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The invalid feeding cups were used by
hospitals and home caregivers primarily to feed those who were unable to eat on
their own. The label on the original box of this earthenware feeding cup, the
company that manufactured is AYRTON, SAUNDERS & CO.LTD. It is highly
probable that this cup was produced between the late 19th and early 20th
centuries.
There is no doubt that the advent of feeding cups represents a scientific approach to the nursing of the invalid. In the act of feeding, the participants are patients and caregivers. Feeding is a practical expression of nursing care for the patient. This feeding cup is a good example of care in nursing.
Deposit illustration in the cup
Source: Author’s own
The feeding cup was the main object in use and the obvious stains and deposit lines inside the cup indicates that it would have been used and with some frequency. It is recommended that the sediment be sampled and tested for its composition, which may reveal what food has been served in this cup.
The paper paperboard packaging around the
feeding cup has done its job well over the years in protecting. The label is
adhered tightly to the box and the printing on it is not visibly faded. The
well presence of this package box gives this feeding cup complete production
information. A mechanical die cutting machine was invented in 1879, and blanks
could be creased automatically. This period is very close to the year in which
the feeding cups were made. This is also an indication that this box is a
relatively early method of paperboard box manufacture.
Paperboard packaging
lid
Source: Author’s own
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Paperboard packaging box
Source: Author’s own
This collection was collected at the Royal
Free Hospital, part of a group of 141 objects collected by previous Pathology
Museum curator Paul Bates, formerly a technician at the Royal Free Hospital.
The cup was transferred to the University College London (UCL) general science
handling collection in 2016 or 2017.
References
Cornish, H., 2022. Questions about the
collections. [email].
Julien, P. 1995. A Masonic invalid feeding
cup. Revue d’histoire de la pharmacie. 42 (304), 29–30.
Le Mare, D., n.d. AYRTON, SAUNDERS &
CO., LTD. Wholesale and Manufacturing Chemists Documents. [Photocopy] Museum of
Liverpool The Archives Centre, Liverpool City.
Malet, L. 1901. The History of Sir Richard
Calmady: A Romance. Project Gutenberg.
The Paperboard Packaging Alliance In
association with the American Forest and Paper Association and the Paperboard
Packaging Council, 2008. The History of Paperboard Packaging. The Paperboard
Packaging Alliance.
Tobacco Pipe belonging to the Suhin (Sukin is believed to be a misspelling) of the Paraguayan Chaco.
Overall, the pipe appears to be fairly unique in nature. Similar
examples could not be found either in the literature, or in museum collections
(both the British Museum and Smithsonian were consulted). Interestingly, whilst
the minimalistic nature of the pipe may have reduced its material value in the
past, it is this that adds the greatest current significance to this artefact. Furthermore,
this pipe is unusual in the evidence of use that can be seen across the surface
(see below). This was not seen in any of the other examples that were able to
be examined, adding further value to the pipe.
Finally, the pipe’s position as part of the UCL teaching
collection (believed to have been part of a donation from W. Gibbons along with a number of other artefacts) further adds to its intangible value – not only is it significant in
terms of its own biography, but also in what it can teach students.
Due to the limited nature of the literature, as well as the
present significance attributed to the pipe, this artefact appears to be of
great significance, despite its apparently modest appearance at first glance.
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| Figure 1: Full view of J.26 object, photograph taken by the author, 2022. |
Current and future use of object
Today, this object forms a part of UCL's vast collection, and it is primarily used for teaching and handling (fig. 2). The object has become-- and will continue to be-- a site of academic research and discovery as well as an item that university staff, faculty and students may examine and touch in person.
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| Figure 2: View of the object in its mount, conveying the educational value of handling it, photograph taken by the author, 2022. |
Nonetheless, this type of interest has not always defined the object's function. In the Wellcome Collection, the object participated in a knowledge-system of medicinal history that characterised it as inferior compared to its Western counterparts, which were understood as scientific (Hill, 2006, p358).
Addition of cowries
The object includes ten cowrie shells, attached to it through various twine (fig. 3). Although beautiful in appearance, the object's African origin and nineteenth-century date of creation allude to an insidious past associated with the Atlantic slave trade (Hogendorn and Johnson, 1982, p153).
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| Figure 3: Detail of four cowries at the top, label-side end of this object, photograph taken by the author, 2022. |
The Door Segment once functioned as the lock rail of the door leading to Professor William Bayliss’ office in the Department of Physiology at University College London (UCL). Dr. Bayliss was an esteemed professor and famed physiologist who discovered secretin, which was a critical breakthrough in the history of endocrinology (Miles 1924, 448). He also found a treatment for shock which saved countless lives during the first World War (BMJ 1924, 489). It therefore should not be unexpected to acknowledge that the significance of the Door Segment relates to the man who worked behind it. That said, the historical and sociopolitical context of the segment is multifaceted. Dr. Bayliss’ use of vivisection in his experiments and lectures lead to the Brown Dog Affair, which instigated months of rioting in London over the ethical dilemma that was legal vivisection (Baron 1956, 547). The segment then symbolizes this discourse between scientific progress and moral philosophy.
Figure 2: Photograph of Door Segment Front (Exterior)
Figure 3: Photograph of Door Segment Back (Interior)
The physical object itself also holds value; it is not only incredibly unique, but also aesthetically pleasing. While it was once a component of a door, it is now a successful object of cultural heritage in and of itself. The vivid colours, asymmetrical composition, and painterly text combine to create a charismatic and satisfying object. A fragment of door is an unusual choice of object to act as a monument to a famous scientist; thus, its rarity enhances the significance of the segment.
