#MütterMedicineMondays

Mütter Medicine Mondays: Radiation and Radium Therapy

Staff #MütterMedicineMondays, Staff research May 24, 2021May 19, 2021Digital image library, Radiation, Radium therapy, Twentieth century medicine

– by Patrick Magee, Visitor Services/Gallery Associate

As covered in previous Mütter Medicine Mondays posts, the cutting edge of medical treatment is rarely a place free from debate. A common theme found in emergent medicine is the trade-off: what inconveniences will be had, or sacrifices will be made, to improve one’s prognosis overall? Radiation and radium therapy remain at the forefront of these discussions due to their roles as diagnostic tools and treatments for maladies like cancer, but their medical uses present similar dilemmas to those seen throughout the world when other forms of nuclear energy are invoked.

Seeing Is Believing: Ophthalmology In The Renaissance Era

Staff #MütterMedicineMondays, Staff research May 3, 2021April 14, 2021Digital image library, Medieval medicine, Ophthalmology, Woodcuts

– by Patrick Magee, Visitor Services/Gallery Associate

Woodcut from [Ophthalmodouleia], das ist Augendienst [219r]

Have you been to your eye doctor lately? The process might have been a little bit different than it was ten or twenty years ago, with developments in optometry resulting in new tests, diagnostic processes and equipment. In some instances, dilation is not even needed for a full exam to be completed anymore! Now, recognizing that these changes have come within many of our lifetimes, can you imagine how much different ophthalmology was a hundred years ago? What about during the Renaissance era? Through the Digital Image Library, we have assembled a collection of images and historical records that show off just what Renaissance era eye doctors could do with the tools and knowledge of the time. Keep in mind some of the forthcoming imagery (both literal and written) might not be for the faint of heart!
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Mütter Medicine Mondays: When the Medical & The Narcotic Overlap

Staff #MütterMedicineMondays, Staff research April 19, 2021March 31, 2021Digital image library, Narcotics, Nineteenth century medicine, Opiates, Pamphlets

– by Patrick Magee, Visitor Services/Gallery Associate

Did you like Medieval Medicine Mondays? We at the Museum did too, and it helped us gain insight into a bunch of medical oddities and trends over time! In this week’s blog entry, I want to once again shift our focus to a more recent time in medical history, one defined by printed pamphlets and a myriad of experimental drug treatments. Advertisements and texts meant for everyday people are a wonderful way to glean information about medical standards of the time and putting them into context can reveal something of a record of societal climate.