In this illustration, a physician uses a flexible, fibre optic gastroscope to examine the inside of a patient's stomach. A miniature digital camera is attached to the scope at the operator's end which relays pictures from the stomach. These are viewed on a television monitor and may be recorded. If the camera is detached from the scope, the physician is obliged to look directly through it in order to view the stomach.

Pencil and watercolour drawing by Julia Midgley, Liverpool 1998.