The Instrumentarium is a book dedicated to Joseph II. It was first published in German, in 1780,
then in Latin, 1782, with a few slight explanatory changes.
To use it better for teaching, Brambilla had complete sets of the instruments in his book made, by the cutlers Malliard or Maliar. These are very similar collections of scalpels, systematically laid out in elegant wooden cases, according to operation or type of operation. One of the sets was sent to Russia, as we can read in the History of Austrian Surgery, 1750-1800. Other sets are preserved in the in the Institut für Geschichte der Medizin (Institute for Medical History), Vienna, and the Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza (Institute and Museum for the History of Science) in Florence. One set is also in the vestibule of the recently restored Scarpa Lecture Room. The idea of giving a set to Pavia was dictated by a decision to make the Lombardy town into a privileged research centre, a "study centre for the nation". Apart from anything else, it enables students to know all the instruments necessary for any type of operation. The set was donated from Vienna in 1786 to St. Matthew's Hospital and then passed to the University, which suggests deliberate imperial action in favour of the study of medicine on the Ticino.
An integral part of the reform of medical studies in Pavia, the set of surgical instruments is still nowadays an important aid for teaching medical history. It reflects the history of surgery in the 18th and 19th centuries, its methods and operational techniques.