Blog | Museum Wales

In Post

Chris Owen, 27 October 2010

I began my role here at Amgueddfa Cymru just over two weeks ago and it's been a busy start as I've set about meeting staff across all of our sites, as well as attending the National Waterfront Museum's fifth birthday celebrations. Everyone has been incredibly welcoming, and I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to lead such a highly regarded institution.

I've joined Amgueddfa Cymru at an exciting period. Developments are underway to create a National History Museum at St Fagans and the conversion of the first floor of National Museum Cardiff to become the National Museum of Art for Wales is due to be completed in July 2011. Over the coming months, I will give my full support to these projects as well as affirming Amgueddfa Cymru as a contemporary resource for Wales. The National Museums are here to serve the people of Wales and developing cultural partnerships is a way of delivering this vision successfully. This approach is of even greater importance in light of the country's current financial situation.

Last week, we launched the document Inspiring Wales

at the Senedd. Learning is at the heart of Amgueddfa Cymru and this paper is a celebration of this work and our vision to become a world-class museum of learning. The booklet shows how, as well as having an important role to play as guardians of the nation's collections, equally important is our work in interpreting and communicating the collections to the people of Wales and its visitors.

Amgueddfa Cymru is unique among national museums in the British Isles in its spread of sites and their close connection with the communities and regions of which they are a part. No national museum in London can come near it in this.

Its collections are also exceptionally diverse in their range of disciplines – from social history to art, from natural sciences to industrial history. This enables the museum to appeal to an exceptionally broad audience, with a good gender balance – again, unlike some museums in London!

The opportunity to work in one of the great Celtic museums has a particular appeal for me. Having been born in Belfast and studied Archaeology and Irish History in Scotland, I am glad now to have the chance to learn more about Welsh culture and history.

Publish date: 27 October 2010

Wales for Africa: crisis

Mari Gordon, 25 October 2010

We've convened a crisis meeting of the Forum's members in order to draw up a planned response to the Government's National Development Plan - the Plan with no chapter on housing. Members also looked at the Position Statement I'd drafted the week before, which we're placing in the Times of Zambia - a government paper, so we altered the tone a little bit!

I spent the rest of the week visiting members to carry out the baseline survey. The week was sort of topped and tailed by highlights. At the beginning we visited two women's co-operatives in rural areas, teaching women skills like brick-making and land rights issues. The week ended, however, with a visit I'll never forget. If I said I enjoyed it that would be inappropriate - nobody could enjoy seeing the appalling circumstances some people live in. We visited two compounds, one in Lusaka and one 200 miles north in Kitwe, to conduct focus groups with the residents' committees. In Lusaka, about 2,000 people live in the compound in homes that range from breezeblock constructions to shacks that are collapsing around them. They draw water from shared taps located around the compound. Everywhere is dirt and dust. Some people, usually women, set up their own business, ranging from a single table with a few vegetables to brick-built grocery shops - and loads of hairdressers. I was taken to see the school, which was spotless and being repainted as I was there. A gang of schoolchildren, in their navy blue uniforms, were chatting and giggling on their way from school, just like a crowd of Cardiff schoolkids. Everywhere I went I was followed by a growing crowd of small children. At first they mutter 'muzungu' (white person) but when I wave at them I get dazzling smiles and waves back. And then when I attempt to greet them - 'muli shani' - they burst into laughter.

The residents' committees in both Lusaka and Kitwe are simply inspirational. They're politicised, aware, committed; they spoke in dialect but I continuously heard the words 'advocacy', 'sensitised' and 'empower'. They have the will, the intelligence and the inner resources to achieve what's needed to lift these communities out of abject poverty, if only the infrastructure we take for granted was put in place for them.

Some good news, after our crisis meeting my colleague secured a meeting at the Ministry of Finance the next morning, and a committment to revisit the Housing Chapter to try, with the NGO's help, to make fit for reinstatement in the National Plan. It's a start.

Publish date: 25 October 2010

Tagged with: International Learning

Old cures: Amgueddfa Cymru's Historic Medicine Collection

Some examples from the <em>materia medica</em> collection, stored in glass jars.

Nearly all medical benefits and cures come from nature. Even one of the most deadliest human diseases, malaria, was first treated with the extract from the bark of a South American tree. Amgueddfa Cymru holds a remarkable collection of materials used in historic medical remedies.

In 2007, Amgueddfa Cymru were gifted a collection of 469 materia medica specimens from Professor T.D. Turner OBE of the Welsh School of Pharmacy, Cardiff University. It includes material of animal and plant origin, such as bark, roots, leaves and resins, which were the traditional sources of medicinal drugs. The collection will help visitors and students wishing to learn more about current and historic medicines.

Life or Death

The amount of active ingredients within each plant can vary, but would often make the difference between life and death. The active chemical constituents such as alkaloids, glycosides or tannins were released by, for example, macerating or chewing the material or making an extract or a tincture. Many of these constituents have since been identified and isolated and are now used in their pure form in modern pharmaceuticals.

