Inside Britain’s national culture collections
Where to go if you need a dose of herpes
A sample of human coronavirus (catalogue number 2008101v) will set you back £282 ($347). Browse on through the catalogue and it offers you the chance to buy a dose of Herpes simplex virus and cowpox for the same price or a sample of salmonella for £164. Ordering anthrax bacteria, perhaps understandably, is more expensive: £321. As Stephen Baker, a professor of microbiology at Cambridge, puts it, it is like reading “an Argos catalogue for micro-organisms”. Albeit one whose menu offers the option not to “Shop garden furniture” but to “Browse bacterial strains” or click on the “Chlamydia Biobank”.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Cultural history”
Britain June 25th 2022
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