A Century of Caring: The Health Sciences at the University of Iowa, 1850-1950

The College of Medicine: Objects

Bausch & Lomb Microscope
unknown date

This microscope and accompanying storage box were typical of those used by doctors around the turn of the century. Bausch & Lomb has been making microscopes since 1876.

Gift of Craig D. Ellyson, MD, Waterloo, IA; MM #79

Medical Bag
circa 1925

This case holds several vials containing medicines administered for various ailments, including migraine headaches and sore throats. It is typical of medical bags carried by physicians on housecalls during the early part of the 20th century.

Bequest of the Estate of Edith Ennis, Iowa City; 1997.15

Articulated Skull
circa 1910

Gift of the Estate of Dr. Frank Haven McClurg Fairfield, IA; 1997.23.68

Tonsil Guillotines

As the name suggests, these instruments mimic the action of a guillotine in cutting out a person's tonsil. The more recent model has a compartment under the blade which was designed to catch the tonsil after it had been cut. The older model is distinguished by its wooden handles, which indicate the instrument was made before the days of sterilization.

1. Gift of the estate of Frank Haven McClurg, MD; 1997.23.70
2. On loan from the UI College of Medicine; 11/1996

Cranial Perforator
circa 1900

Before aseptic procedures became common practice in the late nineteenth century, over half the mothers undergoing Cesarean section died from infection. Another way to extract a fetus which could not pass through the pelvis was by means of a craniotomy. In this procedure, the head of the fetus was collapsed by use of the cranial perforator in order to ease its passage through the pelvic opening.

Gift of Oakdale Sanatorium; MM #529