Notes from a civil war medical student's diary read: 'A pen knife in his hand, a scalpel and
bistoury. I have seen him break off one prong of a common table fork, bend the point of the other prong and with it elevate the bone in a depressed fracture of the skull and save a life.' Hunter McGuire on the adaptability of the confederate surgeon in 1864.
Miss
Bistoury is as strange a young woman as can be found, and the devil's generosity surpasses all expectations ("The Generous Gambler").
1b-c) were take away with the use of a
bistoury to evidence the sternocleidomastoid muscle.
Other medical items on sale include a
bistoury, a very thin curved blade designed to help remove strangulated hernias, a Georgian thumb lancet used for blood letting and a selection of bleeding cups used to collect blood, expected to fetch around pounds 200 each.