Coroner’s Mirror with Leather Case, Polished Sterling

Description: This coroner’s mirror was a device used in the 19th and early 20th century as a diagnostic tool by physicians to determine whether a patient was dead. Though it was commonly used in the field of medicine, the coroner’s mirror was a notoriously unreliable instrument and later fell out of practice. Death determination has a rich history consisting of its beginning in 1564 when Andreas Vesalius, commonly known as the father of modern anatomy, was observed conducting a public autopsy on a patient who was, unknown to Vesalius, still living. After this incident, a new requirement arose within the field of medicine that a physician must examine a patient and officially pronounce their death before an autopsy may be performed. However, with this vague requirement of death determination, physicians over the years created many different techniques of examining a patient’s corpse. One such technique included an anatomist by the name of Jacob Winslow in 1732 suggesting that a group of women should gather around the corpse to wail and scream with the thought that any still-living patient would become overwhelmed and immediately become conscious. An additional method of death determination consisted of physicians attaching a bell to the toe of a patient who they presumed was dead. If the patient awoke, the bell would then ring signifying that they were alive which is from where the phrase, “saved by the bell,” derives.

Origin: Circa Early 20th Century; France