Featured Object

Vaporiser

Hospitals across Europe were overwhelmed during the Spanish Flu pandemic. Doctors and nurses worked to breaking point, but there was no effective treatment for the flu and no antibiotics to treat pneumonia.

Vaporisers like this one were designed to treat diseases of the throat and respiratory system. Vapo-Cresolene, the manufacturers of this lamp, claimed it could cure or considerably help symptoms of influenza, whooping cough and asthma.

​From the British Red Cross Museum and Archives