Dr. Mütter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine
by CRISTIN O'KEEFE APTOWICZ | Biographies & Memoirs |
ISBN: 9781592409259 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 9781592409259 Global Overview for this book
2 journalers for this copy...
I got this softcover at a local Barnes and Noble, for another release copy.
I've visited the enthralling and sometimes disturbing Mütter Museum in Philadelphia, so I was very pleased to find this handsome hardcover about its history. It includes a biography of Mütter himself, with notes on the nature of surgery in the early 1800s, and with glimpses of life in Philadelphia when Mütter was there. There are line-drawing illustrations showing many of the medical conditions Mütter treated, including one on a man with a severe cleft palate - a miraculous cure in that time and place.
Other cases involve burns - one chapter's titled "Women Who Were Swallowed By Fire," leading to Mütter's attempts to ameliorate suffering by using plastic surgery to remove constricting and deforming scar tissue.
Indeed, the book's full of fascinating case studies - yet the actual museum features in a relatively small part of the whole. Perhaps that's a good thing, as the book draws attention to Mütter's life and works, rather than to the items he left behind - but those, too, continue to instruct and inform.
I've visited the enthralling and sometimes disturbing Mütter Museum in Philadelphia, so I was very pleased to find this handsome hardcover about its history. It includes a biography of Mütter himself, with notes on the nature of surgery in the early 1800s, and with glimpses of life in Philadelphia when Mütter was there. There are line-drawing illustrations showing many of the medical conditions Mütter treated, including one on a man with a severe cleft palate - a miraculous cure in that time and place.
Other cases involve burns - one chapter's titled "Women Who Were Swallowed By Fire," leading to Mütter's attempts to ameliorate suffering by using plastic surgery to remove constricting and deforming scar tissue.
Indeed, the book's full of fascinating case studies - yet the actual museum features in a relatively small part of the whole. Perhaps that's a good thing, as the book draws attention to Mütter's life and works, rather than to the items he left behind - but those, too, continue to instruct and inform.
I'm sending this to BCer 39301 as a participation prize for the 2023 June Pride LGBTQ+ release challenge. Enjoy!
Thanks to @GoryDetails, this wishlist book arrived today. Wonderful!!
