Antique Medical Instruments

Family physician and artist Dr. C. Keith Wilber presents a hand-illustrated tour of medical history via the doctors' instruments. This study chronicles the evolution of a wide range of medical instruments from the mid-1700s through current usage. It includes discussions on microscopes, reflex hammers, stethoscopes, blood pressure instruments, electro-cardiographs, ophthalmoscopes, otoscopes, endoscopes, vaginal specula, thermometers, forceps, bullet probes, bloodletting instruments, vaccination lancets, trepanning tools, and others. This is an important resource for all medical personnel, historians, and collectors.

Dr. Wilbur attended Vermont Medical School and established a family practice in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1953. The collecting of and writing about medical instruments has been a recent avocation about which Dr. Wilbur has said, "One of my pleasures has been to locate appropriate medical instruments for some of our area museums. It has been something of a treasure hunt…"