Despite missing the guided tour, I was glad to have been able to visit the history of medicine museum due to my site research topic of apothecaries in Europe. I expected to see a lot of familiar things about apothecaries, but instead I learned about global medical history and in depth components of the science that I did not research during my project. I distinctly remember the masks and sculptures of shamanic medicine. I was half expecting the the description to pass it off as "old make believe" but instead they discussed the very-real and powerful placebo effects and how neurotransmitters can be affected by moving, dramatic, and even scary performances by these doctors who would become possessed by certain spirits to guide them in their healing. They also discussed the key factor of a strong patient-doctor relationship which can be one of the make or break factors in someone's recovery due to their own willpower and effort. This is something discussed a lot in my techniques of therapy class as well.
Seeing mummified hands, old scalpels and blades, pipes, bladders, and various tools was fascinating and made me so glad for the world of modern medicine (and anesthesia). I was very impressed with the wide collection that museum held even just on its first floor alone (the basement wasn't open to us and the second floor wasn't air conditioned and I was too sick to be in that heat). While I was sad to have missed the apothecary shop model, I am glad for all that I was able to learn while I was there.
Some anatomical drawings from the main entrance.
I find the use of the placebo effect in medicine to be fascinating. I think it’s really interesting that doctors realized and utilized this hundreds of years ago and it often worked.
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