ABSTRACT
McGill University’s medical museum was once the hub of a complex network of international medical museums. Such museums typically resided at universities with medical schools, serving as unique reference collections of anatomical and/or pathological specimens for teaching and research. 2 The core of most collections was a set of wet specimens, which were human body parts preserved in jars of fluid. The wet specimens came from autopsies and were accompanied by brief, textual information on the patients and his or her condition. Skeletal specimens, models, and medical instruments were also commonly found in medical museums. The basic intention of the medical museum was to provide students with opportunities to see typical and diseased body parts for study purposes. These specimens, separated from the hustle and bustle of the hospital and isolated from the rest of the patient’s body, were carefully suspended in a jar-like container of transparent fluid and often positioned in a purpose-built architectural setting. This architecture allowed observation from many different angles and distances and also enabled the meaningful grouping of specimens.
