Hua Tuo (c.110-208), Chinese Han Dynasty surgeon. Hua, who is seen here with two assistants, was a renowned surgeon. He invented an oral anaesthetic that safely knocked his patients unconscious, allowing him to operate to remove tumours and even to perform internal abdominal surgery. Similar anaesthetics would not be used in western medicine until the 19th century. This artwork is from a copy of Recherche sur les Superstitions en Chin (Research on Chinese Superstitions), by Henri Dore, Shanghai, 1911-1920, at the Bibliotheque nationale de France.