Saturday 19 May 2012
Saturday 6 August 2011
Tuesday 2 August 2011
Museums everywhere
Medical Museums
College; 1957; Head of the Department of Anthropology. Important gallery: Art gallery, biological model gallery, material culture gallery, tools gallery. Biological and anthropological objects, tribal and traditional material, cultural objects, prehistoric and archaeological objects, maps, charts, models, etc. Library. Guide service; film shows: Saturday second 12noon; lectures; School program Saturday (third) 12noon Photography allowed.
History of medicine can surely no longer be dismissed as an antiquarian pursuit suitable for retired medics, involving the reiteration of Whiggish tales of professional triumph and the production of internalist institutional histories, or else the retrospective diagnosis of what ailments famous names of the past 'really' suffered from.
It has become theoretically and analytically sophisticated with a field of activity which extends well beyond the stories of a narrowly-defined medical profession, the 'great men of medicine' performing the Wonderful Onward March of Medical Progress.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Facebook could teach us some lessons ?
Art and communicating medicine
At a conference Contemporary medical science and technology as a challenge to museums in Copenhagen one of the very hot topics was art.
What contributions can art make to exhibitions of contemporary medicine?
We should move away from displaying the frozen end product of medical science, and show objects in use instead. Visitors don’t get their experiences from being awed by the wondrous possibilities of contemporary science, but from personal experiences with the objects.
MedArt can help us display the processes of medical science and allow people to engage with it.
At the same time it can blur the boundaries of traditional medical ways of thinking, and expose scientific discourse as normative.
When confronted with a MedArt wheelchair that helps you create your own melody when moving about in it, you are forced to ask yourself is being in wheelchair is really being disabled.
The challenge of exhibiting BioArt in medical museums- It requires high technology and maintenance, but on the other hand it provides us with an alternative way of looking at the mediated body of contemporary biomedicine. The interesting aspects of contextualizing this contemporary anatomical art with anatomical illustrations from historical artists.
The idea that by using the ‘primitive’ technique of drawing, we can give visitors a chance to get close to the museum objects and appropriate them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What About Us?
In the RINPAS they don’t even know which room their most celebrated patient, Kazi Nazrul Islam stayed! Of course having 400 acres and more to look after must be difficult.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------But I found a gem:
Old Photos and an article about the Indian Chloroform Commission.:
Hundred years ago in Great Britain, Sir Thomas Lauder Brunton was acclaimed as an authority on the action of drugs on the heart. His famous work, "Pharmacology and Therapeutics" (1867), was read and appreciated all over Europe and America. He stated that nitrite of amyl has a beneficial effect on the heart.
This statement paved the way for cardiac surgeons to devise the technique of closed mitral valvotomy. The results were encouraging and closed mitral valvotomy became the sheet anchor of treatment for a majority of the cases of mitral stenosis.
Lauder Brunton came to Hyderabad on 21 st October 1889 to participate in the deliberations of the 2 nd Hyderabad Chloroform Commission as an expert deputed by the editor of "The Lancet" to supervise the experiments regarding safety of chloroform as a general anaesthetic.
The Nizam (king) of Hyderabad, Mir Mehboob Ali Khan, sent £1,000/- to the editor of "The Lancet" to meet the travel expenses of Lauder Brunton.
A controversy was raging all over the world at that time regarding the safety of chloroform as a general anaesthetic. Hyderabad chloroform - Cap and technique of administering chloroform anaesthesia in Hyderabad became famous all over the world.
He observed the administration of chloroform anaesthesia in Afzalgunj Hospital (Osmania General Hospital) in Hyderabad by the students of Hyderabad Medical School (Osmania Medical College). He appreciated the technique advocated by the surgeon, Major Edward Lawrice, who was Chief Surgeon and Principal of the Hyderabad Medical School. Letters written by Lauder Brunton eulogizing the method of administration of chloroform here were published in the leading Medical Journal, "The Lancet", in 1890.
Experiments were conducted on dogs and monkeys to study the action of chloroform on the "Report on Hyderabad Chloroform Commission", was published in the year 1891.
Eminent members of the medical profession and nobles of Nizam's court lavishly entertained him. The photographs taken on these occasions are available in the National Institute of Indian Medical Heritage (formerly known as the Indian Institute of History of Medicine) in Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad.
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Museum n KOS
Plane tree grafted and kept alive for more than 2 ½ thousand years
Hippocrates, an ancient Greek physician, probably lived between 460 and 380 B.C.
While Hippocrates (Khios, Greece) is seated, D'Artaxerces is pouring money at his feet. Courtesy, National Library of Medicine.
The Hippocratic Museum is in the Greek island of Kos. Its exhibits display the history of the Hippocratic Foundation of Kos, which is dedicated to transmitting knowledge about Hippocrates, as well as founding hospitals and institutes. The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates is believed to have been born there. The displays include some literature about the Hippocratic medicine
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To make the antiquities pay their rent, in western ountries, the larger cities have medical museums which you can hire for parties even not only a conference. They have souvenir shops and cafes attached, and clever curators who make it so interesting that it becomes a must see. And they become economically viable as well. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Museum of Surgical Science
Hope and Help, a statue by Edouard Chaissing, at the entrance to the Museum of Surgical Science. Dr. Max Thorek founded the International College of Surgeons (ICS) in 1935, with the goals of promoting the exchange of surgical knowledge and fostering understanding and good will worldwide.
He had an equally noble goal in establishing the International Museum of Surgical Science - to enrich people's lives.
Beginning in 1950, through the efforts of Dr. Thorek, the Museum received donations of objects and artwork from many of the national sections of the ICS, individual surgeons and collectors, and other institutions.
