Pringle's restrictions

Along with some other University staff, I was invited along this evening to the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh for an informal tour and supper. Highlights of the evening - apart from the discussions - included viewing a very early edition of Vesalius' De Humani Corporis Fabrica and other rare books, but for me nothing surpassed, for its curiosity value, seeing the chest in which Sir John Pringle's papers were kept, until they were forcibly opened to the public, after the Royal College brought legal action to vacate the restrictive terms of the bequest.

One of the great things about living in Edinburgh is that it provides an endless supply of such curiosities.