Warren Anatomical Museum
Encyclopedia
The Warren Anatomical Museum, housed within Harvard Medical School
's Countway Library of Medicine,
was founded in 1847 by Harvard professor Dr. John Collins Warren
,
whose personal "cabinet" of unusual and instructive anatomical and pathological specimens are the nucleus of its 15,000-piece collection.
The Warren also has objects significant to medical history, such as the inhaler used during the first public demonstration of
ether
-assisted surgery in 1846.
A rotating subset of the collection is open to the public.
Among the Warren's most treasured items, and certainly its most famous, are the skull and tamping iron of Phineas Gage
.
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
's Countway Library of Medicine,
was founded in 1847 by Harvard professor Dr. John Collins Warren
John Collins Warren
John Collins Warren , of Boston, was one of the most renowned American surgeons of the 19th century. In 1846 he gave permission to William T.G. Morton to provide ether anesthesia while Warren performed a minor surgical procedure...
,
whose personal "cabinet" of unusual and instructive anatomical and pathological specimens are the nucleus of its 15,000-piece collection.
The Warren also has objects significant to medical history, such as the inhaler used during the first public demonstration of
ether
Diethyl ether
Diethyl ether, also known as ethyl ether, simply ether, or ethoxyethane, is an organic compound in the ether class with the formula . It is a colorless, highly volatile flammable liquid with a characteristic odor...
-assisted surgery in 1846.
A rotating subset of the collection is open to the public.
Among the Warren's most treasured items, and certainly its most famous, are the skull and tamping iron of Phineas Gage
Phineas Gage
Phineas P. Gage was an American railroad construction foreman now remembered for his improbablesurvival of an accident in which a large iron rod was driven completely through his head, destroying much of his brain's left frontal lobe, and for that injury's reported effects on his personality and...
.