Shipments of artifacts, paintings, sculptures, and books arrived, and the Museum began to take shape. To house the Museum, a historic lakeside mansion was acquired, adjacent to the ICS headquarters.
The Museum opened to the public on September 9, 1954. One of the first exhibits to be installed was the Hall of Immortals, containing twelve large stone statues of great figures in the field of medicine and the allied sciences.
In further reverence to great scientists, surgeons and discoveries of the past, a Hall of Murals was created with a series of large paintings depicting the development of surgical science
Beginning in 1950, through the efforts of Dr. Thorek, the Museum received donations of objects and artwork from many of the national sections of the ICS, individual surgeons and collectors, and other institutions. Shipments of artifacts, paintings, sculptures, and books arrived, and the Museum began to take shape. To house the Museum, a historic lakeside mansion was acquired, adjacent to the ICS headquarters.
The Museum opened to the public on September 9, 1954. One of the first exhibits to be installed was the Hall of Immortals, containing twelve large stone statues of great figures in the field of medicine and the allied sciences. In further reverence to great scientists, surgeons and discoveries of the past, a Hall of Murals was created with a series of large paintings depicting the development of surgical science through the ages.
In 1959, the Museum marked the dedication of galleries devoted to France, Mexico, Spain and the Netherlands, with many more of these national rooms inaugurated over the ensuing years. The founding leaders of the Museum hoped to make the collection meaningful to the public by organizing exhibits by nation. Each room, hallway, and stair landing were devoted to one nation or region's historical collection with the intention of tracing a particular nation's contribution to surgery.
Beginning in 1990, new exhibits were developed based on historical themes and surgical disciplines. This type of exhibit provides a more appropriate historical context for the collections. The "Anatomy in the Gallery" exhibition program, developed in 1998 to introduce a contemporary art element into the historic Museum, presents work by contemporary artists dealing with a range of medically related themes. The exhibitions include work of a challenging and innovative nature relating to anatomy, death, disease/wellness, disability, and other medical issues.
Unique and inspiring surroundings at theInternational Museum of Surgical Science. at the International Museum of Surgical Science is a distinctive venue available for special events and tours. Lectures, meetings, receptions and dinners hosted at the Museum offer your guests an elegant setting, interesting exhibits and breathtaking views of Lake Michigan. This exceptional
setting is just minutes away from Downtown Chicago.
The historic mansion at the International Museum of Surgical Science is a distinctive venue available for special events and tours. Lectures, meetings, receptions, and dinners hosted at the Museum offer your guests an elegant setting, interesting exhibits, and breathtaking views of Lake Michigan. Guests enter the Museum and are led up a guilded metal staircase to the main floor. Italian marble floors, marble fireplaces, and 14-foot-high floor-to-ceiling windows are just some of the original interior finished that have been preserved. One of the few remaining lakefront mansions, the building truly embodies the Gold Coast splendor of the late 19th century and is just minutes away from downtown Chicago.
With its room-sized walk-in environments and galleries filled with big paintings of bloody surgical procedures, the IMSS is the kind of museum you can thoroughly enjoy even if you don’t read any of the wall texts. Not that I’m recommending you do this — you’ll learn a lot by delving into the didactic material that accompanies the Museum’s numerous exhibits. One of the most striking comes early on with the Museum’s recreation of an early American apothecary. Push a button and the pharmacist behind the window will tell you how he makes his pills and tinctures while sharing his plans to add a soda fountain to the shop to bring more people in; CVS, here we come!
For me, one of the most chilling exhibits displays a technology from the not too distant past: the iron lung. Funny, but I never actually knew what an iron lung looked like until I saw this. The display is accompanied by some truly heartbreaking photographs of the polio-stricken kids who had to inhabit these contraptions, including two who are holding hands to comfort one another. Praise Be Jonas Salk.
She is the patron saint of vision, light, and for those with eye afflictions. Always having bad vision, and being such a visual person, I think that's part of why I find her so interesting. I also first heard about her at the International Museum of Surgical Science, my favourite place in Chicago FYI, and they had an amazing painting of her up (that unfortunately isn't up anymore):
Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archives of the History of Medicine (Budapest)
a government funded national public collection and research institution for exploring, presenting and disseminating the history of medicine. The Institute regards the history of medicine as a broad and culturally determined subject which includes the medical sciences, public health issues, hygiene, the history of demography and the study of the effects of environment on human health. The institute presents exhibitions of various related topics, publishes a journal and books, and organizes conferences, workshops and public lectures for different professional and general groups on a nation-wide, and an international level.
The Museum has a rich collection of medical, surgical, and dental equipment, sculptures, commemorative medals, wax models, paintings, etchings, drawings, posters, pharmacy jars, albarellos etc. from prehistoric times to the late 20th century. The Library has a peculiarly valuable collection of rare books, prints, and medical dissertations from the field of the life sciences and medicine between the 15th and 20th centuries.
The institution is named after Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (1818–1865), a Hungarian doctor who made some historic discoveries that remained uncredited during his lifetime. Semmelweis observed that the death rate among his maternity patients treated by medical students was much higher (13%) than in the ward served by midwives (2%). He made a connection between the symptoms of a fatal dissection wound and puerperal fever, and concluded that the fever had been transmitted to the maternity patients by medical students carrying infectious materials on their fingers from dissected cadavers.
Starting in May 1847, Semmelweis required his students to wash their hands in a solution of chlorinated lime before examining patients. Mortality rates from puerperal fever promptly plunged.
