Post-mortem Kit

The Annual Reports for Powick Asylum show that post mortem examinations were undertaken in order to observe differences in the brain that might explain different conditions. This post-mortem set was made by S. Maw, Son and Sons, one of the foremost manufacturers of medical instruments between 1814 and 1973. It was in 1901 that the firm was renamed S. Maw, Son & Sons, meaning that this kit was made at some point in the early twentieth century.

A Maw catalogue from 1913 shows a diagram of a very similar kit, described as a ‘portable set of post-mortem instruments’. It included items such as skull saws, cartilage knives, forceps, bowel scissors, scalpels, hammers and needles. They could be ordered in a variety of finishes, with handles made from ebony or ivory.