Figure 4: Drawing of Potential Door Reconstruction
It can be difficult to understand an object that maintains such contrasting meanings simultaneously, i.e., the segment’s relation to both scientific advancement and vivisection. However, these opposing ideas existed contemporaneously and therefore are not mutually exclusive (Muñoz Viñas 2011, 175). It is then the duty of the conservator to understand the tangible significance of this rare object, as well as the intangible personal, historical, and cultural values. The Door Segment's significance is intertwined in its relationship to Dr. Bayliss and his scientific discoveries, as well as the sociopolitical movement that he initiated.
Baron, J. H. 1956. “The Brown Dog of University College”. The British Medical Journal. Vol. 2, No. 4991. Pp. 547-548. Online. Accessed 10 February 2022. http://www.jstor.org/stable/
Miles, W. R. 1924. “William Maddock Bayliss – Physiologist”. Science, New Series. Vol. 60. No. 1559. American Association for the Advancement of Science. Online. Accessed 10 February 2022. https://www.jstor.org/stable/
Muñoz Viñas. 2005. Contemporary Theory of Conservation. London: Butterworth Heinemann. Pp. 171-182. Print.
The British Medical Journal. 1924. “Sir William Bayliss, F.R.S., Professor of General Physiology, University College, London”. The British Medical Journal. Vol. 2, No. 3324. London: BMJ. Pp. 489-490. Online Accessed 10 February 2022. https://www.jstor.org/stable/
Object M.0099 is a medicinal amulet (Figure 1).
Figure 1 Object M.0099 is a medicinal amulet, thought to have been collected in the 1930s from the Ibini Ukpabi by a British colonial official. It was later donated to the University College London (UCL) Ethnographic Collection (Source: author’s own).
It was reportedly collected by a British colonial official during the 1930s from the Ibini Ukpabi (Figures 2, 3) - once the most significant shrine of the Aros (an Igbo subgroup) and now a tentative UNESCO world heritage site. It was later given to the UCL Ethnographic Collection.
Figure 2 Map of Africa showing modern-day Nigeria and Abia State. Abia State is where the Ibini Ukpabi is located, which is where this object was collected from. (Source: author's own, made using Mapchart)
Figure 3 The mouth into the Ibini Ukpabu shrine, also known as the historic Long Juju of Arochukwu. The complex is made up of an altar, a gully, and a waterfall. The Ibini Ukpabi was akin to a supreme court, and was consulted to settle disputes of murder, witchcraft, and other serious crimes in the community. Today it is a tentative UNESCO World Heritage Site (Source: Ogbonnaya, 2021).
Shrines, amulets, and medicine are tools in culture-specific healing traditions that seek to cure illness, bring fortune, or protect against harm. Amulets evidently piqued the interest of the British ethnographers, anthropologists, and colonial officials who collected them (both for governance and scientific purposes (Basu 2015)) as there are many in museums today. Is the fact that amulets were collected so extensively (or sometimes confiscated (Phillips and White 2010)) because they so much represented Otherness to British collectors? Although M.0099 has a less explicitly violent or contested story than some objects acquired during colonial times, it (and collectively thousands of others like it) is nevertheless part of a story of imbalanced colonial power dynamics.
This amulet lacks the embellishment commonly seen on other amulets (Figures 4 & 5). The manufacture is unusually basic (Figure 6). Perhaps this an unusually simple example, or maybe collectors simply preferred the more aesthetically pleasing amulets.
Left: Figure 4 Amulet of the god Eshu, made 1880 - 1900 in Nigeria by the Yoruba people, now held in the Science Museum. (Source: the Science Museum, n/d).
Right: Figure 5 An Ikenga from Nigeria, reported to bring financial prosperity and protection from evil forces, made by the Igbo people and acceded into the Pitt Rivers Museum collection in 1916. (Source: Phillips and White 2010).
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The significance of the materials of this unassuming object should not be totally discounted, however. Substances used in traditional healing often have broader associations than their immediate medicinal properties. Copper has been historically used on ceremonial objects (Herbert 1984), while anthill perhaps has significance for its rich mineral properties (van Huis 2017).
There are still critical gaps to understanding this object: it remains unknown what this object was ever intended to do, or whether it still has potency. Consulting with Aro stakeholders would no-doubt help us understand more and mitigate some of this dissociation.
References:
Basu, P. 2015. N.W. Thomas and colonial anthropology in British West Africa: reappraising a cautionary tale. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 22, 84-107.
Herbert, E. W. (1984). Red Gold of Africa. Copper in Precolonial History and Culture. United States of America, University of Wisconsin Press, Ltd.
Ogbonnaya, O. 2021. Encounter with Ibini Ukpabi – A Tourist Diary. Aronewsonline. [Online]. https://www.aronewsonline.com/encounter-with-ibini-ukpabi-a-tourist-diary/?p=5029. [Accessed 23 March 2022].
Phillips, L. & White, K. 2010. Amulets and Charms. Discover…. 2nd ed.: Pitt Rivers Museum.
Science Museum. n/d. Amulet of the god Eshu [Online]. The Science Museum. Available: https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co104493/amulet-of-the-god-eshu-amulets [Accessed 23 March 2022].
Van Huis, A. 2017. Cultural significance of termites in sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 13, 8.
Wellcome Collection. n/d. Amulet necklace, West Africa, 1880-1920 [Online]. The Wellcome Collection. Available: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/wng7gzmt [Accessed 23 March 2022 2022].
This object is identified as an earthenware feeding cup based on its original, relatively well-preserved box and label.
