The Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, London (review)

On his deathbed in 1783, the Irishman Charles Byrne requested that his body be encased in lead and buried at sea. Byrne, famous for his allegedly eight-foot frame, was keen to prevent the procurement of his corpse by the anatomist John Hunter. His efforts were in vain: upon his death, Hunter bribed the undertaker and brought Byrne's remains back to London to add to his extensive collection of pathological abnormalities. For Hunter, this acquisition formed part of a larger project to collect unusual and representative specimens of morbid and comparative anatomy. His collection comprised various media, including wet specimens in jars, articulated skeletons, and a range of images on paper and canvas. Hunter used these objects in his teaching, displaying them in his residence-cum-school at 28 Leicester Square, London, for a decade until his death in 1793. For the following two centuries this collection was owned by the Royal College of Surgeons and kept behind closed doors, viewed mainly by the medical elite. After a decade of fund-raising and extensive refurbishment costing £3.2 million, the reopening of the Hunterian Museum in 2005 has made the collections of John Hunter, including the remains of the "Irish Giant," accessible on a far larger scale.

Byrne's skeleton now stands opposite the entrance to the museum, underneath a bust of Hunter and framed by a striking monochromatic centerpiece—the "Crystal Gallery." Within this structure, understated recessed lighting accentuates to dramatic effect two stories of clear glass shelving and jars containing more than thirty-five hundred of Hunter's original specimens. The eighteenth and twenty-first centuries converge in these dense, content-rich, synchronic displays, many of which retain their original labels. The visual impact of the sheer number of wet specimens and their jars is redolent of the visible storage at the Darwin Centre, opened at the Natural History Museum, London, three years earlier. Eighteenth- and twenty-first-century concerns are also united in the self-conscious manner in which Byrne's skeleton is displayed: an account of his condition and an acknowledgment of his deathbed desires are juxtaposed with modern-day diagnoses. No longer set up for curious comparison with the remains of Caroline Crachami, the twenty-inch "Sicilian Dwarf," Byrne's bones are now displayed as an example of abnormal osteological development.

Surrounding the Crystal Gallery are a series of thematic displays providing detailed context for Hunter's life and works. Of note is the impressive two-dimensional reconstruction of Hunter's museum in Leicester Square by the artist John Ronayne—an example of sophisticated historical geography of science in accessible form. Other exhibits focus on such themes as medical education and practice (including the activities of the "Resurrectionists"), Enlightenment collecting, and natural history. The latter situates Hunter as an important naturalist as well as a surgeon and anatomist, as does his displayed collection of paintings in which the work of George Stubbs is prominent. Overall, these displays make good use of contemporary images alongside original artifacts and specimens, and the labeling is informative but accessible. The "Silver and Steel" gallery, although lacking labels or specimens in part, nevertheless provides a history not only of the objects of surgical instrumentation but also (in the images opposite the cases and drawers) of their use. Finally, on the lower floor, the McRae Gallery is devoted to educational activities, demonstrating a dynamic public programming schedule. Unusually for a medical history display, a cabinet here is devoted to the development of conservation and preparation. Regrettably, only an alcove is devoted to the Museum after Hunter, and a disproportionate amount of this is dedicated to the rituals of the modern Royal College.

The tone of the upper floor contrasts starkly with the historical reflexivity of the lower, an impression magnified by the Crystal Gallery's upward extension to this level. While the displays on the lower floor acknowledge the breadth of Hunter's activities, here he is celebrated...