Object Category: Equipment and Technology

 

Object Type: Patient Care Equipment

 

Object Name: Eye irrigation undine

 

Service Category: Ambulance

 

Accession: SHENE.2022.239.3

 

Visual Description: Glass teardrop-shaped flask with narrow spout.

 

Abstract: Used to wash the eye with a gentle stream of liquid. Undines for eye irrigation were widely used until the mid-20th Century when they were replaced by devices that were less easily breakable. The term ‘undine’ derives from a mythological water spirit, and is thought to be inspired by the teardrop shape.

 

Service context: First Aid

​

Modern First Aid in England was pioneered in the late 19th Century by the St John Ambulance Association (est. 1877). Standardised courses were developed mainly for the use of public volunteers. There were no organised ambulance services to transport the injured to hospital at that time, any services being aimed only at removing infectious patients to isolation hospitals. From the 1880s to the 1900s the First Aid movement played a significant role in expanding ambulance provision to the injured by seeking to integrate it into the already established police and fire brigade network. First Aid equipment and appliances began to be housed in police and fire stations, while police officers and firefighters were encouraged to train in First Aid with St John Ambulance. Many police forces, which already administered fire brigades, began to provide ambulance services in the early 1900s, an important step in ambulance service development. First Aid certification remained an important component in ambulance training until superseded by Paramedic training in the 1980s and 1990s.   

   

 

Object Date: Early 20th Century

 

Museum Collection: Core Collection

 

Object Collection: SFPM Collection

 

Source Category: Donation

 

Location: In store

 

Associated Objects: AG: SHENE.2022.239