Museum & Herb Garret
Cranioclast: An Instrument of Hope and Fear
Posted: December 9, 2021
Content Warning Please be advised that the following article contains a graphic discussion of surgical procedures, childbirth, difficult deliveries, stillbirth, and death. Midwifery is one of the oldest medical practices.…
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The Invention of Rubber Gloves: A True Love Story!
Posted: August 1, 2019
In 2006 Professor Harold Ellis, CBE Mch FRCS, during an interview at the Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret shared this little love story connected to the invention of…
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Review: Quacks and Anaesthesia
Posted: August 1, 2019
Set in a time of change for medicine, Quacks also embraces the introduction of pain relief. Quacks is treating anaesthesia for effect, but there are also kernels of historic truth…
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Ether, Anaesthesia and the Old Operating Theatre
Posted: August 1, 2019
In August 2008, as part of the building works at the museum, samples of sawdust from under the operating theatre were taken by conservator Jonna Holt. Apart from other things,…
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Chloroform – Fear, Crime and (Pain) Relief
Posted: July 25, 2019
The fear of the effects of chloroform goes back to the earliest days of its use in the late 1840s. This fear manifested itself in many ways. First, there was…
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The Truth and Pearl Harbor – Sodium Thiopental
Posted: July 25, 2019
A couple of weeks ago, whilst looking through stores and collections at the museum, the Curatorial Team came across an interesting box inscribed with the name “Sodium Thiopenal”. Knowing about…
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John Snow, the First English Anaesthetist, Part 7: Chloroform, Death and Explanations
Posted: July 25, 2019
John Snow’s credentials as the first English Anaesthetist have long been established. It was described in a previous blog, how his clinical evaluation and experiments helped establish an understanding of…
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John Snow, the First English Anaesthetist, Part 6: John Snow and the Pump Handle
Posted: July 25, 2019
Cholera had originally come from the East, transported by ship around the world. The first notes in a British Medical Journal come from a doctor in India in the year…
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John Snow, the First English Anaesthetist, Part 5: Anaesthetist to Queen Victoria
Posted: July 25, 2019
In the 1850s, with John Snow’s contributions to the science behind Anaesthesia, his fame in the London medical circle was growing. He had become a Licentiate of the Royal College…
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John Snow, the First English Anaesthetist. Part 4: 1847, Ether and Chloroform
Posted: July 25, 2019
Medical life in London, especially for General Practitioners, was tough in the middle of the 19th century. The oversupply of GPs meant that income was low and competition tight. Snow had…
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John Snow, the First English Anaesthetist. Part 3: A medical living and the arrival of ether
Posted: July 25, 2019
John Snow took his medical qualifications in 1838 and started to look into ways of setting out in his chosen career. The first choice was staying at Westminster Hospital, where…
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John Snow, the First English Anaesthetist. Part 2: Medical School Days
Posted: July 25, 2019
There were 21 medical schools in London offering training for dual qualification. This meant that they fulfilled the requirements of both the ‘college’ and ‘hall’ as they were known, or…
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John Snow, the First English Anaesthetist. Part 1: Beginnings and the Way to London
Posted: July 25, 2019
The life of John Snow was the subject of the 2016 Ether Day talk at the Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret. But who was the man now best…
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