Semmelweis finally published his findings in 1861, but critics continued to attack him fiercely and he reacted with increasing anger and bitterness. Mental illness overtook him in 1865; he died after only two weeks in an asylum of, ironically, sepsis from a surgical wound. That same year, Joseph Lister performed his first antiseptic operatioSemmelweis Museum, Library and Archives of the History of Medicine (Budapest) is a government funded national public collection and research institution for exploring, presenting and disseminating the history of medicine. The Institute regards the history of medicine as a broad and culturally determined subject which includes the medical sciences, public health issues, hygiene, the history of demography and the study of the effects of environment on human health. The institute presents exhibitions of various related topics, publishes a journal and books, and organizes conferences, workshops and public lectures for different professional and general groups on a nation-wide and an international level.
The Museum has a rich collection of medical, surgical, and dental equipment, sculptures, commemorative medals, wax models, paintings, etchings, drawings, posters, pharmacy jars, albarellos etc. from prehistoric times to the late 20th century. The Library has a peculiarly valuable collection of rare books, prints, and medical dissertations from the field of the life sciences and medicine between the 15th and 20th centuries.
The institution is named after Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (1818–1865), a Hungarian doctor who made some historic discoveries that remained uncredited during his lifetime. Semmelweis observed that the death rate among his maternity patients treated by medical students was much higher (13%) than in the ward served by midwives (2%). He made a connection between the symptoms of a fatal dissection wound and puerperal fever, and concluded that the fever had been transmitted to the maternity patients by medical students carrying infectious materials on their fingers from dissected cadavers. Starting in May 1847, Semmelweis required his students to wash their hands in a solution of chlorinated lime before examining patients. Mortality rates from puerperal fever promptly plunged.
Semmelweis finally published his findings in 1861, but critics continued to attack him fiercely and he reacted with increasing anger and bitterness. Mental illness overtook him in 1865; he died after only two weeks in an asylum of, ironically, sepsis from a surgical wound. That same year, Joseph Lister performed his first antiseptic operation.
SIGMUND FREUD – ANALYZE THIS!
Information on the museum’s opening hours, current exhibitions, lecture program and rental of the lecture hall as well as a selected list of links on psychoanalytic topics are to be found under the menu heading ?Museum.? The e-Shop is new: Here numerous items from the museum shop can be ordered by credit card conveniently at home. You can also contribute toward sponsoring the Sigmund Freud Museum at any time by joining the Society of Friends of the Sigmund Freud Museum.
Whoever would like to use Europe’s largest psychoanalytic library or the archive collection can find all the necessary information under the heading ?Science.? Pictures from the photo archive can be ordered via email. Details on the annual Freud Lecture, the Fulbright Scholarship and the Sigmund Freud Society are available here, and you can also read the museum Newsletter.
Our press department offers useful aids and information for journalists and editors: Press photos and texts for downloading are available, and specific inquiries can also be made directly to the press department.
If you’re looking for an unusual setting for your party, seminar or filming, the Freud Museum provides an atmospheric venue. Just 10 minutes from central London by underground, with excellent overland and bus links, the Freud Museum provides the perfect solution.
To date, we have hosted cocktail parties, corporate dinners, away days, book launches, TV filming and more. Please see our brochure for further details.
We are also able to give you links to local catering firms, flowers which will help make your event a success.
Just 10 minutes from central London by underground, with excellent overland and bus links, the Freud Museum provides the perfect solution.
Meeting Room Hire 'The party we held in the Freud Museum was a tremendous success. Over one hundred people roamed the garden, took food and drink in the airy and roomy party tent, and explored the house, including Freud's fascinating collection of antiquities. Everyone was extremely happy with the venue and the helpful staff.' (Family party, Summer 2008)
The Freud Museum provides a stunning and authentic setting for documentaries, feature films and television programmes.
Please see more information on each of the following:
Filming
Private Hire
Meeting Room Hire
'The party we held in the Freud Museum was a tremendous success. Over one hundred people roamed the garden, took food and drink in the airy and roomy party tent, and explored the house, including Freud's fascinating collection of antiquities. Everyone was extremely happy with the venue and the helpful staff.' (Family party, Summer 2008)
The Freud Museum provides a stunning and authentic setting for documentaries, feature films and television programmes.
The Museum and garden are available for filming, by special arrangement.
Charges
For details of charges please contact the Museum:AlexandFrancisco@freud.org.uk
The Freud Museum is the perfect venue for all kinds of private functions. Book launches, cocktail receptions, intimate dinners - inside or in the garden. Whatever your needs, we’ll do our best to meet them. Please do call us to discuss your needs or to arrange a viewing. Alternatively you can submit and enquiry form (see below).
Spaces
For stand up receptions, the maximum capacity at any one time is 90, although larger numbers may be accommodated through a timed entry system agreed in advance with the museum, or with the use of the garden in fine weather. For seated dinners, we can accommodate a maximum of 35 people dinning room and 42 inside marquee looking at Freud's beautifull garden.
Events may be held between 9:00 - 23.30, Monday to Tuesday and 17:30 to 23:30 Wednesday to Sunday.
Refreshments & Catering
Exhibition Room (depending on the current exhibition,seats up to 50 delegates)
Garden – a space to think in peace and quiet, away from the hectic pace of London. We have a marquee 8m x 5m, with lighting + celling heaters can be linked with museum, and seat 56 delegates, or seat down dinner for 42 people.
Equipment
We can offer the following equipment to support your meeting/seminar etc.
MAT COLLISHAW has created a new series of works for Sigmund Freud’s house that include sculptures, projections and site-specific installations. The exhibition’s title, HYSTERIA, relates to the print that hangs above Freud’s iconic psychoanalytical couch depicting the French neurologist Jean Martin Charcot showing his students a woman in a hysterical fit. Charcot (1825-1893) used hypnotism to treat hysteria and other abnormal mental conditions and he had a profound influence on the young Freud. Collishaw has created a new anamorphosis work inspired by this picture and a series of ghostly projections based on Charcot’s original photographic case studies.
