Human remains conservator at Surgeons’ Hall. Snake charmer. Beagle feeder. All-round general necromancer.

Edinburgh, Scotland
Joined January 2018
This is a @medpagetoday article by forensic pathologist @drjudymelinek on the recent public dissection in Portland, Oregon. In it, she talks to me about some of the history of public dissection (free to read but you do need to register) medpagetoday.com/opinion/wor…
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For our next ‘Dissecting the Author’ event at @surgeonshall, I’ll be discussing this wonderful book with Prof. Claire Brock. This is online this Thursday, and you don’t need to have read the book to attend. Come and join us! eventbrite.co.uk/e/dissectin…
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Time for an #ECA25 Speaker announcement! 🤩 We are excited to have Cat Irving (@AnatomicalCat) from @surgeonshall and @hunterian join us to discuss 'Things in Jars: A Potted History of Fluid Preservation in Anatomical Collections' Check out ecanatomists.org for all the details about #ECA25 at @UniofNottingham Ticket sales close 9th June (In-Person) and 20th June (Online).
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A plate from Jacques Fabien Gautier d’Agoty’s “Suite de l’Essai d’anatomie en tableaux imprimés” from 1745. This illustration is often known as The Flayed Angel. I’ve seen a number of original editions of Gautier d’Agoty’s books in various places and they’re always stunning.
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This will be amazing, not least because I shall be the host…!
A timely reminder that this is just over a week away! Ticket link 👇
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Just a few weeks now until my next lecture for @TheLastTuesdayS where I’ll be talking about Dante’s Inferno and asking serious questions like what drove Dante to write such a work, how has it informed modern ideas of Hell and what’s up with this lad’s head?! Ticket link 👇
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I thought I’d do a quick recap of the year and some of the events I was involved in through 2024. Quite a mixed bag of gothic- and horror-adjacent delights so do read on 👇
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Through me you pass into the city of woe: Through me you pass into eternal pain: Through me, among the people lost for e’re… My first lecture of 2025 is up on the @TheLastTuesdayS site and we will be exploring the bowels of Dante’s Inferno! Ticket link below 👇
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A decomposing figure holds up its own heart for contemplation. This transi was produced by sculptor François Pompon in the 19thC, and it’s in the Palais de beaux arts in Lille. It’s a reproduction of the one produced for the tomb of René de Chalon in Bar le Duc in the 16thC.
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On the shelf, it would look like an ordinary book, but when opened you’d find drawers to hide poison. The inside cover has a woodcut from Vesalius’ De Fabrica. The glass bottle says STATUT UM EST HOMINIBUS SEMEI MORI - it is well established that all men die once. From 1682
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Bluesky, any one? @anatomicalcat.bsky.social
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I’m also on Instagram as @AnatomicalCat
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A collection of calculi in Venice
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I’m running an author event with the excellent @edward_parnell for @argonaut_books on Tuesday next week. We’ll be discussing all things ghostly and ghoulish, with reference to Ed’s books - Ghostland (@HarperCollinsUK) and Eerie East Anglia (@BL_Publishing) Tix 👇
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A memento mori etching, from a couple of years ago
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Well just look what showed up today…! I’m chapter 7
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If you long for a copy of I Am Stone whose value has been considerably reduced by the gnarled claw of Thee Editor then @BL_Shop is the place for you, you big weirdo
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