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T
he protagonist in Brian Moore’s
1975 Governor General Award-
winning novel, The Great Vic-

torian Collection, wakes one morning
to discover that his dream of owning
the most-extensive collection ever of
Victorian antiquities has materialized in
dazzling glory in a parking lot beside
his motel — the downside is that it’s up
to him to look after it. This is a role that
retired registered nurse Nancy
MacLeod has taken on willingly as she
has collected more than 200 pieces of
19th-century medical memorabilia.
And like The Great Victorian Collec-
tion, she too displays her pieces:
Dressed in period costume she re-
enacts the part of a “medical practi-
tioner” of that era. Using audience
members as “patients,” she “treats”
their various ailments by bloodletting,
amputation and the like.
Last year, MacLeod, who lives in

Kitchener, Ont., took her show on the
road 176 times in Ontario, mostly to
nursing homes, but also historical sites
and community groups. “The elderly
don’t just want to be entertained they
want to learn things as well,” she says.
Her interest is a synthesis of her

interest in nursing and medicine and
long-time love of history. In the late
1970s she acquired her first piece, an
invalid feeder cup. Today her artifacts
range from a travelling pharmacy kit to
a syphilis syringe (which was filled

with diluted silver nitrate and injected
into the urethra), bloodletting instru-
ments to an enema pump (c. 1855)
called The Irrigator, which may have
also been used for embalming. 

She combs antique stores and thrift
shops, occasionally scoring spectacular
finds, such as a medical dictionary from
1850 that she bought along with a mitt
full of novels for $2 at her local Value
Village.
Her collection of medical memora-

bilia and Victorian fashion, gradually

grew through the years, then, in 1994, a
patient told her about historical re-
enactments of the Civil War and
MacLeod travelled to the United States
to have a look. She decided they needed

a period medical unit. Her first persona
was a Grey Nun and then she became a
Confederate nurse leading a unit of
eight. Her collecting picked up. Ninety
per cent of her pieces are authentic; the
reproduction pieces, including an ampu-
tation/surgeons kit with multiple knives
and bullet forceps, a trephine kit and
slip (bed) pan, were acquired for her
Civil War re-enactments.
The move from re-enactment to

road show came in 1998 when she
staged a private Victorian fashion show
and was invited by an activities director
at a seniors’ home to bring her show to
that institution.
MacLeod’s shows typically begin

with an explanation of the health status
of your average citizen in 1850, when

HumanitiesCMAJ

CMAJ • SEPTEMBER 7, 2010 • 182(12)
© 2010 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors

E601

Essay

The Victorian Medical Show

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Pictured above, top, is a scarifator from the 1850s, which was used for bloodletting.
When the trigger is pulled, 12 razor blades come down and cut the skin and underly-
ing vein. At the centre of photo is a steel reproduction leech box (modelled after one
from 1800); leeches were used to clean wounds. At the bottom of photo is a fleam
from the 1850s, also used for bloodletting.

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McLeod combs antique stores and thrift
shops, occasionally scoring spectacular finds.

Previously published at www.cmaj.ca



the life-expectancy was around 50.
Physician training in the Southern
United States consisted of three months
of school followed by a two to three
year apprenticeship. And medical treat-
ment was based on the concept of the
four “humors” in the body: blood,
phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. Ill-
ness, either physical or mental, resulted

when these humors were out of bal-
ance. Phlebotomy (bloodletting) re-
established the balance by releasing 16
to 20 ounces of blood; generally it was
performed on patients with pneumonia
until he or she felt faint, or fell down.
No one believed in germs and the only
required cleaning of the instruments
was an annual oiling of the wooden
handles of equipment.
MacLeod’s show is pretty convinc-

ing as she talks in graphic detail about
amputations and bullet wounds. Some-

times people have to sit down because
they feel faint or leave altogether and
she appoints a spotter at school demon-
strations. “I enjoy telling stories and
seeing people’s reactions,” says
MacLeod. “A lot of people return and
ask to hear a story again.”

Barbara Sibbald BJ
Deputy Editor, Analysis and
Humanities

CMAJ
Ottawa, Ont.

CMAJ • SEPTEMBER 7, 2010 • 182(12)E602

Humanities

This original apothecary box, c. 1900, contains myriad screw-cap bottles of drug pow-
ders, including strychnine. McLeod purchased this at a Mennonite thrift shop. In the
foreground is a rubber syphillis syringe dating to 1850, manufactured by the Hanover
Rubber Company. It was used to instill diluted silver nitrate or mercury into the uretha,
giving rise to the saying: “A night with Venus, a lifetime with Mercury.”

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Depicted above is a reproduction of an
ether can from 1800, a laudanum bot-
tle from 1850 with a reproduction label
and, at the bottom, Dr. Chisholm’s
inhaler from 1862. Ether was poured
on the small sponge inside the inhaler
and the two canula would be put in
the patient’s nose. This was an
improvement on the old method of
dropping ether onto a cloth over the
nose and mouth.

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