Kola nuts, the original ingredient of the medicinal Coca Cola of 1886

Kola Nuts and Coca leaves

The Coca Cola we know today was originally derived from Mariani's Coca Wine and then John Pemberton's Coca Cola, originally intended as a patent medicine to act as a tonic and help calm the stomach. The constituents were sarsparilla, coca leaf and kola nuts. Kola nuts are a high source of caffeine and, although this has been substituted today, caffeine and sarsparilla are still important components of present day Coca Cola.

The Kola nut of Western Africa (Cola acuminata) was chewed or brewed into a stimulating tea. Coca leaf (Erythroxylum coca), the plant from which cocaine is derived, originated from the Andean highlands of South America, was also chewed to diminish sensations of hunger and fatigue, and to aid digestion. It is believed that the Aztecs gave their slaves coca leaf to help them move the huge stone masses for building their pyramids. Coca leaf is still used by Peruvians to help combat altitude sickness. Cocaine was extracted and used as the first local anaesthetic primarily for eye and dental surgery.

<em>Cinchona</em> bark from Tropical South America, containing anti-malarial quinine.

Tree bark to treat malaria

Some barks have been used for medicinal purposes. In Britain, the best known is probably willow bark (Salix alba), from which aspirin is derived. Even the leaves of the willow have helped with pain relief — Hippocrates recommended their use in 5BC.

The bark of the Cinchona tree has equally important characteristics. Cinchona also known as Jesuit Bark is a genus of about 25 species native to tropical South America. The bark contains a source of a variety of alkaloids, the most familiar being the anti-malarial and anti-fever compound, quinine. These compounds interfere with the protozoan parasites of the genus Plasmoidium, which cause malaria.

Potable, bottled water in colonial India was carbonated and spiked with quinine to both improve the flavour and prevent the onset of malaria, and hence became Indian Tonic Water.

The Ordeal or Calabar Bean, from Calabar in south-east Nigeria.

The Ordeal Bean: Die if guilty, survive if innocent

The name Calabar Bean (Physostigma venosum) is derived from the locality of Calabar in south-east Nigeria, where it was used in 'trial by ordeal', notably in cases of witchcraft — hence its alternative name, the Ordeal Bean. The bean would be ground up and placed in a drink given to the accused. It was assumed that a guilty person would nervously sip the concoction, causing certain death. An innocent person, in contrast, would knock back the whole drink with bravado, which would generally be too much for the stomach, which would expel the poison quickly. Consequently, death was taken as a sign of guilt, but surviving was a sign of innocence.

Its medical significance was discovered in 1855 and it is now the basis of the highly important drug physostigmine, used to treat reduced bladder control, glaucoma and delayed gastric emptying.

Blistering beetles

These beetles are known as Cantharides or Blistering beetles (Lytta vesicatoria). Crushing the insect body releases the chemical cantharidin, which is aggressively stimulating to mammalian skin and internal organs. It was found to be a successful aphrodisiac by causing irritation or stimulation to the urinary tract. It has even been successfully used on cattle to encourage mating.

Nutmeg

If a plant has a shape or form that in any way resembles part of the human body, then that plant was once believed to heal that part. The humble nutmeg (Myristica fragrans), because it superficially looks like a human brain, has been associated with powers surrounding the brain and mind. This has been accepted through folklore as nutmeg also has psychoactive components. Nutmeg contains the alkaloid myristicin which, is narcotic and toxic, and large doses can cause hallucinations, nausea, vomiting and circulatory collapse; very large doses can be fatal.

Nutmeg is a fruit endemic to Banda, the largest of the Molucca Spice Islands of Indonesia. The seed was highly sought, for its medicinal properties (it was thought to ward off the plague) and as a symbol of wealth and opulence; a person with a handful of nutmegs in their possession in the late 1600s would have been financially secure for life. The bloody wars that ensued to control the nutmeg plantations resulted in the death of 6,000 Bandanese people.

Between the 17th and mid-20th centuries, the Dutch had full control of the Spice Islands. They sometimes kept the price of this spice artificially high by setting fire to their own warehouses full of nutmegs. The British fought bitterly to gain control of Run, one of the smaller Spice Islands, which resulted in the Dutch giving Britain Manhattan Island in exchange for Run.

Nutmeg has been considered to be a useful medicinal herb in a number of Asian societies. It has been used to treat digestive problems and as an aphrodisiac; it has been claimed to combat asthma and heart complaints, and is still used as a sedative and as flavouring agent.

Star Anise

There are two types of Star Anise: one is the commonly used Chinese spice (Illicium verum) and the other is the Japanese Star Anise (Illicium anisatum). When dried they are very difficult to tell apart, but one is harmless and the other toxic. The only way to separate the two conclusively is to conduct chemical analysis or to examine the shape of their calcium oxalate crystals. The trees also look similar, so, understandably in the past these spices have been combined and sold as foodstuffs.

Japanese star anise contains several active components that cause severe inflammation of the kidneys, urinary tract and digestive organs. Consumers have been hospitalised with neurological symptoms after ingesting excessive doses of Japanese star anise or smaller doses of products adulterated with the fruit. Cases of illness, including serious neurological effects such as seizures, have also been reported after using star anise tea, and this may be a result of mixing up the Japanese and Chinese species.

