Abstract
The College has developed a touring exhibition to take our historic objects relating to medicine in remote areas of Scotland back to their origins – visiting museums across the Highlands and Islands. This exhibition has so far visited Gairloch, in the northwest Highlands, as well as Benbecula and Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides.
The Highlands and Islands of Scotland hold a unique place in medical history. Expansive geography, famine and economic instability combined to create precarious living circumstances for both physicians and patients.
This exhibition explores the changes that have taken place in Highlands and Islands medicine over 500 years. It uncovers the stories behind Jacobite medicines, local healers and famed Celtic physicians such as The Beatons.
Geographical isolation meant that many medical recipes needed to be adapted to include locally available ingredients, including seaweed and fish oil. The Highlands and Islands were also viewed as a potential source of income for charlatans and an influx of travelling quacks from the Lowlands streamed across the Highlands and Islands in the 1700s and 1800s.
