Every Halloween I see articles about The Mutter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. The piece usually plays up the ‘creepy’ and ‘macabre’ aspects of the collection. While I owe a debt to one of these articles for making me aware of the museum I feel they do a disservice to what the museum really was and is – a teaching collection. It’s a tribute to the human body’s amazing diversity and endurance. The cases documented there are stunning and were collected to teach physicians of yesterday and today how to do no harm but help. So when I saw the book Dr. Mutter’s Marvels I was drawn to it. I wanted to know the history of the collection and the cases documented within. However, when I picked up the book I learned it was Dr. Mutter’s biography. My disappointment didn’t last through the introduction. The man is as riveting today as his collections.
Mary Louise Eklund 