Clouds of Unknowing

This is the Coat of Arms of the College of Anaesthetists in Dublin granted to the College in 1999 (f ig 1). In central position, representing anaesthesia is a shield containing poppy heads. The cloud above represen t s the downwards drift to unconsciousness with the healing hand of the physician in attendance. The cloud might have another interpretation for there can hardly be a treatment in medicine which is so widely applied and yet so little understood. The supporters are unusual in heraldry taking the form of dolphins and these provide a link to one of the founders of this Society, James MacDonnell (fig 2a) whose family coat of arms also bears this heraldic symbol (fig 2b).