Medical Museum (Part 3)

 

The rest of the medical museum involves old books.  When I was a boy, I delivered newspapers to an old General Practioner in Stockton, Illinois.  He was mostly retired and quite elderly.  Dr. Gustafson.  He became sort of an inspiration to me, or, more correctly, to my Dad, who pushed me mercilessly into medicine.  I have no regrets.  When he died, his wife gave me his books, which are seen here.  Some were quite old and valuable.  I yielded to temptation and sold a couple for $750 a few years back.  What good are they but to a collector?..........

 ....my favorite is this Gray's Anatomy............

....Dr. Gustafson acquired it from Dr. Thomas Stafford of Elizabeth Illinois, who signed it in 1886.  Elizabeth is about 15 miles from Stockton, and I am guessing from the dates that Dr Stafford was retiring about the time Dr. Gustafson was starting his practice in Stockton.......about 1918.

....published in 1883, it is already the TENTH edition!........

 ....Also in the tenth edition is this copy of Osler's Textbook of medicine.  It was considered the Bible of medicine for about 100 years...........

....from 1928.........

....the rest of the pictures are just of the books so you can see what sort of books a doctor of that period would own and read........

....Quite an extensive collection, but this guy was all alone, without the Internet or other resource, and had to look stuff up almost every day, I am sure.     

 Thus concludes the medical museum tour.

Uncle Hans