Medicinally Japanese Star Anise is used as a carminative, to relieve toothache and to stimulate the kidneys and promote urination. The leaves and seeds are also anti-bacterial.

Castor sac of the mature North American Beaver <em>Castor Canadensis</em>.

Beaver Castor sac

This unusual item is a singular castor sac of the mature North American Beaver Castor Canadensis. It is also known as Castor Fibre and is similar to the anal gland in dogs.

The castor sac secretes a yellowish substance called castoreum, which the beaver uses in combination with its urine to scent-mark its territory. Both male and female beavers possess a pair of castor sacs located in two cavities under the skin between the pelvis and the base of the tail.

Historically, castoreum has been used in the treatment of hysteria and menstrual cramps, and was used successfully for cardiac disease. Today, it is used in beaver trapping, as a tincture in some perfumes and is even touted as an aphrodisiac. Castoreum is also used in small amounts to contribute to the flavour and odour of cigarettes.

Hopefully Amgueddfa Cymru's materia medica collection will be expanded in the future. The collection is open to the public, but currently only by appointment so please contact (029) 2057 3224 or (029) 2057 3119 prior to your visit.

Publish date: 22 October 2010

Tagged with: After the Middle Ages Collectors & Collections Keeping and caring for collections Plants & Animals Taxonomy & Systematics

Opening up the Collections

Peter Howlett, 20 October 2010

Final Natural History Open day – Wednesday 27^th October 2010

Members of the public will be given an intimate insight into the museum’s natural history collections next week. As part of the International Year of Biodiversity, the departments of Biodiversity and Systematic Biology along with Geology have been holding open days throughout the year to showcase the work that they do.

Museum experts in a wide range of fields, from bugs to beetles, dandelions to diatoms can all be found in the main hall along with a crazy array of critters from the national collections. Visitors can also sign up for a wide variety of behind the scenes tours where they will be able to find out more about the incredible collections that the museum holds and the research that we do.

I will be running tours of the large shell collection, showcasing some of the 2 million shell specimens that we hold as well as explaining some of the work that is carried out by our researchers. Other tours will take you round the Welsh National Herbarium, the amazing vertebrate collections with their primate skeletons and stuffed animals, the insect collections with butterfly specimens over a hundred years old, and the vast array of pickled animals in jars in our marine lab.

This is to be the final open day for this year, so don’t miss your chance! Come and meet the experts and take the opportunity for a unique trip behind the scenes. Book your tour place on the day - numbers are limited to 10-12 people on each tour. Tours are suitable for ages 8 and over, but unfortunately are unsuitable for people with limited mobility because of the stairs involved.

Jennifer Gallichan

Publish date: 20 October 2010

Tagged with: Exhibitions and Events International Year of Biodiversity

Fish! Conserving fluid preserved specimens for display

Peter Howlett, 20 October 2010

For October and November 2010 we have opened a small exhibition in our main hall celebrating the diversity of fish found around the UK. These fish are all from our collections, with the oldest specimens going back to 1904.

To get these specimens usable for display we have had to do some conservation work. This has been as simple as cleaning the glass jar or Perspex display tank, to working on the specimen itself and changing the preservation fluid. How the fish has been preserved can affect its overall appearance and condition, but unfortunately whatever method we use the colour will be lost.

Many of the fish have been preserved in an alcohol solution, usually ethanol, which does result in shrinkage and the fish becoming very stiff. The preserving fluid can also become a very dark amber colour. This is due to materials such as lipids in the fish tissue being extracted out by the alcohol solution. However we know ethanol based preserving solutions work as the practice has been going on since the 1600’s! In more recent years we have found that it can also preserve DNA that is usable in modern molecular studies.

Another common preservative is formaldehyde, commonly called formalin. A diluted solution, usually of around 4% formaldehyde, has been used for over a century now. Formaldehyde causes chemical cross linking reactions in the biological tissues and this is termed ‘fixation’. Unfortunately formaldehyde does have problems, being pungent and potentially toxic to work with.

Some of the fish have also been preserved in a fluid called ‘Steedmans’. This is a mixture of propylene glycol (often used in anti freeze), a phenol (an aromatic organic chemical) and formaldehyde. This can preserve fish shape very well but there are concerns over its long term preservation properties.

For the main hall display all the preserving fluids were checked. All the specimens in formaldehyde and ‘Steedmans’ were moved to a safer alternative. This uses a chemical called DMDM Hydantoin which replaces the use of formaldehyde in everyday products such as shampoos and cosmetics and is much safer to work with.

Some of the specimens themselves needed some cleaning and tidying up. After years in a jar many had a build up of old proteins and fats on their surface. Other specimens had corrosion products on them from old metal tags that had been used for labels. Many of the specimens were also moved to more suitable glass jars.

The end result is an intriguing display highlighting specimens with fishy stories from the museums collections. The aim has been to make the specimens as accessible as possible so that visitors can get a close look at the preserved fish. The exhibition also represents the ongoing work that is required to care for the museums natural history collections for both now and the future.

Julian Carter