Carla Valentine

Carla Valentine Instagram – 🧙 It’s a necklace of genital warts for the Halloween/Carlaween post today, because many people associate warts with witches! This fascinating specimen of genital warts, strung together before being preserved in the 19th century, comes from @muttermuseum and their fantastic “Memento Mutter” website. Now, before you start wondering if this is some sort of Ed Gein precursor, or the work of a twisted weirdo, the site explains that the reason they’re strung together is simple: it’s for scientific study. It’s easier to compare the size, shape and morphology of warts if they’re next to each other rather than all at the bottom of a jar. At the museum I work in we have similar things but rather than strung together they’re mounted on a backboard, something that was easier to do when acrylic started to be used for pots – rather than glass – in the 20th century. Also according to the Mutter site, an 8% solution of cocaine would be injected straight into the genitals to dull the pain of the agonising methods used to remove the warts, such as blades and “powerful caustics”.
I know @muttermuseum is worried about it’s future at the moment, so if you’d like to find out more about that and/or support them, then do check out their Instagram and @protectthemutter. It’s an issue affecting other medical museums too, so your support really matters 🙏
#muttermuseum #pathology #pathologymuseum #histmed #mutter #mementomutter #carlaweencountdown #carlaween #halloweencountdown | Posted on 26/Oct/2023 13:52:18