3D object
ks3, ks4

Packet of cigarettes

This is a packet of Gold Flake brand cigarettes, made some time between 1920 and 1950 by W D & H O (William Day and Henry Overton) Wills – one of the first companies to mass-produce cigarettes.

3D object
ks3, ks4

Contraceptive cap

This rubber cap was made around 1920. When inserted into a woman’s vagina, it prevented sperm from reaching the uterus, and so prevented pregnancy.

3D object
ks3, ks4

Lister’s Carbolic Spray

This device, used in operating theatres in the 1870s and 1880s, filled the air with a pungent, yellow mist of an antiseptic called carbolic acid.

3D object
ks3, ks4

Medicine Buddha

This statue is of an ancient man called Bhaiṣajyaguru, also known as the Medicine Buddha – someone Buddhists believe can help reduce suffering.

3D object
ks3, ks4

Baby Weighing Scales

These baby-weighing scales, made around 1900, were used by health visitors.

3D object
ks3, ks4

Barber-surgeon’s chair

This chair was made about 200 years ago. It was owned by a barber (men’s and boys’ hairdresser), and customers would sit in it to have teeth extracted.

3D object
ks3, ks4

Acupuncture Model

This is a wooden acupuncture model made in Japan in 1681.

3D object
ks3, ks4

Antimosquito Spray

This spray can was used to help slow the spread of malaria, a life-threatening disease carried by mosquitoes.

Browse resources for other subjects