Museum of the History of Science

Within the fog of jetlag shrouding the first few days of our arrival, we visited a number of attractions, among them the Museum of the History of Science Museum of ... There were others and we have been busy, but these days and events all bleed hazily into one another, and only just now, on day ... whatever it is (4? 5?) is sense beginning to establish itself. Free will appears to be returning. Until now it's seemed as though we have just blundered blindly from place to place, sleeping early, rising earlier, getting as much sunshine as possible. This all seems to be fading. The History of Science Museum has a number of noteworthy objects, including Einstein's calculations on a blackboard.

As you ascend the stairs from the entrance, a wonderful illustration of the moon looms over you.

There are a large number of Astrolabes, described as the original smart phone, (and more of which later). We thought also possibly an influence on Philip Pullman's Altheometers?

 I also thought Astrolabe was bound to have been the name for a 90s British electronica artist of the Orb/Aphex Twin ilk, but it appears not. Astrolabe Recordings however is the name of a record label, with artists such as Solarsoul and Ten Sun making pretty good cosmic-hued 'downtempo electronica', sounding like this.

A collection of old medical equipment is displayed on the top floor, including fearsome stomach pumps, and this model of a human head and ear.

Among all this grand eye-catching stuff there is much that could be overlooked, including the collection of netsukes, "carved button-like ornaments, especially of ivory or wood, formerly worn in Japan to suspend articles from the sash of a kimono". Similar in size and function, on a much more everyday scale, to the Alfred Charm at the Ashmolean. The collection here of small figures also appeared to serve a health promotion function, advising of various hygiene practices, one example (image forthcoming) of a man inspecting a large goiter on his throat in a mirror.

We later wandered through the parks, E spotting a luminous growth of fungi to the underside of a tree. It seemed to belong with the other sights we'd seen that day, or in any case washed up fittingly alongside them all, in the mishmash of exhausted thought and memory.