International Museum of Surgical Science

The museum is housed in a splendid mansion on Lake Shore Drive and a glimpse of its interior architecture is itself worth a visit. Several floors of exhibits chronicle the amazing, sometimes gory, history of medicine and surgery. Exhibits include an 1873 apothecary, a turn-of-the-century dental office and a radiology room with X-ray machines from the early 20th Century. The museum has a copy of the death mask of Napoleon. Also on display are instruments used in trephining (an old therapy that involved drilling holes in the skull) plus some ancient skulls upon which the technique was practiced (though doctors tried this curative into disturbingly recent times). Somewhat higher-tech is an "iron lung" of the type used until the 1950s, primarily on polio victims whose lungs were paralyzed or otherwise impaired. Temporary exhibits at the museum often focus on cutting-edge medical photography and computer-imaging techniques and art inspired by medical science. Changing fine arts gallery called "Anatomy in the Gallery" every two months featuring medically related art work.

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Gold Coast museums, Chicago museums, Chicago museums, History museums, Medicine museums, Science museums