Mutter Museum
Dr. Mütter's collection of bones, wet specimens, plaster casts, wax and papier-mache models, dried preparations, and medical illustrations - over 1700 items in all - joined the 92 specimens from the College's earlier collection in the new quarters. Many of the items which today`s visitors find most memorable date from that time: the bladder stones removed from Chief Justice John Marshall by Dr. Philip Syng Physick; and the skeleton of a woman whose rib-cage was compressed by tight lacing.
Around this nucleus the museum grew rapidly, as desirable collections were purchased in Europe with funds from Mütter's endowment, and as other Fellows contributed interesting surgical and post-mortem specimens acquired from their hospital and private practices.
In 1874, the museum made several noteworthy additions to its collections. The autopsy of the 63-year-old Siamese Twins, Chang and Eng, was performed in the museum. Their bodies were returned to their home in North Carolina, but the College was allowed to keep their connected livers and a plaster cast of their torsos showing the band of skin and cartilage that joined them at the chest. That same year saw the culmination of the Museum Committee's negotiations with Professor Joseph Hyrtl of Vienna, resulting in the purchase of 139 skulls from Central and Eastern Europe.
The Mütter Museum in Philadelphia, PA was founded to educate future doctors about anatomy and human medical anomalies. Today, it serves as a valuable resource for educating and enlightening the public about our medical past and telling important stories about what it means to be human. The Mütter Museum embodies The College of Physicians of Philadelphia’s mission to advance the cause of health, and uphold the ideals and heritage of medicine.
In 1858, Thomas Dent Mütter, retired Professor of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College, presented his personal collection of unique anatomic and pathological materials to The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. The Mütter collection now boasts over 20,000 unforgettable objects. These include fluid-preserved anatomical and pathological specimens; skeletal and dried specimens, medical instruments and apparati; anatomical and pathological models in plaster, wax, papier-mâché, and plastic; memorabilia of famous scientists and physicians; medical illustrations, photographs, prints, and portraits. In addition, they offer changing exhibits on a variety of medical and historical topics.
Highlights of the collection include: The plaster cast of the torso of world-famous Siamese Twins, Chang & Eng, and their conjoined livers; Joseph Hyrtl’s collection of skulls; the preserved body of the ?Soap Lady?; a collection of 2,000 objects extracted from people’s throats; a cancerous growth removed from President Grover Cleveland; and the tallest skeleton on display in North America.
The Museum’s four floors are filled with extraordinary artifacts, as well as paintings and sculptures that interpret the primitive and modern healing practices of Eastern and Western civilizations. The Museum’s collections and exhibits portray the mysteries and milestones that have shaped modern surgical science.
Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archives of the History of Medicine (Budapest)
a government funded national public collection and research institution for exploring, presenting and disseminating the history of medicine. The Institute regards the history of medicine as a broad and culturally determined subject which includes the medical sciences, public health issues, hygiene, the history of demography and the study of the effects of environment on human health. The institute presents exhibitions of various related topics, publishes a journal and books, and organizes conferences, workshops and public lectures for different professional and general groups on a nation-wide, and an international level.
The Museum has a rich collection of medical, surgical, and dental equipment, sculptures, commemorative medals, wax models, paintings, etchings, drawings, posters, pharmacy jars, albarellos etc. from prehistoric times to the late 20th century. The Library has a peculiarly valuable collection of rare books, prints, and medical dissertations from the field of the life sciences and medicine between the 15th and 20th centuries.
The institution is named after Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (1818–1865), a Hungarian doctor who made some historic discoveries that remained uncredited during his lifetime. Semmelweis observed that the death rate among his maternity patients treated by medical students was much higher (13%) than in the ward served by midwives (2%). He made a connection between the symptoms of a fatal dissection wound and puerperal fever, and concluded that the fever had been transmitted to the maternity patients by medical students carrying infectious materials on their fingers from dissected cadavers.
Starting in May 1847, Semmelweis required his students to wash their hands in a solution of chlorinated lime before examining patients. Mortality rates from puerperal fever promptly plunged.
Semmelweis finally published his findings in 1861, but critics continued to attack him fiercely and he reacted with increasing anger and bitterness. Mental illness overtook him in 1865; he died after only two weeks in an asylum of, ironically, sepsis from a surgical wound. That same year, Joseph Lister performed his first antiseptic operatioSemmelweis Museum, Library and Archives of the History of Medicine (Budapest) is a government funded national public collection and research institution for exploring, presenting and disseminating the history of medicine. The Institute regards the history of medicine as a broad and culturally determined subject which includes the medical sciences, public health issues, hygiene, the history of demography and the study of the effects of environment on human health. The institute presents exhibitions of various related topics, publishes a journal and books, and organizes conferences, workshops and public lectures for different professional and general groups on a nation-wide and an international level.
The Museum has a rich collection of medical, surgical, and dental equipment, sculptures, commemorative medals, wax models, paintings, etchings, drawings, posters, pharmacy jars, albarellos etc. from prehistoric times to the late 20th century. The Library has a peculiarly valuable collection of rare books, prints, and medical dissertations from the field of the life sciences and medicine between the 15th and 20th centuries.
The institution is named after Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (1818–1865), a Hungarian doctor who made some historic discoveries that remained uncredited during his lifetime. Semmelweis observed that the death rate among his maternity patients treated by medical students was much higher (13%) than in the ward served by midwives (2%). He made a connection between the symptoms of a fatal dissection wound and puerperal fever, and concluded that the fever had been transmitted to the maternity patients by medical students carrying infectious materials on their fingers from dissected cadavers. Starting in May 1847, Semmelweis required his students to wash their hands in a solution of chlorinated lime before examining patients. Mortality rates from puerperal fever promptly plunged.
