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Mütterly Fascinating By Sali
The elegant, historical building of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia houses the Mütter Museum. This is a collection of medical curiosities and scientific and thoughtprovoking exhibits relating to the human body, attitudes, and culture. It also has one of the country’s oldest medical libraries. Philadelphia is the birthplace of American Medicine. The museum was founded by Thomas Dent Mütter in 1858 when he donated a collection of anomalies, anatomic and pathological specimens and bizarre medical instruments. As a sickly orphan, he developed an interest in medicine. At 17, he enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. After graduating from Penn, Mütter followed the path of many American doctors of the time and continued his education among the surgeons of Paris. In early 19th century Philadelphia, you didn’t need a medical degree or a license to practice medicine. Mütter was smart and ambitious and had a natural gift for teaching and practicing medicine. He returned to America and
built a large private practice and revolutionized American surgery. There are so many highlights and fascinating things to see. A woman they call the Soap Lady was exhumed in downtown Philadelphia in 1875 near Fourth and Race streets, when city improvements near a cemetery required some graves be exhumed. The mummy formed when water seeped into their casket and turned the body fat into adiopocere, a waxy soap-like substance. It’s the only display they loan out. There is a Soap Man who was exhumed at the same time and is in the Smithsonian. However he is no longer on display due to his fragile conditions, which require climatically controlled storage. Other highlights of the museum include Viennese physician Joseph Hyrtl’s(1810-1894) collection of 139 skulls. Each skull is mounted on a stand and many skulls are inscribed with comments about the person’s age, place of origin and cause of death. He wanted to disprove the claims of phrenologists, who held that cranial features were evidence of
intelligence and personality and that racial differences caused anatomical differences. The 139 skulls aren’t very talkative, so you would have to go and see for yourself who was right. The Mütter is one of two places in the world where you can see pieces of Albert Einstein’s brain tissue. It’s also the place to see the tools invented by Dr. Chevalier Jackson (1865-
1958) and the 2374 gross thing he extracted from a patient’s airway. If you’re reading this during lunch, imagine what it would be like to have a nine-foot long forty pound colon. Yep, they have one on display. There are also shrunken heads and the recipe on how to make and preserve them. Fascinating or gross, you decide but keep eating. Entire bodies and skeletons, body parts and models of disease and deformity, whether natural or shaped by human hands (and perceptions of beauty), such as the skeletal foot that had undergone binding and a rib cage post-corseting. There are jars of human skin and a book bound in human skin. The book was written in the 1700s and talks about how a
woman become pregnant and the stages of pregnancy. In the 1800s, a physician took skin from a woman’s thigh, boiled it and used it to bind the pages to create the book. If you can still hold down your lunch, there was an exhibit of art and textiles made with human hair. The Civil War exhibit provides a grim reminder of the consequences of conflict, fighting and violence. There is an interactive element that brings the visitor back in time and onto the battlefield. The Civil War was not so civil when you see the large number of amputations and the methods of field surgery. Although it might make one queasy, all can appreciate that bodies are subject to illness, questionable judgement, the elements and time. The exhibits are unique and memorable. Give yourself enough time to soak in all that is on display. Philadelphia can be a trek for some readers but a worthwhile destination. It’s a friendly, well preserved historical city with a great public transportation system. Enjoy a birch beer with your cheesesteaks and pierogis. And until February 3rd, the Eagles are still the Super Bowl champs. Thank you Gillian and Elizabeth from the media and marketing department for being our guides and sharing your insight. We will return. Follow the events at: muttermuseum.org.
