The Mutter Museum: A Foray into the Bizarre

Do you have a fascination with the bizarre?  Or, perhaps, a long-neglected interest in the medical profession?

The place for you, then, is the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  A visit to the Mutter Museum is a view into a world rarely seen by those outside the medical profession.

The Museum’s collections include over 20,000 objects, including fluid-preserved anatomical and pathological specimens, medical instruments, anatomical and pathological models, items of memorabilia of famous scientists and physicians, and medical illustrations.

You’ll see:

• The famous “Soap Woman,” whose corpse turned to soap after her death in the 19th century of Yellow Fever.
• The plaster cast of Cheng and Eng - the original Siamese twins - and their actual attached livers.
• A bizarre collection of over 2,000 objects swallowed and removed by a doctor who specialized in this strange subspeciality.
• The actual skeletons of a giant and a midget.
• The brain of a murderer.
• Skull collections.
• Animal brains, arranged from frog to man.
• The thorax of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth.

The Mutter Museum is not for the sqeamish, but it’s not just a freak show either.  Originally intended for the education of medical students, the lay public can learn quite a bit too.

The Mutter Museum is located on 19 South 22nd Street in Philadelphia.

For more info, go here:  http://www.collphyphil.org/mutter.asp

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