Semmelweis finally published his findings in 1861, but critics continued to attack him fiercely and he reacted with increasing anger and bitterness. Mental illness overtook him in 1865; he died after only two weeks in an asylum of, ironically, sepsis from a surgical wound. That same year, Joseph Lister performed his first antiseptic operation.
Anatomical Theatre The Face of Death
"In this hall, a bizarre idea came to life: a tomb full of corpses at different stages of putrefaction, from the moment of death till the complete destruction of the individual...The impression created by this masterpiece is so strong that each sense seems to trigger alarm to the others. You bring your hand to your nose as an automatic reaction."
Those are the words of the Marquis de Sade. He does not describe some brutal scene of massacre, nor some sadistic scene in one of his novels, but his impression of the room dedicated to the art of Gaentano Guilio Zumbo at La Specola.
Europe's first science museum, La Specola's particular claim to fame was, and is, the largest and most beautiful collection of wax anatomical models in the world. Room after room is filled with dissembled or skinned models, gazing out from their glass cases looking almost, just almost, alive.
The Land of Mummified Relics and Waxen Bodies
We are off on a new expedition. Curious Expeditions is heading into Italy in pursuit of that evocative and elusive creature: the Wax Anatomical Model. Born out of a time when corpses were stolen from their graves for medical students to practice on, these waxen forms gave Europe more than just a teaching tool.
The erotic figure of the anatomical Venus, modeled after the the goddess of beauty, was a thrill for general public. She was realistic, beautiful, and butchered. We also hope to catch a glimpse of that Italian icon, the mummified saint. We'll see you in 10 days, dearest readers, we'll certainly have lots to show you.
Bern's Psychiatry Museum on the beautiful grounds of the University of Psychiatric Services and the location of the former Waldau Insane Asylum. With irregular and limited hours, and confusing public transport directions, it's not an easy museum to see. Had we not made the effort, though, I wouldn't know half as much as I do now about the art of mental patients. And more importantly, I wouldn't know about Centrifuge Therapy.
Centrifuge therapy, "Spinning Chair", or "Whirling Cage", was used around the 18th century as a cure for the insane.
The therapy followed a homeostasis logic; your mental patients are walking about the hospital, disoriented, confused, dizzy in the mind (fun fact: Spinners is german slang for insane). For these unfortunate patients, their world was spinning. Doctors thought it stands to reason that if their minds are spinning, we'll spin their bodies to match the outside world with what's in their heads. Thus, when they stop spinning, so will their brains. (Some doctors also believed mental illness was due to congested blood in the brain, and the spinning dispersed this clotted blood).
As was charmingly displayed with small dolls at the museum, the patient would be strapped down to either a chair or a bed, which would then be spun by a large crank at about 100 revolutions per minute. It was believed to be effective for a time, most likely because the patients were being spun to near unconsciousness, thus appearing more calm.
The centrifuge is still being used today: in NASA. It is used to simulate antigravity and to prepare the astronauts for motion sickness. It is also a featured ride in many amusement parks. Billed as "Mission: Space" at Disneyland, I think it would be more appropriate to call it the Insane Asylum Experience, but then it might not get as much business.
So while Phrenology is the posterboy of the ultimate in quack medicine, it was in fact an important step in our slow march towards the understanding of the brain. As our brain imaging technology grows we are finding (or supposedly finding) the very locations or "organs" of fear and anger that Gall talked about some 200 years ago. With headlines such as "Dream Center of the Brain Found" making the news regularly, have we really come that far from Gall's theory? Or shall we own up, break out the calipers, and embrace our Phrenological forefathers? This article wouldn't have been possible without the writings of historian John Van Wyhe, master of things both Phrenological and Darwinian.
A rather wonderful collection of Phrenological drawings can be found here (Via)... I also suggest the writings of Paul Collins who writes about Fowler in his wonderful "The Trouble with Tom". The remainder of Gall's skulls reside at the Rollett museum outside of Vienna, and a future Curious Expeditions trip, to be sure.
A Corpse of Course The wonderful Semmelweis Medical Museum in Buda. It holds some amazing things; an Anatomical Venus, one of the first X-Ray Machines, and the obligatory shrunken head, all housed in the very building in which Dr. Semmelwies was born. Whether or not you are familiar with this most famous of Hungarian Medical representatives, you are certainly familiar with his discovery.
Semmelweis's story is near epic, with a great discovery that saved countless lives, rejection of the discovery by the medical establishment, and even some good old fashioned greek style irony. In the mid-1800s, Semmelweis worked in the maternity ward of a clinic. At that time the maternity ward was not happy place of gurgling infants, but filled rather with the groans of dying mothers.
Slowly after Semmelweis's discovery, most of the hospitals in Hungary implemented a strict hand-washing policy, (in chloride of lime, an antiseptic) followed by an instrument washing policy as well. The death-rate fell to about 1%. He tried to report his findings to the great Medical Association of Vienna. This was about 12 years before Pasteur's experiments would confirm the germ theory, and to most of the medical community hand-washing simply didn't make sense.
Consumed and tortured with guilt, Michaelis threw himself in front of a train in 1848. But even this dramatic act was not enough to get the attention of the rest of the Viennese Medical Institution. In the last few years of his life, Semmelweis suffered from what was probably a bad case of Alzheimer's. In those days of course, it was considered a mental disorder and he was put into a Viennese insane asylum. It is said that he contacted the same "childbed sickness" while performing an autopsy a month before being committed. In a cruel twist of irony, Semmelweis died of the very disease he spent his life trying to prevent in others! The truth of this is in question, and it is now, believed that Semmelweis had become violent in his last few weeks, was beaten by an asylum worker, and died from the injuries he received.
