Dr. Mutter's marvels : a true tale of intrigue and innovation at the dawn of modern medicine / by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Aptowicz, Cristin O'Keefe, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mütter, Thomas D. (Thomas Dent), 1811-1859.

Mütter, Thomas D.

Mütter Museum.

Surgery--Pennsylvania--Biography.

Surgery.

Physicians--Pennsylvania--Biography.

Physicians.

Surgery--Pennsylvania--History.

Pennsylvania.

History.

Museums--Pennsylvania--History.

Museums.

Pathology--Pennsylvania--History.

Pathology.

Medical innovations.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

371 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Doctor Mutter's marvels

Place of Publication:

New York, New York : Gotham Books, [2014?]

Summary:

A mesmerizing biography of the brilliant and eccentric medical innovator who revolutionized American surgery and founded the country's most famous museum of medical oddities. Imagine undergoing an operation without anesthesia performed by a surgeon who refuses to sterilize his tools-or even wash his hands. This was the world of medicine when Thomas Dent Mutter began his trailblazing career as a plastic surgeon in Philadelphia during the middle of the nineteenth century. Although he died at just forty-eight, Mutter was an audacious medical innovator who pioneered the use of ether as anesthesia, the sterilization of surgical tools, and a compassion-based vision for helping the severely deformed, which clashed spectacularly with the sentiments of his time. Brilliant, outspoken, and brazenly handsome, Mutter was flamboyant in every aspect of his life. He wore pink silk suits to perform surgery, added an umlaut to his last name just because he could, and amassed an immense collection of medical oddities that would later form the basis of Philadelphia's Mutter Museum. Award-winning writer Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz vividly chronicles how Mutter's efforts helped establish Philadelphia as a global mecca for medical innovation-despite intense resistance from his numerous rivals. (Foremost among them : Charles D. Meigs, an influential obstetrician who loathed Mutter's "overly" modern medical opinions.) In the narrative spirit of The Devil in the White City, Dr. Mutter's Marvels interweaves an eye-opening portrait of nineteenth-century medicine with the riveting biography of a man once described as the "P.T. Barnum of the surgery room."--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Monsters

The City of Brotherly Love

To render evil more endurable

The medical Athens of America

A falcon flight

Ce que femme veut, Dieu le veut aussi!

The Great Thaw

The new Jefferson Medical College

The right arm of the College

Dwell not then upon what has been done

The root of the trouble

The world to come

The women who were swallowed by fire

To unmake monsters

To remedy evils

Gentlemen, this is no humbug

Advent

All the fair daughters of Eve

If I may but touch His garment, I shall be whole

These deeds of blood

That bourne from which no traveler returns

The rich fruits of life's labors

The voices of the illustrious dead

Look to God for pardon

While there is life, there is hope

Leave nothing undone

The world is no place of rest.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 311-354) and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Gemmill fund bookplate.

ISBN:

9781592408702 ;