Thomas Dent Mutter
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Thomas Dent Mütter (March 9, 1811 – March 19, 1859) was an American surgeon.[1] Born in Richmond, Virginia, Mütter was orphaned at the age of 8 and raised by a distant relative.[2] He attended Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia starting in 1824.[3] Mutter graduated with an MD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1831 and eventually took a position as an assistant to Dr. Thomas Harris at the Medical Institute of Jefferson College.[4] At the age of 30, he became the Chair of Surgery at the Jefferson Medical College and held this position from 1841-1856, when he resigned because of gout and lung disease.[5] He operated on hundreds of patients to repair deformities and became the first surgeon in 1846 to administer ether anesthesia in Philadelphia.[2] He is best known for the “Mutter Flap” which he used in order to treat burn victims; the grafting procedure is still used today.[6][7][8]
In 1851, he was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society.[9]
During his life, Mütter collected artifacts relating to surgery, which he used when teaching. These ranged from illustrations and wax models to actual specimens of human anatomy. The collection formed the basis for The Mutter Museum, which opened in 1863 in Philadelphia.[10] The museum has a collection of more than 25,000 specimens assembled by Mutter .[10] Today, it includes a vertebra of John Wilkes Booth, a piece of Albert Einstein’s brain,[11] a cancerous growth from the mouth of President Grover Cleveland and the livers and plaster cast of the Siamese twins Chang and Eng.[10][1]
Mütter married Mary Wright Alsop in October 1836. There were no children from the marriage.[5]
Selected publications[]
- On recent improvements in surgery. Philadelphia. 1842.
- Cases of deformity from burns, successfully treated by plastic operations. Philadelphia. 1843.
Biography[]
- Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz Dr Mutter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine (Gotham Books, 2014)
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b "The Forgotten Story of Groundbreaking American Surgeon Dr. Thomas Dent Mütter | History News Network". historynewsnetwork.org. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Thomas Dent Mutter - Philadelphia University + Thomas Jefferson University - Thomas Jefferson University". jefferson.edu. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
- ^ http://www.jefferson.org
- ^ "Thomas Dent Mütter: innovative surgeon and teacher – Hektoen International". hekint.org. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Kelly, Howard Atwood; Burrage, Walter Lincoln (1920). American Medical Biographies. Baltimore: The Norman, Remington Company. p. 844.
- ^ "Dr. Thomas Mütter — getting to know the man behind the macabre collection". WHYY. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
- ^ "5 Facts About Thomas Dent Mütter". Avery Books. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
- ^ Robson, Martin C.; Koss, Neal; Krizek, Thomas J.; Edstrom, Lee E. (1976). "The undelayed Mütter flap in head and neck reconstruction". The American Journal of Surgery. 132 (4): 472–475. doi:10.1016/0002-9610(76)90322-6. ISSN 0002-9610. PMID 1015537.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2021-04-14.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c "The Marvelous Dr. Mütter". sciencebasedmedicine.org. 23 December 2014. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
- ^ "Before Dr. Mutter, Surgery Was a Dangerous and Horrifically Painful Ordeal". Smithsonian. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
External links[]
- Dr Thomas Dent Mutter at Find a Grave
- Pancoast, Joseph (1859). "A Discourse Commemorative of the Late Professor TD Mütter, MD, LL. D." jdc.jefferson.edu.
- American surgeons
- 1811 births
- 1859 deaths