Trephination set, cased, London, England, 1771-1800

Trephination set, cased, by Guest, London, late 18th century

This trephination set had all the necessary equipment to perform surgery on the skull. Also known as trepanation, it is surgical practice with ancient origins. This is a nine-piece set containing forceps, an elevator for lifting up bone fragments, a lenticular to depress brain material during surgery, a brush, a rugine to scrape the covering surface of bones which attach to muscles and tendons, and a trephine with three bits and a key to undo the drill. The set was manufactured by Guest, a surgical instrument maker based in London during the late 1700s.