Cervical dilator
Object No. 94/91/1
Cervical dilator, sea-tangle tent, seaweed / glass / sterile solution / possibly cotton, maker unknown, Germany, probably 1930-1945
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Summary
Physical Description
Cervical dilator, sea-tangle tent, seaweed / [cotton] wadding / glass / sterile solution, maker unknown, Germany, [1930-1945] Glass phial, containing brown laminaria stick with string attached. At one end of phial is white (cotton?) wadding presumably for packing. At the other end is sterile solution (unidentified) seperated from the laminaria stick by white wadding. A small amount of solution is in the section containing the stick. Green writing printed on the phial is in German and reads 'LAMINARIA KOHL/ 8 cm lang/ ....kommen stern/ B.BRAUN. MELSUNGEN'. Translates to 'laminaria stick/ 8cm long/ .... star/ B.Braun in Melsungen (name of city/locality)'
DIMENSIONS
Height
155 mm
Width
13 mm
Depth
13 mm
PRODUCTION
Notes
Had been in possession of the donor since the mid to late 1940's
HISTORY
Notes
Devised in the mid 19th century, Laminaria tents were used until the 1930s to dilate the cervix and induce labour or produce an abortion. They are made from pieces of the stem of the sea weed (sea-tangle) Laminaria from Scotland. Dried out, the lengths of stem remain strong and elastic, but they shrink enormously. Inserted into a body cavity, they absorb moisture and swell to their original size The donor states that she found a large number of these phials when she was working as a nurse in the women's ward of a large municipal hospital in Berlin "in the early post war years".
SOURCE
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs Rose Scheimann, 1994
Acquisition Date
12 April 1994
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