Not so ironic, but not a grand way for a medical hero to go either. It wasn't until after his death (isn't that always the way?) that germ theory finally proved Semmelweis right. He is now recognized as a pioneer of antiseptics.
In her exhibition titled “The Waiting Room,” Karen Jayne presents an installation that focuses on her relationship with her chronically ill child and the medical community that services her. Jayne sees that “in illness . . . waiting seems to be the one thing you can count on: waiting for your name to be called, waiting for time to pass, waiting to be heard, waiting for answers, waiting to be comforted, or waiting for the strength to continue.”
Jayne uses materials that have a personal reference to her and include the processes of weaving, paper making, stitching fabric and working with light and sound to create a tactile and sensory experience. By incorporating scale changes and contrasting elements, Jayne seeks to convey the emotional disparities of her experience as well as creating an environment that viewers can touch and interact with. Jayne, based in Big Rock, Illinois , has exhibited in the Midwest . She received a BFA in 3D-studio/fiber from Northern Illinois University
These exhibitions are the latest in the Museum's “Anatomy in the Gallery” series, which highlights artists who work in medically related themes.
“The Anatomy in the Gallery program makes it possible for the museum to present contemporary art related to the museum mission, within the context of the Museum's exceptional collection of paintings, drawings and sculpture,” said curator Leonard Kliwinski. “We hope the artists' very personal work will inspire and ultimately educate visitors about survival and the creative process.” This program is partially supported by a CityArts Program 2 grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
Alice Leora Briggs's exhibition, “Graft,” features drawings of medical procedures from various historical eras, some amazing, others more horrific than the maladies they were intended to cure. As she says, “Over the centuries science has employed methods to assuage human afflictions that are at once enthralling, frightening, and miraculous. My drawings are efforts to comprehend and depict aspects of an astonishing array of medical procedures that have alternately supported and threatened our well-being.” Briggs herself assumes the role of a surgeon while drawing in that she transplants and grafts parts of images from disparate sources, including historical medical illustrations and photographs, to create her body of work. Based in Lubbock , Texas , Briggs is represented by Nüart Gallery in Santa Fe , New Mexico
In her exhibition of embroideries and paintings entitled “Family Portraits,” Leigh Anne Lester focuses on a different kind of medical history—the genetic inheritance passed down through the generations of a family.
The embroideries play on traditional portraits by depicting family members' afflicted organs, rather than their faces, suggesting that genetic relations do not only run skin-deep. The paintings Lester creates by matching colors from microscopic images of diseased cells to swatches of household paints; she says, “These pieces are investigating the idea of living with a disease, having it inhabit your body, but turning that experience around and living in the setting or the atmosphere of the disease by having it be a color that you would paint a room in your house.” Lester co-curates the gallery Cactus Bra Space in San Antonio , Texas , and has exhibited throughout the Southwest and Midwest .
Cristin Millett's “Medicine and the Body” comprises two installations, Teatro Anatomico and Transparency of Knowledge , one in each of the museum's two gallery spaces. Utilizing multi-media, including video, sculpture, and printed fabric, Millett seeks to create architectural environments that metaphorically reference the interior and exterior of the human body, focusing on her fascination of human reproductive systems and challenging perceptions of female anatomy. The Teatro Anatomico itself is modeled after anatomical theaters in Italy , England , and the United States
“I approach my work using a very logical and systematic method, grounding myself in research on the history of medicine . . . When entering the rooms, the viewer enters the body and their role of spectator shifts to that of the spectacle. These installations represent an intersection of scientific ideas and contemporary aesthetic observations, which provide insight into prevalent societal attitudes surrounding the female form.” Teatro Anatomico was created during a three-month residency at Sculpture Space in Utica , New York State College , Pennsylvania-based artist who has exhibited nationally. She received her BFA in metalsmithing from Kent State University and her MFA in sculpture from Arizona State University
Ian Crawley, “God's Prototype”
Jason Lazarus, “Self Portrait Series #3: Congenital”
Concurrent exhibitions of sculpture by Ian Crawley and photography by Jason Lazarus will be on display at the International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago
A reception for the artists that is open and free to the public will take place on Friday, November 5, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Sarah Faust, “Beneath the Surface”
Sarah Faust's “Beneath the Surface” is comprised of eight silver dye bleach print photographs, many of which were shot underwater. These works depict fragmentary, abstracted bodies; yet they are still recognizably human, and suggest the vulnerability and fragility of life itself. A wrinkled hand outstretched towards the viewer serves as an updated memento mori , reminding the viewer of the passage of time and the aging process. Faust has received a BFA in graphic design from the University of Kansas , and a MFA in photography from Columbia College in Chicago Chicago Cultural Center
Laura Olear: False Color Victoria Martin: Incantations to the Viscera
“We live in an age of profound advances in health and medicine, yet there has never been a wider gap between people’s objective health and their perceptions of it.”
Victoria Martin’s “Incantations to the Viscera” is comprised of five 6x9 ft oil paintings depicting large scale images of various internal organs, surrounded by spiritual text. These works illustrate the transcendence of cultural and chronological barriers concerning mankind’s regard for the body as temple. Martin explains that “The organs are pictured as radiant icons, while the ancient religious texts from Buddhist, Chinese, Egyptian, Greek, Hebrew, Hindu and Sumerian-Babylonian sources could inspire reverence and awe for these ‘Inner Jewels’ that support our life.”
Martin has received a BA in Art Education and an MFA in Visual Media from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
These two contemporary artists produce striking works that honor human mortality and the fragility of the body against disease.
