Rate this book

Dr. Mutter's Marvels: A True Tale Of Intrigue And Innovation At The Dawn Of Modern Medicine (2014)

by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz(Favorite Author)

3.86 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1592408702 (ISBN13: 9781592408702)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Gotham

review 1: I had heard of this book and was excited to read it. There were two main things that made this book interesting: a) gruesome accounts of the deformities and ailments of the nineteenth century, and b) an account of the personalities and careers of famous Pennsylvania doctors of the nineteenth century. The first is definitely what sold me on this book, and the second is definitely what it spent more time on. That probably makes sense, though. The author did a good job of making that time period interesting and of covering the entire life and career of Dr. Thomas Dent Mütter. He did some great work with early anesthetics and with developing early plastic surgeries to help women burned in nasty kitchen fires. It had good illustrations of his specimen collection and each... more chapter started with a quote from Mütter about how doctors should be caring, honest, gentlemanly, etc. Pretty neat.
review 2: A lot of people, especially ones with a bit of a macabre turn of mind, have heard of Philadelphia’s Mutter Museum. It’s a medical museum, filled with skeletons, body parts in jars, and engravings of surgeries. But collection was not meant to be some sensationalist tourist stop; Mutter’s collection was for teaching medical students by showing them what diseases looked like in the body so they could recognize it. He felt it was vital that specimens like these be available. Dr. Thomas Dent Mutter was an amazing man. He became a doctor while young (there wasn’t as much schooling required in that era to become a doctor), studying in France where surgical techniques were far advanced from those in the US. He not only became a remarkable surgeon- he was ambidextrous- but he brought to America the practice of actually washing his hands and tools in between patients and was an early adopter of the use of anesthesia for operations. He performed a lot of reconstructive surgeries on victims of fires and accidents. He convinced the medical college to purchase some rooms that could be used for patient recovery- previously patients were put out in a cart and taken home as soon as the surgery was over. He thought of patients as actual people instead of just the operation performed on them. He instituted a lot of things we take for granted in hospitals today. Sadly, he died young. The author has consulted many primary sources for this biography. Descriptions of the surgeries Mutter performed are taken from his own writings. It’s not just a biography of Mutter, but in many ways a biography of surgical practices in America. Very interesting and a fast read. less

Download links for: Dr. Mutter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine

Advertising