Spotlight
Gilt by Association: A Celebration of Medical History
The Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine houses one of the world's largest collections of books, manuscripts, prints and photographs, artwork, artifacts, and museum specimens documenting the history of medicine from the Middle Ages to the present day. In the spring of 2003, the Countway will host meetings of the American Association for the History of Medicine and two of its affiliated groups, the Archivists and Librarians in the History of the Health Sciences and the Medical Museums Association. A new exhibit has been installed in the Library to coincide with these meetings. "Gilt by Association" commemorates the drama and richness of medical history and allows the public a glimpse of extraordinary treasures associated with some of the most renowned figures and events in medicine.
Superior Rubber Denture, circa 1870
These upper dentures were worn by philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882).
Boston has been the site of many medical innovations. The exhibit includes the instruments used by Dr. John Collins Warren when he performed the first public operation using ether anesthesia, at Massachusetts General Hospital; the case description of the first American rhinoplasty; and the famous 17th-century painting of physician John Clark, one of the earliest portraits made in this country. Relics from the first years of HMS are also on display; these include the oldest surviving lecture notes, a student thesis from 1789, and one of the oldest diplomas, along with a first-hand account of medical student life in the 18th century. Visitors to the library will also see some 13th-century manuscripts and incunables (the oldest printed medical works), along with specimens of rare medical Judaica from the Solomon M. Hyams Collection.
Philip Drinker in the respirator, 1927
Although a pioneer in public health research on the hazards of exposure to lead and dust, Philip Drinker is best remembered for his development of a machine to induce artificial respiration--the Drinker respirator, popularly known as the iron lung, which helped to save thousands of lives during the polio outbreaks of the 1940s and 50s. In this particular experiment, on Sept. 26, 1927, professor Drinker (lying inside the device) first demonstrates the safety and effectiveness of the respirator. He is also the subject of the experiment.
Both the famous and the infamous find their place in "Gilt by Association." A microscopic slide made from the tissue used by Thomas Hodgkin in his isolation of Hodgkin's disease and a recent scan of the sample complement a signed copy of the original 1832 case description. This is just one of several rare items bearing inscriptions from their authors, among them Florence Nightingale, Marie Curie, and novelist Henry James. Royalty will also be in attendance: an unusual set of scrofula touchpieces from the Stuart kings and Pretenders accompanying books from the libraries of Charles II and the Prince Regent, a letter from physician William Heberden on the health and madness of George III, and the stunning X-ray photographs of the hands of Nicholas and Alexandra, the last czars of Russia. Photographs of the wounds inflicted on President James A. Garfield by Charles Guiteau accompany the assassin's own copy of his published autobiography and the manuscript diary of Guiteau's spiritual adviser during his imprisonment. The exhibit has also drawn upon the artifact collections of HSDM for a set of dentures worn by philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson and the dental casts of George Parkman used to convict Dr. John White Webster of murder in 1850.
Microscopic Tissue Preparation of Hodgkin's Disease
In the 1920s, Philadelphia pathologist Herbert Fox associated specimen no. 1523 in Guy's Hospital Museum in London with Thomas Hodgkin's original 1832 case report of Ellenborough King, in which Hodgkin's disease was first described. Fox had a preparation made from the specimen for microscopic analysis and reported, "The general picture of Hodgkin's disease histology is readily recognized, the cell structure well preserved and the nuclei well brought out. The loss of node architecture, the fibrosis as a reticular overgrowth, the scattered presence of the large endothelioid cells and of occasional Reed giant cells can clearly be followed." The color scan accompanying the slide was made in 2002, and some of the characteristic binucleate Reed-Sternberg cells are visible.
Innovations and developments in the modern period in medicine are represented by Philip Drinker's laboratory notebook describing his experiments in artificial respiration leading to the development of the iron lung, a specimen of penicillin mold from the laboratory of Alexander Fleming, and even a personal memo of Franklin Delano Roosevelt to his physician concerning coping with his paralysis from polio.
Touchpieces, 17th to 18th centuries
Since the days of Edward the Confessor, the power to cure scrofula or "king's evil" was thought to be found in the hands of royalty. Those touched by a king were given a medal of gold or silver--the touchpiece--to wear around the neck. The obverse of each shows a ship under sail; the reverse depicts St. Michael the Archangel slaying a dragon. This is a touchpiece from King Charles II, but the exhibit also includes examples from James II and Anne, the last monarch to touch for scrofula, and the three Stuart Pretenders--James III and his sons Charles III and Henry IX, the cardinal-bishop of Frascati.
From medieval disease to the iron lung and Presidents in the White House to the czars of Russia in the Winter Palace at St. Petersburg, "Gilt by Association" celebrates milestones in the history of medicine through the rich and varied collections at the Countway Library of Medicine.
The exhibit will be on display in the main lobby and the L-2 level of the library through September 2003. For additional information, contact Jack Eckert, reference librarian, at 617-432-6207.