In her exhibition titled “La Maladie,” Betsy Stirratt creates precious-looking icons using detailed imagery of body parts placed on gold leaf backdrops. Reminiscent of historic medical texts, the images are beset with diseases, or uncover the mysteries of the inner workings of the human body. The artist states that the work “is a statement about our physical and spiritual mortality and refers to our revulsion to illness, death and dying.”
Patricia Biesen’s “Paper Doll Mastectomies” also relate to physical disease and loss, specifically to breast cancer. The shape of Biesen’s work calls to mind needlepoint pictures or old-fashioned silhouette portraits; while the paper doll cut-out look of the images convey a striking and immediate recognition of the so easily removed diseased breast. Much of the artist’s work indicates what’s missing in a way that seems both innocent and disturbing.
Christopher Kahler: Anatomica
Chris Kahler's paintings and drawings explore the hidden and often fantastic interior terrain of the human body. In paintings created over the past several years, Kahler examines the form and function of the body as well as its vulnerability to invasive science. Corporeal shape and color derived from both cadavers and living bodies provide the inspiration for these vivid abstractions. Animated by sinewy brushwork and membranes of drifting pigment, these remarkable paintings take on a life of their own while prompting us to reconsider our visceral and metaphysical being.
Also on display in "Anatomica" is a series of new charcoal drawings based on Andreas Vesalius's pioneering anatomical studies. The artist has produced this work especially for the exhibition, inspired by a rare compilation of the Renaissance anatomist's "Tabulae anatomicae" which will be on view during during the run of the show.
Gregory Porcaro: Where My Body Meets Memory
“Where My Body Meets Memory” deals with the artist Gregory Porcaro’s relationship to Crohn’s Disease, an inflammatory bowel disease that has no known cure, and how the disease shaped his identity as a man.
Porcaro’s media include sculptures, prints and paintings with three-dimensional elements. His cartoon-like art also serves to compensate for having to grow up quickly and face the terms and limitations of Crohn’s Disease (he was diagnosed with the disease at the age of ten).
“I’m attracted to a naïve and colorful world where pain is funny and is displayed in big bold letters and intriguing noises, not actual neurological transmissions,” Porcaro said of his work. “There is no concept of life or death in this make-believe world…my artwork brings me the closest I’ll ever get to being a child again."
Mr. Porcaro’s very personal work may inspire, entertain and ultimately educate visitors about survival and the creative process.
The Museum’s four floors are filled with extraordinary artifacts, as well as paintings and sculptures that interpret the primitive and modern healing practices of Eastern and Western civilizations. The Museum’s collections and exhibits portray the mysteries and milestones that have shaped modern surgical science.
Medical artifacts, apparatus and instruments comprise the bulk of the material in the Museum’s collections. Over 7,000 medical artifacts spanning centuries of worldwide medical history, from acupuncture to X-ray therapy, are represented in the collections. Among the exceptional artifacts are an Austrian amputation saw with reversible blade (c. 1500); original X-rays taken by radiology pioneer Emil Grubbé (c. 1910); the Lindbergh perfusion pump, which enabled doctors to keep organs functioning outside the body, invented by the renowned aviator Charles Lindbergh and Nobel Prize-winning surgeon Alexis Carrel (1935); and a unique collection of heart valves donated by Dr. Juro Wada (c. 1960-80).
Fine art is featured in the collections through over 600 paintings, prints and sculptures, primarily portraits of individuals and historical depictions of specific procedures or events. Highlights include a portrait of Dr. Edward Jenner by John Russell (1790), and the original plaster cast of the death mask of Napoleon (1821). Significant artworks were commissioned by the Museum for the collections in 1950-53 including the Hall of Immortals and Hall of Murals.
The Museum Library contains over 5,000 books and bound journals, including extremely rare early medical books from the 16 th to 18 th centuries.
The manuscript collection contains over 650 letters and papers from prominent figures in medical history, extending over four centuries, donated by Dr. Max Thorek in 1954. This collection includes documents from Edward Jenner, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Guy, Laennec, Langenback, Bergmann, Billroth, Malpighi, Rush, Wistar, and many others.
Art and Surgery: The Hall of Murals
One of the unique aspects of the International Museum of Surgical Science is the Museum’s integration of the fine arts with medical artifacts in presenting the history of surgery and related sciences. Paintings, sculpture, prints, and drawings comprise a noteworthy part of the Museum’s collections and may be found on exhibit throughout the galleries.
A significant example of the Museum’s fine art collection, the Hall of Murals, was among the first exhibits to be installed in the Museum at its opening in 1954. Located on the second floor of the Museum, this grand room, with its ornate decorative paneling, marble floors, and fireplace was originally the dining room of the residence as built for the Countiss family in 1917.
The Italian painter Gregorio Calvi di Bergolo (1904-1994) was commissioned in 1953 to paint 12 mural panels in oils for this room to illustrate the development of surgery throughout the ages. The artist was born in Turin , studied painting in Turin , Rome , and Paris , and took part in the principal Italian exhibitions of his time – the Quadriennale in Rome
A wide range of historical achievements in surgery and medicine are covered in the paintings, which each measure approximately 44 x 80 inches. Primitive trephining of the cranium in prehistoric Peru , the study of human anatomy by dissection in the Middle Ages, and a 15th century church hospital in Paris Spain
These fascinating paintings were archivally documented by the Museum in 2001. The resulting photographic images were published in poster and note card formats, both available for purchase from the Museum.
Click here to view more of the items available at the Museum Gift Shop.
International College of Surgeons
1524 N. Lake Shore Dr. Chicago, IL 60610 USA 312.642.6502
fax 312.642.9516 info@imss.org
HOURS May - September: Tuesday through Sunday 10am - 4pm
October - April: Tuesday through Saturday 10am - 4pm
ADMISSION Adults $9 Students & Seniors $5
Tuesdays are free
Dr. Max Thorek founded the International College of Surgeons (ICS) in 1935, with the goals of promoting the exchange of surgical knowledge and fostering understanding and good will worldwide. He had an equally noble goal in establishing the International Museum of Surgical Science - to enrich people's lives.
