RCSI Heritage Collections

Today marks the 171st anniversary of the death of a man who despite achieving so much in the world of surgery is largely forgotten by it's population. He is recognised as introducing the microscope into Irish medicine in 1830, being Ireland's first investigator into the field of cancer research and for discovering the transverse folds of the rectum, which are also known as ' Houston's valves' . That man was one John Houston. John Houston 1802-1845 Houston was born in Northern Ireland in 1802. Little is known about his childhood before he was adopted by his maternal uncle, Dr Joseph Taylor. Taylor financed his nephew's education in medicine and in 1819 Houston was apprenticed to John Shekleton , a young dynamic surgeon and soon-to-be Curator of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Museum. Houston's apprenticeship finished in 1824, the same year that Shekleton suddenly died at the age of 29. Houston lost his teacher, mentor and friend and on the da...

RCSI Museum circa 1900s Museum's full of curious specimens, eerie skeletons and natural wonders are fascinating. A fascination that has been awoken in younger generations through the captivating TV programmes by David Attenborough. The College housed quite a large museum and was even pronounced as 'one of the most valuable in Europe' by Friedrich Tiedemann and Jules Cloquet  in the 1800s. In 1820 the College decided to establish a museum on a level par with the scale of their other departments. A committee was formed and they were empowered to appoint a Curator at once. Candidates for the position of Curator had to exhibit specimens of their work.    Shekleton's mercurial specimen Baby orangutan skeleton E.a.90 A young anatomist named John Shekleton presented his specimen of a mercurial injection of the lymphatics of the lower extremity which, it has been said, excited the wonder of all who saw it. This specimen is still on view in the Anatomy ...