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Samuel J.M.M. Alberti and Elizabeth Hallam (eds), Medical Museums: Past, Present, Future (London: The Royal College of Surgeons of England, 2013), pp. vi, 250, £25.00, ISBN: 978-1-904096-21-4.

As its theme, this book focuses on the past, present and future of medical museums. It centres on medicine and medical care, and consists of easy-to-follow descriptions and high-resolution images. These images include not only historically valuable information on museum backyards but also, at first glance, many shocking specimens of human anatomy as well as pathological specimens including anatomical artefacts. First, the viewer is made to realise that collecting, owning, analysing and managing such specimens and artefacts is related to the history of medicine and museums. If one thinks of these aspects aligned with Michel Foucault's thought, then this is the origin of the 'bio-power (Foucault's term for the regulation by modern states of their subjects)' of human society, the epitome of medicine and museums. These symbolic images can also be immediately perceived from both the book's front and back cover. For example, a large cyst that had been surgically removed from the abdomen was retained by John Hunter in the eighteenth century for the purpose of illustrating its internal anatomical structure; the back cover shows the sample specimen immersed in liquid. Also, the inside cover shows some scintillating photographs of artificial eyes that were finely handcrafted by glass blower Mollie Surman in the mid-twentieth century. Upon examining the beautiful, lustrous substance, one cannot help but have the strange feeling that they resemble some kind of jewellery. All these items are collections at the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons in England. The British surgeon John Hunter is referred to as the father of experimental medicine, as well as the founder of modern surgery. John Hunter contributed substantially to the development of modern surgery together with his brother. He is also known for having collected and created as many as 15 000 specimens from around the world during his lifetime. His obsession and persistent collecting, also on occasion perceived as sheer madness, laid the foundation for the specimen collection carried out by the Hunterian Museum. This is when one cannot help but think of the term 'bio-power' as mentioned by Foucault. This is because it appears that Hunter, at times, obtained specimens such as flora and fauna, sometimes with strange characteristics and unusual diseases, by illegal means, and stored them in formalin. Such behaviour by Hunter, in the name of medicine, cannot be judged impartially from the standards of research ethics, but in a sense, it rather reminds …