Medical Heritage Center
Medicine is continuously evolving as health care professionals learn more about the best ways to treat patients. These are examples of health care related objects over time.
De humani corporis fabrica libri septem (On the Fabric of the Human Body in Seven Books), 1555
Andreas Vesalius revolutionized not only the science of anatomy but how it was taught. He provided a fuller and more detailed description of human anatomy than any of his predecessors, including correcting errors in the traditional anatomical teachings of Galen, which had been obtained from primate rather than human dissection.
Homeopathy kit, 1870
Developed in 1796 by Samuel Hahnemann, homeopathy is a practice that aims to stimulate the body’s own healing responses. While the practice is unproven, practitioners believe that they can cure diseases by giving extremely small doses of natural substances that cause similar symptoms. This homeopathic kit was manufactured by Boericke and Tafel, and it contains approximately eighty vials.
Starling Medical College lecture ticket, 1896–1897
Starling Medical College (1848–1907) is one of five preceding medical colleges that became the Ohio State College of Medicine in 1914. Instead of paying tuition, lecture and laboratory tickets were purchased from professors by students and served as admittance and payment for their courses. The lecture ticket system was discontinued after schools began paying a flat salary to professors.
Patient room in University Hospital, c. 1955
When it was completed in 1951, patient rooms on the north side of University Hospital had a view of Ohio Stadium. This view remained much the same for about a decade until construction of new buildings on 12th Avenue blocked the view.
Dr. Robert M. Zollinger, Sr. (1903–1992), Robert M. Zollinger Papers
Dr. Robert Milton Zollinger, Sr., was one of the giants of American surgery. He is best known for his discovery of Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome in 1955 (along with Edwin Ellison) as well as for authoring the textbook Atlas of Surgical Operations.
For More Information
To learn more about the collection, visit: hsl.osu.edu/dept/medical-heritage-center.
View a coloring book created from Vesalius’s De humani corporis fabrica.
To view the graduates of the Starling Medical College, catalogs can be accessed here: hsl.osu.edu/dept/medical-heritage-center/graduates-1836-1968.
Email: mhcmail@osumc.edu
Phone: 614-292-3275
