First off, let me say that every instrument pictured here is part of a collection that I have amassed specifically for this project. (Being that I am an artist, I have no medical knowledge, training or experience whatsoever, so I may not be 100 percent correct in what I say regarding these implements.)
I began collecting in August of 00', right after "the mole incident". I found a most plentiful supply at internet auctions and antique shops. Currently I have over 100 separate pieces, and I have placed profiles here of some of my favorite ones. I have been able to discern the purpose, use and approximate age of most of my collection by looking through old medical and surgical texts and instrument catalogs.
Tonsil instruments. Top: A tonsil guillotine, or more tecnically known as a tonsillectome (date unknown, but I would guess turn of 19-20th century or older) no mfg mark. Center: a LaForce hemostatic tonsillectome, identified from a 1977 supply catalog - marked V Mueller & Co.. Center left: possibly an adenoid removing insturment - no mfg mark. Bottom right: A Daniels tonsillectome, described in a 1977 and a 1990 catalog - marked V Mueller & Co. Bottom center: a tonsillectome stamped with the insignia of the Kny-Scheerer company, which is now defunct (est. date - first quarter of the 20th century, since this was the heyday of Kny-Scheerer).
These two images are an overview of parts of the collction; I haven't the space to ID every thing shown. The picture on the right shows another Kny-Scheerer tonsillectome; below it is an Eve tonsil snare (marked with the triangle). Other objects in both pictures include needleholders, towel clamps, retractors, forceps and suction tubes. If you watch surgeries on TV you will probably recognize some of these instruments.
Close-up of the business end of two tonsillectomes. The one on the left is one of the Kny-Scheerer tonsillectomes I have, and in my opinion, one of the most horrifically gruesome instruments ever created. I don't think even Stephen King could imagine a worse way to remove a tonsil! It worked by putting the loop over the tonsil, pushing the ring at the other end forward, thereby impaling the gland on the needle-sharp forks; then the top part of the loop would slide backward past the lower part, severing the tonsil with the razor sharp edge of the upper loop. Eeeeaaaaahhh!
The unkown one on the right works the same way as the Kny-Scheerer one, but it has only one impaling spike.
Another view of the tools. The pistol-shaped one (marked with the triangle) in the upper right is another Daniels tonsillectome, The top part has a rounded edged blade that is pulled back; the tonsil is lifted up through the opening and the blade driven forward to chop the tonsil off!
Clock-wise from the bottom left: A Volkmann retractor, a Gelpi retractor, a Van Buren Sequestrum forcep, and lastly, a Jennings mouth gag - of particular relevance to me becuase of all of the oral surgeries I have had. This instrument is pictured in "Tonsillectomy" in my gallery.
Of interest here are the old glass reusable syringes. The person who sold them to me claimed they were veterinary syringes; but to the needle-phobic they are intimidating none-the-less. They pre-date the age of disposable plastics; probably 1950's -1960's.
Since I began this endeavor, I have learned much about the things I fear; perhaps too much. If you took all of the greatest minds of the creative/artistic genre - writers, poets, filmmakers, artists - and ask them to devise the most awful torture instruments they could conjure up, I seriously doubt you would have a collection like this. Just my humble opinion, though.
Technical notes:
All of the pictures in the Gallery were modified with PhotoShop v.5.5.
Photos of the medical instruments and some other scenes were taken with a Canon AE1 film camera using both 28 and 50mm lenses.
The hospital pictures are scans from old medical texts from the 1930's, 40's and 50's.
The Kny-Scheerer stamp found on one of the tonsillectomes.
There are other variations of this symbol on insturments made by the company. All feature a snake, staff and crown. (This is the ancient Greek symbol of the god of medicine, Aesculapius; the crown was added by the manufacturer.)
On the tools of terror: Well, now that I have purchased several sets of old medical instruments at an auction, that has led me to think about what they mean to my phobia investigation. An analogy comes to mind first: Prehistoric peoples were terrified and awed by the large powerful predators that they shared their world with, yet they immortalized the beasts in cave art, and strung the animals' teeth and claws to wear as jewelry of adornment and valor. The predator's tool box. Says something, doesn't it? By itself a tooth or claw separated from its owner is nothing to fear, but, oh, to imagine what savagery the beast could inflict with all its equipment intact. A sinister-looking medical device is harmless sitting on a shelf or in a museum case, but in the hand of its rightful owner it is a horrifying creation (to a phobia sufferer, at least), forged in the depths of Hades. I have collected some of the fangs and talons that have been left behind by their original owners, to handle them, grasp them and think of what they were used for. I have plucked the poison-imbued impaling spike from the dead scorpion's tail and can look upon it with dreadful fascination, now that its owner is gone.
.....I would never stick my head into the jaws of a living lion, but I will examine the bleached and scattered bones of a dead one. And picture its fangs puncturing the flesh of its hapless and terrified prey.....
....Thankfully patients, including myself, never actually get to see these fearsome curios, as most of the time we are asleep for the procedure. To me the tools of terror are just grisly artifacts of a world that few are unfortunate enough to experience.
More nasty stuff: Left - an unidentified gynecological instrument, right - a tumor forceps, top - a Beck-Schenk tonsil snare
