Pain: Pasion, Compassion, Sensibility

A Wellcome Trust exhibition at the Science Museum, London SW7; from 13 February until 20 June 2004; admission free

www.wellcome.ac.uk/pain; www.sciencemuseum.org.uk

Pain. Pleasure. Religion. Catharsis. This exhibition considers all these things, but, above all, pain. "This exhibition is about the cultural place of pain and how science and other ways of thinking have shaped our beliefs, our understanding, and our attempts to control it," explains the curator, Spanish philosopher Javier Moscoso.

Moscoso has teamed up with the Science Museum and the Wellcome Trust to look at pain from its widest perspective. He explores not only the history of pain (including its evolution from antiquity to modernity), but also its effect on individuals and society.

A 19th century Spanish amputation saw

"The physical, psychological, and social aspects of pain are universal," Moscoso explains. "Its bounds-which are those of language and of identity-are also the bounds of the world. Pain is not, however, unchanging; and its universality has not always put it at the centre of the human condition. Pain has multiple histories-of those who suffer, of those who contemplate and study it, as well as those who inflict and alleviate it."

A Chinese torture chair

On display are more than 170 disparate items, from traditional paintings to a collection of prostitutes' cards offering flagellation and other sadomasochistic services. Each exhibit seems carefully selected to emphasise a particular aspect of pain, as well as highlighting underlying themes-such as passion, compassion, sensibility, remedies-that subdivide the collection.

The influence of medicine on this exhibition is great. Medical historians will be delighted by the comprehensive collection of often unusual items on display, including early anaesthetic equipment, a bronze vaginal speculum that probably dates to the time of Pompeii (despite its age, the principles of operation look remarkably similar to modern equivalents), a 19th century French bullet extractor, and some trepanned skulls. Trepanation-the act of cutting, drilling, or scraping a hole into the skull-is apparently the oldest form of surgery known.

>German anaesthetic equipment dating from the first world war

Unsurprisingly, torture is well represented here. An 18th to 19th century wooden Chinese torture chair provides a particularly good example: its 12 steel blades for arm rests ensure the sense of pain sinks in to any viewer. The mental images of torture are cemented by pictures showing its use, with a wood engraving depicting "La torta del cavaletto" (the torture of the rack) being particularly memorable.

"The technologies have changed, the practice still continues," the caption chillingly tells us. Some of the most memorable exhibits are held in bright white booths that admit only one person at a time. Among these is an old black and white film, Unterschenkel amputation, which shows a distinguished grey-bearded man, Professor Dr E v Bergmann, gruesomely hacking off a leg. The film only plays as long as the viewer holds down a button next to the screen, presumably to accommodate the squeamish.

No exhibition about pain could be complete without the derision of dentistry. A variety of objects that have tortured teeth throughout the ages are on show, as well as accompanying pictures. A particularly striking coloured lithograph (dated 1823-8) shows a dentist, standing behind his contorted victim's face, straining his bulging muscles to remove the offending tooth.

>A scene from Bill Viola's video Anthem

This exhibition is a thought provoking combination of medical history, art, and ideas. If there is a fault, it is that there are almost too many exhibits, and some could easily have been left out. Plainly laid out displays of medication packages, dating from the last couple of decades, simply fail to add to the overall effect. Despite this slight shortcoming, Pain: Passion, Compassion, Sensibility will offer doctors, and all those with an interest in health, a fresh insight into this essential aspect of humanity.