Blood, Guts And Cheese Steak

 

Most tourists go to Philadelphia for the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Not me – I needed to go to Philadelphia for the Mutter Museum. It is a medical museum that contains anatomical and pathological specimens, wax models and antique medical equipment. The museum is part of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Ok, that doesn't sound all that exciting until you look a little farther and see what some of their exhibits are about. How can you not go when you see exhibitions titled “Spit Spreads Death” or “Dracula and the Incorruptible Body”?

“Spit Spreads Death” was about the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919. Philadelphia had the highest death rate of any major American city. Nearly 14,000 people died in six weeks, one death every five minutes. Evidently the experts decided that flu was spread by spitting and since there was so much spitting going on in the steets, there was a public campaign to remind people not to spit.  

With “Dracula and the Incorruptible Body” they put forth all sorts of medical possibilities that would make people think that there were vampires at work. Maybe I'm buying their explanations, maybe I'm not. Science doesn't know everything.

Sorry for the picture quality and also the incomplete information. 

An Iron Lung

We were only allowed to take pictures in the front lobby area of the museum. Pictures were not allowed in the museum proper out of respect for the real human specimens in the collection. On display were 137 skulls – all labeled with names and how they died. These were used in the study of phrenology – the study of the shape and size of the cranium as a supposed indication of character and mental abilities. There were multiple skeletons, multiple fetuses showing different birth defects and anomalies . It was interesting to see actual body organs – seeing pictures of an actual appendix or a gall bladder is totally different seeing a picture.

Disturbingly Infomative really describes the Mutter Museum.  I would add fascinating also.

On a totally different feel, in the Curtis building is a mural called the Dream Garden. It was a collaboration between Maxfield Parrish(Designer) and Tiffany Studios. It is fifteen feet high and forty-nine feet wide. There are over 100,000 pieces of glass in 260 colors.

The Dream Garden
Maxfield Parrish and Tiffany Studios

Close-up showing some of the glass work

Ok, we did a tourist thing. The lines to see the Liberty Bell (been there, done that) were very long and my patience was very short so that was out.  We rode on a double-decker hop-on/hop-off bus. It was a beautiful day and we got to see so many of the historical sights and hear the stories, all of which we would have missed if we had been on our own.

Ol' Ben was everywhere.  He was quite the brilliant mind.

Entrance to Chinatown

I don't know what this was - it was just in an alley that we drove by

You can't go to Philadelphia and not have cheese steak. 
This was the most incredible cheese steak I've ever had.  The place was called Max's.

We haven't had a picture of Miko lately.  Isn't she just so stinkin' cute?