Skinner's Improved mask for open chloroform anaesthesia, with flannel cover
ED.CS.2021.17
Skinner's improved Chloroform mask, once belonging to Dr Thomas Skinner (1825-1906). This mask was not thought to be an original by the family due to there being a makers mark, Reynolds Liverpool? It consists of a wire frame with handle which can be covered with a cover. A single wire forms an arc across the long the oval wire rim, which raises the flannel cover into a dome during anaethesia. The handle is movable, with a small clip, so that the whole device can be folded flat and carried in a pocket sleeve.
Dr Thomas Skinner born in Edinburgh in 1825, became assistant to James Young Simpson, after winning the Simpson's Gold Medal in Gynaecology and Obstetrics in 1855-6. A respected gynaecologist and obstetrician, he became Obstetric Physician to the Dispensaries, Liverpool, when he designed the 'Skinner's improved' mask for administering Chloroform in 1862. Later in his career he became focussed on homeopathy.
