Lister Centenary Exhibition at the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum : Handbook 1927.

  • Wellcome Historical Medical Museum.
Date:
1927]
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Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Lister Centenary Exhibition at the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum : Handbook 1927. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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regard to the work of those laboratories should be paid mainly to Dr. Andrew Balfour. This Historical Museum might well form a fitting and permanent adjunct to the Bureau of Scientific Research. It is my idea and my intention that this Museum shall be a permanent institution. The value of history to research workers is beyond estimation. Reviewing the failures as well as the successes in the great past is not only informative but is often inspiring. In the course of my long researches into the history of medicine, I have come to the conclusion that we can gain a great deal of useful information from primitive peoples in the art of healing, and particularly in surgery. In my own personal experiences amongst primitive races, I have sometimes found traces of the origin of what are usually regarded as entirely modern discoveries. Some things have been discovered in remote ages and lost, or forgotten, and rediscovered. Some ancient discoveries have continued in use through all the ages. Dr. Reisner, in the course of his archaeological excavations in Nubia, found some well-made bamboo splints, dating, I think, some 2000 or 3000 years B.C. Captain Anderson found similar splints in use in the Southern Sudan some years ago, and I myself have seen them in use in the Upper Blue Nile region. A few days ago in Morocco City, Southern Morocco, I saw exactly similar splints being used, and secured them for this Museum. The perpetuity and the rediscovery of ancient devices are exceedingly interesting subjects for investigation. In organising this Museum, my purpose has not been simply to bring together a lot of curios for amusement. This collection is intended to be useful to students and useful to all those engaged in research. I have found that the study of the roots and foundations of things greatly assists research, and facilitates discovery and invention. I thank you all for honouring me by your presence.