An Anaesthetic Muse(um)
doi:10.7244/cmj.2013.10.001
Jonathan Dauncey
Proclaiming it possesses the historical magnitude of the Natural History Museum or the g-forces created by the Typhoon Jet simulator in the Science Museum is perhaps overstepping the mark. However, the Anaesthesia Museum in London is certainly worth an hour of your time if you ever find yourself shimmying the droves of wide-eyed cash-flashers on Oxford Street. Equidistant between Oxford Circus and Regent’s Park tube stations, the museum boasts over 3000 anaesthetic items from throughout the anaesthetic ages. It is a must-visit for those curious about the origins of a speciality that was conceived by plucky medics taking turns at inhaling mystical concoctions of unidentified gases that lined their 19th century labs in a quest to eliminate pain [1]