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National Museum of Health
and Medicine
By Nancy Taylor
With exhibits ranging from the disturbing to the sublime, the
National Museum of Health and Medicine houses a diverse collection
of medical artifacts, tools, and body parts. Established in 1862 to
study diseases and injuries from the Civil War, the Museum has
amassed a collection so vast only one percent of it can be displayed
in its 15,000 square feet of gallery space. Highlights include skull
fragments and the assassination bullet retrieved from Abraham
Lincoln’s skull and a brain attached to spinal cord. Kids can
compare a smokers’ lung to a coal miners’, view skeletons and skull
and touch the inside of a stomach. Check out the newest exhibit ‘A
Healthy Heart,’ an exhibit based on a book by Alexander Tsiaras.
Pictures of the heart along with narratives are designed to assist
people in understanding what is inside their bodies, how the
cardiovascular system works, and what they can do to stay healthy.
Before You Go
The museum posts no age limit, and some younger children view the
displays with relish. Keep in mind that sensitive kids may find some
displays either macabre or overwhelming. Would your child like the
chance touch a real brain? How about viewing skeletons and skulls
and a stomach-shaped hairball surgically removed from inside a
12-year-old girl?
Not everything is graphic or grotesque. The permanent exhibition,
“To Bind up the Nation’s Wounds; Medicine During the Civil War”
allows visitors to learn about Civil War medicine through the
accounts of battlefield surgeons and wounded soldiers. Battlefield
Surgery 101 presents the highlights if the evolution of military
surgical procedures since 1863. A range of eyeglasses and contact
lenses is on display, as well as the equipment in optometry shops
used to grind lenses and make glasses. Hearing aids from ear
trumpets to large microphones that hung around the users’ neck can
also be found in the museum. The museum has no plans to abolish its
frightful displays, so if you go, be prepared to walk past such
medical shockers as a preserved male appendage infected with
syphilis.
Please note: All adults (not just the driver) may need to show photo
identification to be admitted at the Elder Street gate.
On The Way There
The medical advances in the past 200 years are forcibly brought to
mind when we look at the tools used by doctors in earlier times – or
consider the absence of licensure boards. Your children may know
that Paul Revere was a silversmith, but are they aware that,
basically self-taught, he practiced dentistry for a time, also?
Consider what it would be like to visit a dentist whose primary
profession was manufacturing teapots.
Once You Get There
There is a lot to see, and you may want to make choices. Near the
entrance, Civil War memorabilia, including those relating to Abraham
Lincoln, are prominently displayed. The exhibit “Human Body/Human
Being” includes preserved specimens from the major body systems and
other medical artifacts. “From Single Cells...Human Reproduction,
Growth and Development” illustrates the development of the embryo
and fetus with the aforementioned human specimens from before and
after birth. Also on view: an early dialysis machine used in the
field, and surgical instruments used in a Mobile Army Surgical
Hospital (think TV shows like “M*A*S*H”); live leeches; a display of
kidney stones; and doctor’s instruments that have contributed to the
state of medicine today. Check out “Research Matters: 9/11, The
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Responds.” Featuring photographs
never before seen by the public, this display shows the efforts of
military pathologists when identifying the remains of 911 victims
and genetic profiles of the terrorists.
At A Glance
Location:
6900 Georgia Avenue and Elder Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C.
Web site:
www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum
Admission: Free.
Time needed: One to two hours.
Food: Not on premises.
Restrooms: Yes.
Baby changing facilities: Yes.
Hours: Closed on Christmas; open daily from 10 to 5:30; docent-led
tours available at 1p.m. on the second and fourth Saturday of each
month and, for groups of 10 or more, by advance request.
Phone: (202) 782-2200
To get there: Located at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. From the
Beltway, take Georgia Avenue south and turn right at Elder Street,
NW into the Walter Reed campus.
Your kids will really like: the elegant old microscopes wrapped in
hand-tooled leather; some may enjoy the live leeches!
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