Beginning in 1950, through the efforts of Dr. Thorek, the Museum received donations of objects and artwork from many of the national sections of the ICS, individual surgeons and collectors, and other institutions. Shipments of artifacts, paintings, sculptures, and books arrived, and the Museum began to take shape. To house the Museum, a historic lakeside mansion was acquired, adjacent to the ICS headquarters.
The Museum opened to the public on September 9, 1954. One of the first exhibits to be installed was the Hall of Immortals, containing twelve large stone statues of great figures in the field of medicine and the allied sciences. In further reverence to great scientists, surgeons and discoveries of the past, a Hall of Murals was created with a series of large paintings depicting the development of surgical science through the ages.
In 1959, the Museum marked the dedication of galleries devoted to France , Mexico , Spain and the Netherlands
Beginning in 1990, new exhibits were developed based on historical themes and surgical disciplines. This type of exhibit provides a more appropriate historical context for the collections. Several national rooms are still extant (Netherlands , Spain , Latin America, Canada , Japan
The "Anatomy in the Gallery" exhibition program, developed in 1998 to introduce a contemporary art element into the historic Museum, presents work by contemporary artists dealing with a range of medically related themes. The exhibitions include work of a challenging and innovative nature relating to anatomy, death, disease/wellness, disability, and other medical issues.
Over the past decade, the International Museum of Surgical Science has made significant progress in strengthening its educational programs and exhibits, as well as in the conservation of its noteworthy collections and historic landmark building. The Museum looks forward to continuing this progress, and to a future of bringing the international aspects of science, history and art to an increasing audience from the entire world.
The mission of the Museum is to enrich people's lives by enhancing their appreciation and understanding of the history, development, and advances of surgery and related subjects in health and medicine. In support of this, we are committed to:
Portraying through exhibits and other appropriate media, the art and science of surgery, and related subjects.
Providing programs and services for the education and enjoyment of the public, students, and the medical profession.
Preserving our collection for the education, inspiration, and aesthetic enrichment of future generations.
Gaining recognition as a leader among medical and health museums worldwide.
Significant medical objects
Haidy Geismar’s post on ’significant objects’ gave me an idea for a curatorial game that might increase the awareness of the importance of the material culture and aesthetics of biomedicine and biotechnology:
ask a faculty member/graduate student/technician to choose a favourite biomedical object, i.e., an object which is of some significance for them personally, workwise or otherwise.
the object may be old or new, small or big, ugly or beautiful, doesn’t matter but it shall be an object, not an idea, image or text
ask for at description/story/anecdote connected with the object
and a technical description of the object
and a photo if possible — or pay a visit and snap one
post the story on your blog (preferrably this blog :-)
approach the next faculty member/graduate student/technician
and so forth — then wait for awareness of the material culture and aesthetics of biomedicine to spread like a virus.
art and biomed, displays/exhibits, visualization
Endoscopic art performance
Come to Copenhagen
The performance will take place in the old anatomical theatre at Medical Museion at 2 pm. Phillip will swallow a pill camera that is going to send images to a screen — allowing you to follow its way through his intestinal system. London-based consultant gastroenterologist Simon Anderson will be commentator.
Art historian Rune Gade, body historian Adam Bencard and historian of ideas Jan Eric Olsén will set the performance in perspective with references to the status of contemporary performance art, historical understandings of the body and the historical background for today’s endoscopic diagnostics.
The event is organised by Bente Vinge Pedersen and Jonas Paludan here at Medical Museion in cooperation with Golden Days. Tickets (120 DKK) can be bought here.
Kuriosakabinettet/philosophy of medicine /I'm a Medical Blogger
Indian Medical museum
Anatomy Museum, M.L.N. medical College, Allahabad. Jul to Apr: 9.00A.M. To 4.00 P.M. May to Jun : 8.A.M.-12 closed university holiday : free. University; hod. Dissected parts of the human body, models of human organs embryology models to study various branches of anatomy.
Army Medical Corps Museum, C/O CHQ(HRDC), Amc centre and school, Lucknow- 02
Tel: (0522) 229-6435 Extn. 6435 Open on requirement; closed: Sunday and holidays. Central Government; Army: 1961; Education officer Defiance history, war booty, war equipments, medical history, metals Library. Guide service..Multi-purpose museum and Army medical museum.
Anthropological Museum, Sri Jai Narain Post Graduate College,(KKC) Station Road, Lucknow.
Tel: (0522) 2635563, 09415083663; Fax : (0255) 2635563; E-mail: abkchantia@rediffmail.com
Mounted and dissected specimens of all the parts of human body birth defects, twins (normal and abnormal), genetics, surface anatomy, radiological anatomy, osteology, and Anthropology, CT scan anatomy. Library. Guide service; film shows every Saturday. Photography not allowed.Medical Museum.
Army Medical Corps Museum, C/O CHQ(HRDC), Amc centre and school, Lucknow- 02
Open on requirement; closed: Sunday and holidays. Central Government; Army: 1961; Education officer Defiance history, war booty, war equipments, medical history, metals Library.
Guide service Multi-purpose museum and Army medical museum.
Anthropological Museum, Sri Jai Narain Post Graduate College,(KKC) Station Road, Lucknow.
Tel: (0522) 2635563, 09415083663; Fax : (0255) 2635563; E-mail: abkchantia@rediffmail.com
8.00 AM to 12.00 noon; Winter: 9.30 AM to 1.30 PM; Closed: Sundays & holidays; Free.
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