It was sunny but brisk (41 degrees) when we left the flat this morning. After topping up our SIM cards and stopping for coffee, Gord and I parted ways, he to his class and I to the Royal College of Surgeons, the Hunterian Museum to be specific. This museum was on my list in 2007, but that list had to be pared down and I never got there. What a fantastic place, and a complement to the Old Operating Theatre I visited last week.

On my way I walked through Lincoln's Inn Fields, the largest public square in London, and fortuitously passed the statue there of John Hunter for whom the museum I was about to visit was named.

John Hunter (1728-1793) was a Scottish surgeon, teacher, and collector who is widely considered the father of scientific surgery. As a boy, he had an insatiable curiosity about all living things, if not a love for school (which he left at age 13). He worked as a cabinet maker until, at age 20, he visited his brother William in London. He started assisting his brother with dissections at his anatomy school, and the rest is history.

I chose the audio tour that highlighted much of the collection. It started with the impressive Evelyn Tables from the mid-17th century (1646), a set of four dissected human veins, arteries, and nerves glued to wooden boards. These are considered to be the oldest anatomical preparations in Europe.

Hunter collected and preserved about 14,000 specimens of more than 500 species of plants and animals. Many of them were on display in the museum. Talk about a cabinet of curiosities. One could spend hours looking at them if one had the time. I suppose one could also be horrified by some of the specimens, especially of the human variety. There were fetuses in various stages of gestation, for example, and different organs of the reproductive system. Most were just fascinating, bones, teeth and jaws, tumors, kidneys, and on and on. Hunter also purchased the remains of Charles Byrne, the Irish giant, and boiled off all but his bones so that he could examine his skeleton. The skeleton is on display in the museum, despite some controversy. Byrne had wanted to be put in a lead coffin and buried at sea (and specifically not be put on display), but Hunter had his body intercepted. A lot of people think the museum should honor his wishes.

I learned about Joseph Towne, a 19th century sculptor who made amazing wax anatomical models, a couple of which were on display. This is a lost art form about which I knew nothing. There was a large section devoted to Joseph Lister, the pioneering surgeon who was the first in England to use anesthesia (a couple of months after the American dentist William Morton first used it in 1846). I can't believe that they previously could amputate a limb without any pain killers, by the way. The museum had some of Lister's knives on display. Lister was also known for making surgery safer by using carbolic acid to sterilize instruments and to clean wounds.

A number of paintings owned by Hunter were also in the museum, some by George Stubbs.

No photos were allowed, out of respect for the specimens (not that they would care anymore, but apparently it is standard practice--although I could not specifically find it in the Human Tissue Act). Fortunately I had a couple of specimens from my visit to Patisserie Valerie this morning.

On the same floor of the museum was the Library. I stopped in to have a quick look and they also don't allow photos. I'm not sure why.

I went to the Donmar Theatre box office behind King's Cross Station to see if I was on the waiting list for Julius Caesar tickets. There was no list, but there were tickets available next week and I snapped them up. I also noticed a flyer for Lazarus, the musical by David Bowie and Enda Walsh, starring Michael C. Hall. I bought tickets to that as well--a no-brainer.

From the box office, the way home was different than my usual route. Because of this I discovered that on Wednesdays there are food stalls set up, and they looked and smelled delicious. Proper Curry and Chips was what I chose to bring home. I mean how can you go wrong with triple fried chips (fries) covered in curry? Sorry, poutine, you have serious competition, and I was never a huge fan.