Università degli Studi di Pavia: Medical Museum

*Warning to sensitive viewers and little ones for medical images that can be thought of as gross or scary. Actually, they don't look that different than my beef stew but...be warned none the less*

I really wanted to blog about my visit to the Medical Museum of the University of Pavia but the trip was so deeply informative, and I have a limited knowledge so I knew that I wouldn't do the museum justice.

Scholars who came from the University of Pavia

However, I still want to share because I think medical advancements are important and this museum made me feel grateful to all the scientists, doctors and sick people that helped advance medicine to what we have today.
Can you imagine trying to design a medicine for a common cold and wondering where to begin? Ovarian cysts? Asthma? Or for something as complicated as the central nervous system? The most complicated thing I could put together was a quilt and those were just a series of blocks. Connecting a computer with all of its wires and software made me feel like a genius. But the human body? Each person unique, different temperaments, but with similar issues is something that I would not have the slightest clue of where to start. Well, the scientists, doctors and patients at the University of Pavia did have clues, intelligence, determination and a lot of nerve to unravel the human body so that sick people today could benefit from their research. I'm going to mention just 3 guys that I liked but there were so many more doctors, writers, scientists and engineers that came from the University of Pavia that make it to my thankful list for Thanksgiving Day. Like Alessandro Volta, he invented the battery.

Mr. Alessandro Volta is seen here holding his battery which he used to send an electric current 30 miles away.

The University of Pavia, which began around 818 A.D., is one of the most important medical universities of the world. Here, medical scientists made huge breakthroughs. There are only three doctors that I am noting:

Obstetrics: Little babies and moms have benefited from the studies at Pavia. C-sections had most babies and mothers die before the 19th century. It was named for Julius Cesar, who in Roman times made it law that if a mom died during childbirth that the baby had to be cut out. Pregnant women were not buried together with their child. Giving birth via Cesarean was life threatening but the hard work of Mr. Eduardo Porro changed the survival rate of babies to 86% and of moms to 56% (from around 100%) in 1876 when he performed  a hysterectomy cesarean. This process made women infertile for the rest of their life, but they at least had a chance to survive and see their baby grow.

Obstetrics c-section patients of Eduardo Porro

Tools used to cut out huge ovarian cysts like the one in the jar.

Mr. Porro and some of his data including studies on neonates, and ovarian cysts

Neurology: The central nervous system was a "bundle of nerves" and Nervous Nellies of olden days couldn't get the right treatment to help them out. What a neurilemma! Nerves, neurons, our connectors that help us think, grow back injured skin, and develop came to light literally by the staining of glass slides containing pieces of brain. Nobel Prize winner, Camillo Golgi, discovered one of the most effective ways of staining neurons so that the person studying the slide could visualize the different interactions of a neuron. How can that be helpful? Well, lots of ways, because it helps scientists view healthy neurons, brains, from sick ones and narrow down causes and possible solutions to various illnesses. With this, he discovered the life cycle of fevers with malaria. His neurostaining techniques discovered in the 1860's are called Golgi's method and are still referred to today.

A statue of Mr. Camillo Golgi, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Medicine

Images of neurons stained with Golgi's method.

Anatomy...: I am saving my favorite for last. Mr. Antonio Scarpa is in every medical textbook for his findings in anatomy. But, do you know why I like him? He conducted the best autopsies, and his favorites were conducting autopsies on his competitors, colleagues and enemies. It made me laugh when I read that he would get into arguments with his colleagues and then calmly tell them that he would have the last word in the autopsy room, and they would go pale. His mom probably didn't force him to read "How to Make Friends and Influence People."

The truth was that he was a genius, and a tyrant, as many geniuses are. He had little patience, was in a rush to keep on track, and idle chatter irritated him. Mr. Scarpa even locked his assistant into the office until he finished drawing the anatomy of the ear. In fact, his discoveries with the anatomy of the ear showed that the ear helps us keep balance with the fluid there called Scarpa's fluid. On my way out of the museum I saw a few fingers in fluid and was not surprised to see that they were Mr. Scarpa's. He was a mean guy, Napoleon loved him, and it doesn't surprise me that some people wanted him chopped and displayed after his death. His head was also severed and put on display, but I didn't have the joy of seeing that.

Mr. Antonio Scarpa

Scarpa's model of the anatomy of the ear displayed in many medical congresses

There they are. Dita delle mani di A. Scarpa. "Fingers of the hand of A. Scarpa" I guess he bit the hand that fed him so they took his hand in the end.

So that is probably the goriest blog I will share. Kittens and castles and pugs are much cuter. But I am still eternally grateful for the studies at the University of Pavia. I'm glad for all the moms and babies who have gone through C-sections that they are now treated with more advanced care thanks to Mr. Porro bravely operating pregnant women. My nervous system can thank Mr. Golgi for working on the central nervous system. I'm sure CAT scans that came along years later, wouldn't have if he hadn't dedicated himself to researching the central nervous system. And Mr. Scarpa not only teaches our current doctors about anatomy but is a reminder to be nice to the ones you work with.