Society's museum launches new display for National Science Week
Part of the new “Developing treatments” exhibition in
the Society’s reception area |
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society's museum has launched a new exhibition on the theme of medical treatments that have invoked controversy throughout history. This opening of the exhibition coincides with National
Science and Engineering Week, which runs from 9 to 18 March.
The display provides an insight into treatments for syphilis, “melancholia” and “mania”,
and the common cold. The syphilis section has been curated by Kevin Brown,
trust archivist and curator of the Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum
at St Mary’s Hospital, London, and includes, among other artefacts,
a human skull with extreme damage caused by syphilis (on loan from the
museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England).
The new exhibition replaces the existing display within the “Developing
treatments” showcase in the reception area at the Society’s
headquarters.
Briony Hudson, keeper of the museum collections, said: “Our ‘Developing
treatments’ exhibition has proved extremely popular since its launch
last spring. We intend to change the contents annually to coincide with
National Science and Engineering Week, which is a fantastic opportunity
to celebrate science and pharmacy. The display this year provides a truly
fascinating
insight into the attitudes toward disease in the
past with an amazing range of objects and medicines.”
The new exhibition will remain on show for a year. The showcases can
normally be viewed from Monday to Friday between 9am to 5pm. No appointment
is necessary and admission to the Society’s museum is free. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal