Construction is still obviously ongoing but I just wanted to take a moment to mix things up a bit…
Below is a wonderful image of famed neurologist Dr. William Osler (1849-1919) and Dr. Charles K. Mills (1845-1931) along with their students in Osler’s autopsy room at The Blockley Almshouse, 1889.
Photographer unidentified.
Student list includes future doctors: Kahn, McMillan, Ashton, Voorhees, Casper Sharples, Varmiman, Macleary, Bloomfield, N.J Sharples, Jamison, Miller, and two others.
The Blockley Almshouse, nicknamed “Old Blockley” was later known as Philadelphia General Hospital (PGH) in 1919.
Opened in 1732, the charity hospital and poorhouse was located in West Philadelphia. It was operated by a city committee known as the Guardians of the Poor, and quickly gained a reputation for providing rather miserable patient care.
PGH closed in 1977.
Took me awhile to digitally remove tears, large creases etc. but take a look at the new pristine image! Drs. Osler and Mills are in the center of the image at the foot of the autopsy tables.
FYI…Several of the larger galleries will be under construction for awhile. During this time, some galleries will be shut down or password protected. My apologies for this, but it’s all part of the organization and update process…
UPDATE: New galleries have been opened in the PHOTOGRAPHY section of the site, which include new anatomical/natural history photographs of collections at The Academy of Natural Sciences, The Mütter Museum, NMHM, and The Narodni Muzeum, Prague.
UPDATE: New images have been added to the DESIGN section of the site, which include new work for The Leidy Archives, ANSP as well as older material from The Mütter Museum.
While comments have been disabled during the construction phase, feel free to contact me with any ideas, comments or thoughts via the contact form located on the ABOUT page.
Check back often as new material is being added every week!
A video of my days back at The Mütter Museum at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia when we x-rayed the Soap Lady.
These x-ray sessions were some of the best times spent there. Jerry’s team was fantastic!! What a wonderful guy.
The Soap Lady is a mummy whose body chemically changed during decomposition into a soapy substance called adipocere (Add-eh-po-seer).
Adipocere is a soapy, waxy substance commonly referred to as “grave wax.” It essentially retards the decomposition process, allowing for the petrification of the deceased’s body fat. What is left is what you see in this video. The amazing thing is that inside all of this adipose tissue is a complete perfectly preserved skeleton – resistant to the passage of time.
One of my biggest challenges as Manager of Exhibits at the Mütter was stabilizing The Soap lady from the hazards of the living. One of the ways to do this was to move her to a more structurally sound part of the museum and the other was to encase her in a brand new display vitrine of my design.
To see more about The Soap Lady check out my “About” page for some photos of her, or check out my photography gallery for more images of the museum’s collection!
